Since I will be finishing Insanity soon, I have been considering a P90X / Insanity hybrid.  This, of course, is not a new and revolutionary idea.  Others have done it…

Most people basically do the 3 P90X strength training days and substitute Plyometrics, Yoga and Kenpo X with Insanity workouts.  Those who really like the yoga may keep Yoga X.  At any rate, this sort of combination seem to make sense.  For instance, a typical week could look like this…

  • Monday: Chest, Back, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Tuesday: Max Interval Plyo
  • Wednesday: Shoulders, Arms, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Thursday: Max Cardio Conditioning or Yoga X
  • Friday: Legs and Back, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Saturday: Max Interval Circuit or P90X+ Interval X Plus
  • Sunday: Rest or Stretch X

On the surface, that may seem like a pretty good hybrid.  However, the Insanity workouts include exercises that hit the chest, shoulders and triceps.  For instance, Max Interval Plyo has push-ups and plank movements.  Actually, all the Insanity workouts include some variation of the push-ups.  The problem with that is you don’t give your chest, shoulders and triceps enough recovery time if you are blasting them on the strength days and working them out on the Insanity days.

I believe further modification is required.  So let’s take the above schedule and change it a bit.

  • Monday: Chest, Back, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Tuesday: Max Interval Plyo – minus the push-ups
  • Wednesday: Shoulders, Arms, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Thursday: Max Cardio Conditioning or Yoga X
  • Friday: Legs and Back, ARX or some other of Abs/Core routine
  • Saturday: Max Interval Circuit or P90X+ Interval X Plus – minus the push-ups
  • Sunday: Rest or Stretch X

As you can see I took out the push-ups.  That will give your chest, shoulders and triceps the recovery time it needs to give it your all for the P90X workouts.  So what do you do when you take out all the strength work from the Insanity workouts.  Well, you can either hit the skip button or you can do a different Insanity exercise in place of the strength training exercises.  Ok, so now we don’t have the problem with overworking muscle groups.  Any of the Max workouts before legs day may be difficult.  However, I think that after some time, you will be able to do it.  You could also run, bike or swim on Thursday to get your cardio done.

There are a lot of variations and you can mix and match as you see fit to meet your goals.  Will I be doing a hybrid P90X / Insanity workout?  Well, I am leaning that way.  However, I may continue doing P90X and begin training for a triathlon if my knee has healed up enough.   After Insanity is done, I will take it out for a test run.  Anyway, I can make that decision after I am done with Insanity.

I have also designed an extreme 12 week workout that I may try.  What is it like?  Well, I want to keep that under wraps for now.  I am still tweaking it.

Anyway, that is my take on the whole hybrid thing.  I personally think Insanity, while brutal, is not a balanced workout.  Heavy on the Interval Cardio and light on the strength training components.  P90X is a much more balanced workout.  However, I think the cardio intensity could be cranked up a bit.  I mean, Cardio X is kind of weak.  After doing a round of P90X, I found that Kenpo X was getting too easy.  I further found Plyometrics to be a walk in the park compared to the Insanity Max workouts.  I wouldn’t recommend doing the hybrid workout until you have reached, at least, an intermediate level of fitness, maybe higher.  Do a round of P90X, Tabata or Crossfit first.