Review: "Insanity"

BLUF:  Insanity (http://www.beachbody.com/) is far better than nothing.  It will generate many of the benefits folks seek from a work out and requires no equipment, little space, and no movement coaching or skill.

I walked into a class to watch a couple folks doing "Insanity" and this was almost the first thing I heard (at least, words this effect):  "Aerobics is the best thing you can do to change your body".  I think you can walk into any aerobics class and satisfy yourself as to whether or not that is true.  I didn't write the line, but I believe it - "you cannot out train a bad diet."  If you want to change your body, you must eat the right food.  Exercise can certainly add muscle, make you feel better, make you healthier, reduce your rate of aging, reduce chronic pain, and make your body more capable of living a life like you want to live ... but there's very little evidence that exercise alone will "change your body."  Most exercise results in increased hunger, to one degree or another, and that's a good thing - else every lumber jack would have died of starvation.

Insanity looks like aerobics.  It may differ from aerobics in that it claims to be based on intervals, in which, presumably, activity becomes intense enough to work the anaerobic energy system.  Watching the video, I saw folks working very, very hard.  The participants in the room were also working hard.  The question is - to what end?

In terms of what physical capacities they were developing:
They were not developing speed.  They were not developing power.  They were perhaps improving range of motion for those who were ROM limited, to some degree.  They were developing cardiovascular endurance, and stamina (the ability to get oxygen and fuel to working muscles).  There was a minor strength component, depending upon how prescisely you define 'strength' (some say it's only 'strength' development if one is working with a weight they can use for ten reps or less).  There were some elements of coordination, agility (ability to change direction), balance and accuracy, but to an unmeasurable degree (no way to determine improvement objectively since there was no objective outcome of their movement).

In terms of what work capacities they were developing:
They were not developing the ability to pull things to them, or to climb (for example as pullups would).  They were not developing the ability to powerfully open the hip (as for example the clean, or squat would).  They were developing the ability to stabilize the spine under load to a minimal degree (pushups and planks), relative to loaded cleans, jerks, squats or deadlifts (as examples of some but not all of the modalities which might have this effect).  They were developing some ability to push, and to open the hip with minimal loads and range of motion, but with sub-maximal power and/or strength.

Primarily, Insanity looks like a lot of moving around.  It will make a participant sweat.  It will result in the psychological benefits of hard physical labor.  Doing Insanity will be infinitely better than doing nothing.  It has the benefit of requiring little equipment, and of allowing many participants in a small space, and it would be possible to get a reasonably high percentage of the possible benefits with absolutly no skill or coaching in how to move.  It lacks what I would like to see in measurably objective outcomes, but it will no doubt increase a person's ability to sustain an elevated work output over a period of time. 

Athletes need to develop above all else the ability to powerfully open the hip, in combination with the ability to stabilize the spine under a load (so that the spine may serve as a transmitter for the forces generated by the opening of the hip).  These two capacities underlie virtually all athletic activity - running, jumping, throwing, punching, kicking, or swinging a stick (sword, staff, bat or club).  From this perspective, I would not recommend Insanity as a strength and conditioning program for athletes, warriors or first responders - unless, the choice is Insanity or nothing.  Additionally, if all one does for strength and conditioning is jogging or some other aerobic activity, and there's no motivation to get real strength and conditioning equipment or coaching, Insanity would be a great addition.

Lastly, if you want to lose body fat, don't even think of Insanity as a solution.  For that result, you will have to re-educate yourself on how to eat.