Insanity asylum

handful

A load of people at work are raving about this fitness program and I'm tempted to give it a try to see if I can improve my core strength and leg power to hopefully take my cycling to the next level. Has anyone used this to good effect or am I just better to grind out more hours on the turbo / Trainer Road over the winter?

First hand experiences would be much appreciated.

imposter2.0

core strength and leg power ??

napoleond

I've done it as a general fitness thing. It made me generally more fit. Useless for cycling though.

BenderRodriguez

If you want a change from the 'grind' of sitting on a turbo over the winter, why not try running? looking at the Time Trial Forum, this seems to be quite the 'in thing' right now. Even Jeff Jones, as coached by Ric Stern, is getting in to it!

handful

Thanks for the comments so far, I used to run quite a bit but find my right knee starts to hurt after 20-25 minutes so end up limiting myself to about 3 miles. I also never really felt that it helped my cycling much either. I think I'll get stuck into Trainer Road and then maybe have a month of Insanity just to give myself a break. Trainer Road is great but the turbo is still not an exciting prospect!

keef66

Why not wrap up warm and stick some decent lights and mudguards on the bike? Most of the winter isn't actually that cold. I'd rather take my chances with the potholes and wildlife than sit in the garage on a turbo.

robklancs

I completed the insanity programme alongside doing about 75 miles a week. It definatly improved the tone and strength in the abs shoulders and arms and chest. I also improved my fastest ever ride over 40 miles by about 3mph avg, I can't say for certain if it was down to the workouts but in my opinion they helped. There are a lot of explosive leg activities like power jumps, it is a cv, interval workout programme.

handful

keef66 wrote:

Why not wrap up warm and stick some decent lights and mudguards on the bike? Most of the winter isn't actually that cold. I'd rather take my chances with the potholes and wildlife than sit in the garage on a turbo.

I used to but had a couple of falls on cow sh1te and leaves on the local lanes, downside of living in a rural area. I will go out when conditions are right and I have a decent torch from my mtb accessories! Thanks for the comment.

robklancs wrote:

I completed the insanity programme alongside doing about 75 miles a week. It definatly improved the tone and strength in the abs shoulders and arms and chest. I also improved my fastest ever ride over 40 miles by about 3mph avg, I can't say for certain if it was down to the workouts but in my opinion they helped. There are a lot of explosive leg activities like power jumps, it is a cv, interval workout programme.

That's exactly the kind of comment I was hoping for, something different to give my training efforts a boost that will hopefully result in improvement on the bike. Thanks for sharing your experience.

napoleond

Improvements through doing Insanity are likely to be as a result of weight loss. You can't get better training for cycling than cycling.

robklancs

Your right about cycling being the best training for cycling! Though through doing insanity I didn't lose much weight, maybe an ounce or 2. Plus the route i recorded the time on was as flat as they come, maybe 300ft in 40 mile. Like I said, I'm not sure the insanity improved the cycling or not, but it coincided with a fast ride (conditions similar to previous ride). I suppose the op hs to just give it a go and see if it works.

mrfpb

If you can manage a three mile run, then join your local Parkrun (Google it) on a Saturday morning. Their very social. Some courses are smoother / flatter than others. It can make a change from a bike ride and at 5 km is short enough to stay motivated for.

dw300

robklancs wrote:

Your right about cycling being the best training for cycling! Though through doing insanity I didn't lose much weight, maybe an ounce or 2. Plus the route i recorded the time on was as flat as they come, maybe 300ft in 40 mile. Like I said, I'm not sure the insanity improved the cycling or not, but it coincided with a fast ride (conditions similar to previous ride). I suppose the op hs to just give it a go and see if it works.

You added 3mph to a 40mile ride? Were you totally out of shape the first time, or simply not trying for a PB? Was it the first time you'd ridden the route?

What was your speed prior to the PB? If it was 20 - 21, and you upped it to 23 - 24, then I'd say that's more like to be that you mistakenly jumped onto your TT bike, than a whole body workout. If it was 17mph previously, then I suspect you dont ride the route often, or didnt try and go that fast previously. There are also plenty of other factors that could add avg speed to a ride.

Nothing personal, and Im not saying you didnt achieve that improvement .. Im just asking to get more info. You're giving the guy a lot of false hope (judging by his reply) that he's onto some magic training that will make him significantly faster, and it probably won't.

handful

Don't worry, I wouldn't expect to see a 3mph gain, I only get about that much swapping from full sus MTB to road bike! I'm keeping insanity on the back burner for now and getting back into Trainer Road on the turbo. If I get bored I'll have a go at insanity as I'm sure it won't do my fitness any harm and may just help a bit, 1mph would do me for now.

FransJacques

I keep on seeing the Insantiy adverts on TV (maybe I should just go to bed instead) but I must say I'm impressed by them. Finally a fitness regime that advertises it's hard and doesn't sell any short-cuts. 45 mins a day 6 days a week is about as much as I ride my bike during the winter/cross season (apart from cross races) anyway so it's not an excessive amount of time.

It's also good to get away from the turbo.

Did anyone actually pony up and buy the DVDs? How much did it set you back?