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Archives for January 2010

My P90X / Insanity Hybrid Workout Results

January 26, 2010 - Updated March 5, 2018

P90X And InsanityFor awhile now I have felt like some thing is just missing when it comes to my workouts. Been sticking to the Insanity workout program pretty much to a T. There have been a couple days where I started a workout without the energy needed to finish it or at least give it my full effort. I would get 15 minutes in, stop, and come back to it the next day.

I was very impressed with my Insanity results as I did get leaner and more defined. The workouts have been getting harder but I feel like I am losing some strength. Getting skinnier is not one of my goals. Before starting Insanity I was at 10% body fat and am hovering between 8%-9%.

A lot of the muscle I put on doing P90X is not gone but I can feel it going away. It really stuck out at my last three softball games. My hits have not been jumping off the bat like they did when I was doing P90X. It has been awhile since I hit one off the fence. I might be a little bit faster but not that much. My golf swing does not feel as powerful either.

Before I started Insanity I was already in very good cardio shape. Running and biking are things I do on top of working out. Last week I decided to throw in P90X Chest and Back to see if the strength was still there. Surprisingly much of it was.

I was able to do more push ups then the last time I did P90X Chest and Back. Form was much better too. I think its from all of the core work done with Insanity. Pull ups and chin ups however were not so great. Was only able to do 7 wide grip front pull ups when last time I did 10. All of my previous numbers dropped by 2 to 4 for each pull up or chin up exercise.

When I was all done my arms were screaming as it has been almost two months since I had done a pull up, used a resistance band, or weight. I kind of missed it. It got me thinking that I need to not finish the last two weeks of Insanity and start incorporating it with P90X.

Its Time For A P90X – Insanity Hybrid Workout

So that’s what I am going to do. I am going to work up a routine where I mix in Insanity workouts along with P90X ones. This is kind of what I have been looking for all along. With 22 workouts to choose from I do not see how I am going to get bored at all. It will give me the balance I am looking for.  Intense resistance training with P90X and crazy cardio workouts with Insanity.

P90X Insanity HybridP90X Insanity HybridP90X Insanity Hybrid

 

I recently finished a P90X Insanity hybrid workout that I put together. My goal was to combine the hardest workouts of both and really challenge myself. What I did was the normal P90X workouts and switched in the cardio days with Insanity and only did Yoga X once a month instead of every week.

The reason why I made this workout was I enjoyed the P90X results I had by gaining 10 pounds of muscle along with my Insanity results where I toned it up and gained a lot of cardio strength. After finishing Insanity I felt like I lost a little bit of strength because you don’t use any weights besides your body weight. The pull up bar was missing with Insanity as P90X got me addicted to it.

What Kind Of Results Did You Get From The P90X Insanity Hybrid Workout?

When I started the P90X Insanity hybrid workout my pull ups and chin ups dropped to 48 reps in the P90X Legs and Back workout from my high of 82. This means I lost almost half of my pull up strength during the couple of months of Insanity. At the end of the P90X Insanity hybrid workout I was able to get back up to 64. This is pretty good seeing that I was not doing P90X Legs and back every week.

Push up totals went up by 12% as compared to my time with P90X. You do so many push ups with Insanity and P90X that its like you do them everyday with the hybrid workout. With all of these push ups I put .5 inch on my chest.

My arms look bigger in the side photo and I’ve had people tell me it looks like I’ve put some muscle on again. I do see a 4 pack in my ab area but no 6 pack and my obliques are not as defined. I was doing the workout over the holidays and ate a ton of food and drank a lot of beer. Neither of which help show off the abs.

To me, the biggest gain came in the definition of my back muscles. I can clearly see a lot more bumps and lines in my back, shoulders, and lats. My weight was at 175 when I started and is now at 180 pounds. I’m guessing its a combo of muscle and weight gain from all the shit I ate and drank over November and December. Plus, I’ve been drinking one Whey Protein shake almost every day which is adding to my size.

After starting P90X almost two years ago and signing up to be a Beachbody Coach I have put on almost 15 pounds of muscle. Body fat percentage hovers in the 8.5% – 9.5% range. It would probably be lower if I could cut back on how much I eat at meals. I eat very well but portion control is a problem of mine. Then there’s that partying thing. I don’t rage out of control during the week but on the weekend anything is game.

Would You Recommend The P90X Insanity Hybrid Workout?

If you’ve been thinking about doing P90X or Insanity and live your life the way I do already then these are results you can assume to get (assuming your a guy). I followed the Insanity Elite Nutrition Plan about 50% and use most of the P90X Supplements along with some of the nutrition products.

If you can do better than me in regards to the eating portion you can expect 6 pack abs and more definition. Both P90X and Insanity work its just how hard do you want to make it work. I would grade my effort with the workouts at 100% and eating at 75%, so a 87.5% grade or B+.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do next but I’m think about getting P90X Plus and the Insanity Deluxe workouts and doing them over the next 60 days. In the mean time I think I’ve got all I’ve could out of the P90X Insanity hybrid workout for now.

Can Bodybuilders and Powerlifters Get Results With P90X?

January 21, 2010 - Updated November 30, 2018

I have had a number of guys contact me saying P90X is weak and a bunch of other nonsense. It might because my P90X results don’t show a guy who can bench press 200 pounds or squat a ton of shit.

Well, I don’t do either of those workouts so of course I’m not going to look that way. Another thing is that my pain threshold is not as high as the dudes who do those workouts. That does not mean that P90X is weak by any means. Its all about you.

Well yesterday I think I probably had the best comment ever left on my site. Here is what the guy said. (This is him in the photo bench pressing.)

“thanks, Just a note. My beautiful girlfriend and I started p90x yesterday WOW, I am a competitive powerlifter 5′10 235lbs. I bench 430 lbs. deadlift 640lbs. also I have a 36″ waist I’m not one of those potbelied power guys, and after the workout yesterday not only was I sweating like a motherf#@$%^ but I puked, rather explosively. This program rules.”

I laughed my ass off when I read that. I think the last time I puked “explosively” did not involve working out but only involved drinking too much back in college.

What this should show everybody is that P90X is not all about lifting tons of weight to put on as much muscle mass as possible. This is about getting into shape. Here is a guy who is two, maybe three times as strong as me saying he’s getting his butt kicked with the P90X Chest and Back workout.

Richie has definitely set the bar. Anything less than explosive puke while working out with P90X is considered failure.

Why Is Muscle Mass Such A Big Deal?

January 21, 2010 - Updated January 21, 2010

Over the weekend I received a comment from somebody on my site and a good conversation with my friend Paul talking about muscle mass and it got me thinking about it.

The first comment was directed towards me. It went something like

“I saw your photos on the sidebar of your website and I was thinking that you would have gained more muscle then you did. I have the same frame as you and I’m looking to gain some bulk so I don’t think P90X is for me.”

I responded to him asking how much muscle he was looking to put on and he said “about 10 pounds.” Obviously he did not read any of the posts on my site, especially the one where I talked about gaining 10 pounds of muscle with P90X. After replying he said he did not read that and that he was surprised on put on that much. I informed him that P90X can be used to build bulky muscle if you want but I chose to go in between bulky and lean. My goal was to put on muscle but not be weighed down by the bulk as I was going for that “pound for pound” look. 

What is interesting is that ever since I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach in Jan 09 and committed to P90X, Insanity, and the Beachbody supplements like the P90X Recovery Drink I’ve actually put on 15 pounds of muscle.

The other conversation with my friend Paul happened after we started talking about the Insanity workout. Paul is the brother of my friend Joe who got me started with P90X and was there with me at the beginning. Paul played hockey in high school and has always gone for the bigger bulkier look mainly so he could throw around people when they got into the corners of the rink. An added bonus was to push around his older brother and get him back for the years of older brother punishment.

After Paul’s first 30 days of doing the Insanity workout routine he told me he dropped a loop size on his belt and is feeling much stronger while being lighter. He plays on a mens hockey league where there is no checking allowed. There is the usual contact because it is hockey, but nobody is laying people out. Paul said his overall play has greatly improved as goals and assists are up in this short time period of doing Insanity.

So it got me thinking. Who would want bulky muscles? From my two years of doing the P90X workout and Insanity I have put on around 15 pounds of muscle while lowering my body fat %. I went from being able to do 2 total pull ups and chin ups in the P90X Legs & Back workout to 82. Besides those numbers where does it really count. I mean who really cares “how much you bench” or “how much can you squat?”

For me it comes on the field of play. With this 15 pounds of extra lean muscle I have been able to put almost 30 yards on my golf drive and went from hitting pop ups around 265 feet to now hitting lasers off the 290 foot sign on my softball league. My legs are much stronger now and making it through a day of snowboarding or skiing is twice as easy as it use to be. I’m a faster runner from these workouts and enjoy playing them much more. These are the results I’m looking for.

I could not really think why anybody who is not a professional athlete, bodybuilder, professional bouncer, a World’s Stongest Man competitor, bulldozer, or anybody over the age of 22 would even want to be all big and bulky. Most of the sports or activities we play over that age are built around who is in the best shape and not who can push around people with their weight. Its more to upkeep, puts more weight on your frame, and its got to be a pain in the ass finding clothes. To each his own.

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