Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2

After completing 30 days of Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 1, I decided to move on to Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2!  Both programs are very intense and physically demanding, but they are also very different! Volume one is a much more cardio based program, with one day of weight lifting/strength training.  Whereas Volume 2 definitely changes the focus to resistance training with lots of weight lifting(3 out of the 5 workout days).  I enjoyed both programs a lot and I'm sure I will do them again in the future!  If you'd like to learn more about Volume One or my first experience doing a Shaun T workout program, please read my review in the "Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 1" post.



In The Asylum Vol. 2 you workout 5 days a week and have two rest/stretch days.  But, before you start the program I would highly recommend that you watch and follow along with the Agility Tutorial.  This workout shows you many of the exercises that you will be doing throughout the workout program.  In fact after struggling through X-Trainer and Championship in week one, I did the tutorial a couple times a week for the next two weeks and it really helped the moves become second nature.

X-Trainer - This is a full body, cardio based workout.  There is some resistance training(using your body weight).

Upper Elite - Is your upper body resistance training day.  Not really any cardio, but use weights that challenge you and you'll feel it for sure!

Power Legs - Lower body resistance training.  Again, not much cardio, but the burnouts are pretty intense.

Back and 6 Pack - On your last resistance day you're working your abs and back.

Championship - Is a tough, full body workout incorporating both cardio and resistance training.  It is not as demanding as Gameday in The Asylum Vol. 1, but it is an amazing workout!

Ab Shredder - One of my favorite Ab workouts!  Slightly longer than Ab Ripper X, Cardio Abs and Beast Abs...But, it is a lot of fun!

Pure Contact - Is a great training program for teaching your body how to land from all the jumps and intense Insanity moves.  It's also a nice little 25 min cardio workout.

One of the first things that I noticed doing The Asylum Vol. 2 was that I was getting light headed and was hunger all the time.  I was eating about every 3 hours and was consuming around 2200 calories a day, but with the increased weight lifting my body was trying to build lean muscle and that takes a lot of calories.  So I slowly began increasing my caloric intake, but it wasn't until I started consuming between 3000-3200 calories a day that I felt satisfied and like I was giving my body the fuel that it needed.  I could have stayed at around 2200 calories and my body would have continued to burn off fat, but being in that catabolic state I would have been breaking down and losing muscle as well.  When I started The Asylum Vol. 2 I weighed 173lbs, and dropped down to 171lbs before increasing my caloric intake.  I ended up doing this workout program for an extra 10 days (40 days overall) due to issues with my IT band, during which time I was only doing upper body workouts.  Here are my measurements at the start and end of Isanity: The Asylum Vol.2...
           
                Start              End
Weight -   171lbs           176lbs
Waist -      34"               34"
Hips -       37.5"             37.5"
Chest -     40"               40.5"
R. Arm -   16"               16.5"
L. Arm -   16"                16.5"
R. Thigh -  22.5"           23"
L. Thigh -  22.5"           23"

Insanity: The Asylum

While going through P90X, I was excited for and getting ready to start 90 days of Body Beast!  I've always loved body building/weight lifting and the Body Beast workout program looked to be my kind of program.  However after dropping 24lbs and starting to expose my abs by eating well and following the P90X workout program, I decided that I really wanted to have a well defined and ripped mid-section.  Because of this I decided at the last minute to do Insanity: The Asylum!  Cardio workouts and my aerobic level in general have always been a weak point in my fitness, and I knew that I was gonna be in for some very rough days!  In fact after following the workout program for about two weeks, I was really debating if I wanted to continue.

All the workouts are pretty intense and they left me feeling wiped out.  There were many days that my body was so sore, and I really didn't know if or how I was going to make it through my workout.  But, I kept with the program and did the best that I could everyday.  In the end these were usually some of my best workouts, I had to dig deep and find the mental focus to push my body through.  The sense of accomplishment at the end of these days, helped to fuel my fire and want more!  I would say that the roughest part of The Asylum is the Gameday with Overtime workout, and then following that up by doing Vertical Plyo the very next day!

After 30 days here are my results!  I

Weight: Starting-181lbs  Current-173lbs
Waist: Start-35.5"  Current-34"
Hips:  Start-38.5"  Current-37.5"
Right Thigh:  Start-23"  Current-22.5"
Left Thigh:  Start-23"  Current-22.5"

Athletic Assessment Test

Agility Hesiman:  Start-8  Current-10
In&Out Ab Progressions:  Start-33  Current-42
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks:  Start-59  Current-67
Agility Shoulder Taps:  Start-4.5  Current-6
X Jumps:  Start-22 Current-29
Agility Lateral Shuffles:  Start-10.5  Current-16
Agility Bear Crawl:  Start-6  Current-8

Next up I'm very excited to try out Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2!  From the previews and hearing Shaun T talk about this program, it is going to be a killer!