P90X and Insanity

Just a few of my thoughts on P90X and Insanity.

I did P90X after pregancies 6 and 7 and Insanity after pregnancy 8.

(I always feel like I'm starting from square one after each baby... it stinks, those darn pregnancy hormones turn me into a different person that loves sweets, is tired, and unmotivated to exercise. Not a good combination.)

P90X is mostly an exercise program, although they did send me a recipe booklet with the package. I didn't focus on diet much when I did it, I just focused at staying with the workout schedule and I got down to 135 after pregnancy 6. I was happy to be there again but still not totally content, wishing I could loose the last 10-15 lbs somehow (I'm 5'2" and the lowest I've been was 120 after pregnancy 4. I don't know what my waist or hip measurements were at that time)

I knew I wasn't focusing on my diet like I should, but I felt that was too hard cause I was really hungry all the time - all that hungry muscle wanting to be fed so it could be ready for the next workout. So I never got down to my goal weight of 120-125. Plus I also knew when I started P90X that it wasn't something I could do forever - too boring to always do workouts via dvd and also too much time each day. Atleast too much time for a busy mom.

Then pregnancy #7 and it's accompanying blessing of little Lily arrived in summer '09. Starting from scratch again, at 3 weeks post baby I was 175-180 lbs and I started P90X for exercising again, but no real diet plan. Slowly but surely I got to 145-150 by February 2010 but was kinda stuck there and just didn't have the motivation to keep putting in an hour and a half of exercising a day.

Insanity is shorter in it's time duration than P90X. The first month is pretty do-able, with a warm up, workout, and cool down in about a half hour. The second month they double the intensity/insanity I hear. I didn't make it that far. Here I am after pregnancy 8 ended in June and trying to kick it in gear. I didn't buy Insanity but I did it for one week with my sister in law in November by watching online recordings of the videos. Looks good, but again, especially with how intense those second 30 days are, I'd say it's not something you can adapt as a new lifestyle.

If you're looking to lose weight and train for some event or reach a goal, go for it, but my goal is to be thin, strong, and flexible. I'm not going for bodybuilder strong, just strong enough for my needs as a mom. I'm not training for an iron man or marathon at this point in my life, so as I've tried to find a program that meets my needs, I realized it's not Insanity or P90X - for me they aren't realistic time wise or necessary goal wise.


Workouts that are compatible for a busy mom lifestyle are short workouts (short as 10 - 15 minutes a day or as long as 30-40 minutes, no more) that don't leave me so famished and hungry that I blow my diet. Zuska's ZWOW workouts and Bodyrock are two examples of workout styles that are realistic and work for busy mom's trying to stay healthy and fit, with the added bonus that they can be done at home, so no $ from the family budget has to go to a gym membership and no time is wasted with that extra 20-30 minutes driving to the gym.

I did bodyrock for about a year when we lived abroad in Costa Rica and Chile from Sep 2010 to May 2011. Now I'm home and continue to do those kinds of workouts and add any new things I find online. I plan on putting up a basic weekly workout which will be the basic schedule I plan on following throughout this year.

So there are some of my thoughts on what's worked and not worked for me. I hope you find a program that works for you!