FITNESS ZONE
INSANITY ASYLUM: THE COMPLETE REVIEW – Part 1
Insanity Asylum is the sequel to the body crushing monster known as Insanity. Shaun T has taken the bar and raised it to a new level that promises more than simply a home fitness program. His goal is to turn you into an honest to goodness athlete, if not Batman.
But is it everything we’re being told? Is the mass viral internet marketing by those near omnipresent “Beachbody Coaches” truly representative of the product? That’s where I come in kids. I’ve done P90X and barely survived Insanity. Now I’m going to suck it up, slap myself in the face and go hard for 30 days in the Asylum.
Insanity Asylum comes as a 6 DVD set, some instructional booklets, a floor ladder and a jump-rope. The rope is fairly lightweight which makes for easier use as opposed to the heavier gauge versions out there and the ladder is built tough.
And now, we begin…
DAY ONE : FIT TEST
Like Insanity before it, Asylum has a 25 minute test to see how well you can pull off a select set of moves. Some test your speed by mainly moving through the floor ladder ( ex. Agility Heisman ), and others your strength ( ex. Moving Pushups, X Jumps ). You are to do this on Day 1, 15, and 30 to track your progress. Sorry to say I’m apparently less co-ordinated than a drunken bear, but at least my numbers should only go up from here!
Half way through my wife came down the stairs to see if she needed to collect on my life insurance policy yet. That means I have to work extra hard to show off the goods. There’s not a whole lot of downtime in this routine, but enough to kiss my biceps and tell Mrs. Parrot that we may need to get a permit for these GUNS!
I was pretty good and tired after this workout, but my legs were not blown to smithereens like a typical Insanity routine. And that’s good because tomorrow is “Speed and Agility”, and it looks like a serious killer.
One irritating thing about the DVD’s was that I could not skip past the FBI and Disclaimer warnings, and I tried on 3 separate players. It’s not a knock on the program, just something that maybe Beachbody can remember for future releases so I’m not tapping my fingers waiting for the menu to show up.
CONTINUE TO INSANITY ASYLUM: THE COMPLETE REVIEW – Part 2
AsF9c
August 18, 2015 at
Hey, I plan on starting this program but are weight/resistant bands necessary for the strength workout, or do they have modifications?
Dysfunctional Parrot
August 18, 2015 at
They do have modifications as I recall. I think the most you would need is maybe a couple 20lb weights for the average sized male. Something to at least do arm curls with.
Blagaflaga
May 25, 2014 at
Hey, I just turned 15 and I’m a T25 grad. I started playing football and made a lot more fitness improvement. We’ve been practicing for about three weeks now and we practice for three hours six days a week. It started to get easy towards the end of the second week, so on the third week I did T25 in the morning and football practice in the afternoon. I only did it Monday through Wednesday because I had the spring game on Friday, and obviously I needed rest. I don’t have practice all next week because of Finals, but I want to still improve. I’m not trying to sound overconfident but now T25 is pretty easy. I recently upped the weight I use and I can still do a double workout(Beta level) if I don’t have practice. After this week have weight training again, but weight training never really makes me that sore. Especially when compared to regular football practice and it’s shorter than regular practice, so it’s basically nothing. So the question is am I ready for Asylum, or should I do Insanity then go to Asylum. I really want to do Asylum because the sports training is perfect for football and from what I’ve heard it’s a little harder than Insanity which is again perfect because I want to be the best. Is a T25 grad with a teenage body now doing T25 and three hours of football practice in good shape for the Asylum? From what I’ve seen the Asylum is unlike any other workout and I need some advice from someone who has firsthand experience.
Dysfunctional Parrot
May 25, 2014 at
If you’re young and already fit then yes, Asylum is a great next step. It is not however a program for beginners.
Asylum is actually specifically designed to be athletic sports training so I would think this would be a natural fit.
Blagaflaga
May 29, 2014 at
Thanks so much for your advice! I ordered it as soon as you told me and it just came a little while ago. I have one more question though. I have dumbbells and strength bands but not a pull up bar, so could I do STRENGTH or would I have to do STRENGTH WITH BANDS?
Dysfunctional Parrot
May 29, 2014 at
Yes it uses the pull-up bar, but also has alternatives that do not such as doing rows with weights or bands instead. In fact, the pull-up bar gets little use in Asylum in general.
Dysfunctional Parrot
May 14, 2011 at
Regretfully I have to delay that review! Threw my blasted back out lifting a tire out of the trunk!!! I'm recovering pretty quick, so I expect to resume the hurt in a couple more days. That's the reason for the revised date of May 23.
Steve B.
May 10, 2011 at
I am looking forward to your review. I have been doing the new Vol. 3 One-on-One's and cannot wait to see the final product. However, I hope that the production teams for P90X series and the Insanty series hook up. A hybrid video would be nuts!