Shaun T's INSANITY is justifiably feared by many. Feared and respected, because it has earned the reputation of being the most difficult fitness routine on DVD, pushing people past their max with every session, and consequently delivering phenomenal results at the end of its eight weeks. However, the creators of INSANITY and Shaun T himself both are emphatic that you should only try INSANITY if you are already of a certain fitness level. This is not a program for beginners or those with injuries, and in this article I will try to demonstrate why, having just undergone the INSANITY Fit Test yesterday. So consider this a live review from somebody whose muscles are still aching.
Shaun T's INSANITY program comes with a Fit Test, which is included for two main reasons. The first is the most obvious, which is that it provides you with an excellent means of gauging your progress throughout the program. You take the Fit Test every two weeks, and by tracking how much you improve on the test you are able to gauge how you are improving over-all. Thus it provides you with a set of metrics that are objective to your own fitness level, give you something to strive to beat, and encourage you as you begin to exceed your own records.
The second reason is slightly more subtle but just as important, if not more so. It's a fact that people are competitive, and men especially tend to react when told that a fitness program is too tough for them by desiring to prove everybody wrong and undergo it. However, this can lead to disastrous results if one is simply not in sufficiently good shape to perform the routines. The consequences of undergoing INSANITY if you are not prepared ranges from simply burning out early on as you grow disillusioned with yourself and your inability to perform and keep up, to the far end of the scale where you injure yourself badly or aggravate old injuries by stressing them too much. It is specifically for this reason that everybody is urged to be get their doctor's approval before beginning this routine.
The Fit Test itself takes thirty minutes, something that I drew comfort from going in until I realized just how intense those thirty minutes were going to be. It begins with a warm up that serves as a good warning-the warm up itself is challenging and should get your heart hammering before the test even begins. If you're already feeling unsteady or light headed by the end of the warm up, I'd advise that you seriously reconsider your state of preparation.
From there, Shaun T leads you through a number of tests. Each one comprises of one motion repeated as many times as you can within one minute. Thus you have to go full throttle and do as many Suicide Jumps or Switch Kicks as you can. There are eight exercises in total, and by the end of the test you are guaranteed to be dripping in sweat. Don't let the fact that this is meant to provide you with benchmarks fool you into thinking that it will be less challenging; in fact, it's incredibly intense, and definitely gave me a taste of what I'm going to be in for these next two months.
So wish me luck!
Shaun T's INSANITY program comes with a Fit Test, which is included for two main reasons. The first is the most obvious, which is that it provides you with an excellent means of gauging your progress throughout the program. You take the Fit Test every two weeks, and by tracking how much you improve on the test you are able to gauge how you are improving over-all. Thus it provides you with a set of metrics that are objective to your own fitness level, give you something to strive to beat, and encourage you as you begin to exceed your own records.
The second reason is slightly more subtle but just as important, if not more so. It's a fact that people are competitive, and men especially tend to react when told that a fitness program is too tough for them by desiring to prove everybody wrong and undergo it. However, this can lead to disastrous results if one is simply not in sufficiently good shape to perform the routines. The consequences of undergoing INSANITY if you are not prepared ranges from simply burning out early on as you grow disillusioned with yourself and your inability to perform and keep up, to the far end of the scale where you injure yourself badly or aggravate old injuries by stressing them too much. It is specifically for this reason that everybody is urged to be get their doctor's approval before beginning this routine.
The Fit Test itself takes thirty minutes, something that I drew comfort from going in until I realized just how intense those thirty minutes were going to be. It begins with a warm up that serves as a good warning-the warm up itself is challenging and should get your heart hammering before the test even begins. If you're already feeling unsteady or light headed by the end of the warm up, I'd advise that you seriously reconsider your state of preparation.
From there, Shaun T leads you through a number of tests. Each one comprises of one motion repeated as many times as you can within one minute. Thus you have to go full throttle and do as many Suicide Jumps or Switch Kicks as you can. There are eight exercises in total, and by the end of the test you are guaranteed to be dripping in sweat. Don't let the fact that this is meant to provide you with benchmarks fool you into thinking that it will be less challenging; in fact, it's incredibly intense, and definitely gave me a taste of what I'm going to be in for these next two months.
So wish me luck!