INSANITY® FAQs

Q. Isn't Insanity's 5 meals with 300 calories per meal ridiculously low?

A. The Insanity diet is very restrictive and not meant to be done for a long time (it's a two-month plan). It was set up for weight loss for our test group, who all began with some weight to lose. Anyone coming off of P90X or something similar should alter the diet to suit their needs because their body composition--for the most part--will be far more athletic at the beginning.

We've left the "additional food" section open ended for just this reason. However, once someone has gone through rounds of X or equivalent they are generally at a point where they'll do their own dietary calculations anyway.

When you look at the X diet you see a plan that's designed to teach you how to eat for athletics. It varies over time, attempting to follow the changes in your body composition. Once you graduate the X, there should not be much need for outside diet plans, unless they're for variety. You could use the Insanity diet for this, but alter your calories towards your own goals and using what you're already learned.

Keep in mind that matter what diet you choose, at the highest levels of performance you always have to do your own trial and error. There is no one diet right for everyone. Nowhere is this as apparent as during athletic endeavors. By making tweaks to our diet we will always find individual differences in the ways certain foods affect us. I don't know any two athletes that eat the same way, exactly. There are some large-scale brush strokes that are nutritionally similar, after which it becomes individual.

Q. What's up with upper body work in Insanity? 

A. The weight training workout is just a bonus and was not part of the original Insanity plan. Shaun wanted to make a weight training workout because he lifts weights. Not during his rounds of Insanity but in between. I would not use it during your first round of Insanity but if you wanted to work it into the second go-round for more muscle growth you could.

For Xers worried about losing mass they could also work it in. Adding it once per week to the schedule should still allow Insanity to work its magic will minimizing muscle atrophy. This is not a huge concern, however, as the muscle atrophy incurred over eight weeks of Insanity will be minimal and offset by fitness gains that will allow you to push harder during your next round targeting muscular hypertrophy, leading to greater gains than you made prior.

Q. Will I lose muscle mass doing cardio-based Insanity? 

A. You might lose some muscle mass but you'll make fitness gains that will increase your capacity for improvement, so when you head back to P90x or whatever else you're doing, you should quickly catch up with, then surpass, any previous limits.

It's the basic theory of cross-training only it's, like, max-cross training. 

Here's a more detailed discussion about this: (Response by Steve Edwards)

Q. So I'm considering starting Insanity soon as the max interval training concept is really appealing to me but I have one thing giving me doubt as whether I really should. P90X works all areas of the body w/equipment required. Insanity however requires no equipment which is a great advantage but I don't see how you can work your back in the program whereas P90X uses a pullup bar. Insanity has pushups in the program to develop your chest but if you only work your front eventually they will be more developed than your back muscles and create a hunch. I can't think of any back exercises you can do w/your bodyweight besides pull ups which are non-existent in the program. I have not seen the Insanity videos yet but are there workouts in there that incorporate your back to balance everything?

A. None of the strength work in Insanity will build the type of muscular imbalance you are describing. It uses floor movements in a way where all of the upper body muscles are stressed but it's not a muscle building program per se. It's a muscle strengthening program, especially static strength that comes from floor work, but there is no targeted hypertrophy like you get in Tony's programs. It's cardio based, meaning that it targets various energy systems (VO2/max, lactate threshold, anaerobic and aerobiv efficiency). It never targets muscle hypertrophy over the eight weeks, though there is an "extra" weight training workout that you can use as an option. But the test group did not do this, so it's not part of the Insanity schedule. Depending on your goals, you may want to keep doing some X upper body work. For most of us, and eight week cycle that leaves hypertrophy out of the equation will be fine as we'll improve our base fitness, increase our workload capacity for further rounds of hypertrophy.  

Q. Why doesn't Insanity target the specific muscle group I want targeted? 

A. Insanity uses floor movements in a way where all of the upper body muscles are stressed but it's not a muscle building program per se. It's a muscle strengthening program, especially static strength that comes from floor work, but there is no targeted hypertrophy like you get in Tony's programs. It's cardio based, meaning that it targets various energy systems (VO2/mas, lactate threshold, anaerobic and aerobiv efficiency). It never targets muscle hypertrophy over the eight weeks, though there is an "extra" weight training workout that you can use as an option. But the test group did not do this, so it's not part of the Insanity schedule. Depending on your goals, you may want to keep doing some X upper body work. For most of us, and eight week cycle that leaves hypertrophy out of the equation will be fine as we'll improve our base fitness, increase our workload capacity for further rounds of hypertrophy.

INSANITY® FAQs were derived from Team Beachbody Message Boards by Steve Edwards.

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