If you came here you are probably thinking about starting a new workout routine and might be wondering is the Insanity Workout dangerous?

There’s a high emphasis on form and going at your own speed, so part of the danger isn’t following direction. It is a high intensity workout though, and those can be risky.

There are other dangers too, which I’ll get into later.

So is it worth your money?

I say no for a few reasons:

1. It only focuses on strength and muscular development. It pays no attention to the more important aspects of health like your lungs, skin and internal organs.
2. It is too commercial and pretty gimmicky
3. And is too exhausting to do for long period of time

You should pick a fitness program that focuses on body development AND overall health; not just physical gains.

Did you know there’s ways to workout that give you more energy after the workout than before? There’s one that does that in just 15 minutes while developing all your muscles and improving the three most important aspects of health that I mentioned above (lungs, skin and internal organs). No weights or equipment needed either.

Before we get into the full review of Insanity, let’s take a look at the company behind it and Shaun T, the instructor.

Beachbody is Kind of Sketchy

Beachbody is the company behind Insanity and has produced many popular exercise routines like P90x and 21 Day Fix.

They have an extremely powerful marketing strategy and this is the cause of their sketchiness. Are there products popular because of their marketing or because their programs are that good, and do that much for your health?

It’s important to note that Beachbody is a MLM which means it is Multi-Level Marketing company.

This type of sales is known as downlining. One salesman gets compensation for not only selling a product, but also gets money for getting others to sell products.

So if a salesman convinces someone to sell Beachbody products, the original salesman gets a piece of whatever the salesman below him sells.

So what do you think motivates these salesman? Do you think it’s because they believe this is the best routine and they’re helping so many people or do you think money is motivating them?

I’d say this is one of the biggest dangers of Insanity. Most reviews you see on the product come from people who’s income depends on you buying the product.

This can lead to VERY misleading reviews.

The people selling the product are way more interested in getting your money than seeing you get healthy.

There are websites dedicated to exposing these type of scams and even some dedicated to exposing Beachbody for this.

Shaun T has been with the company for a while and has many videos with them. He does have a degree in Sport Science which gives him some credibility.

The Specifics of the Workout

This routine has been crowned the toughest and most intense workout available. Some people have confused this with the best. Just to be clear the best routine is one that improves the most important aspects of health and in the most efficient amount of time.

Insanity does neither but we’ll get into that later.

Insanity is broken up into 10 different sections:

1. Plyometric Cardio Circuit
2. Cardio Power and Resistance
3. Pure Cardio
4. Cardio Recovery
5. Cardio Abs
6. Core Cardio and Balance
7. Max Interval Circuit
8. Max Interval Plyo
9. Max Recovery
10. Max Cardio Conditioning

These are spread over a two month period and can take up to a hour to perform.

Here’s what I like about it:

• You don’t need any equipment
• Can be done at home

That’s about it.

It’s Unnecessarily Exhausting

There are two types of suffering in this world:

1. Suffering that benefits you in the long run
2. And suffering that has no benefit to you

I put the suffering of Insanity in the second category. I don’t even really think you can argue health benefits because you’re not going to want to do it for long. Eventually you’ll just begin to dread it.

Life has so much stress, your health practices should be relaxing to balance out this stress; something you look forward to.

It seems the main benefit of doing Insanity is to be able to just say you’re doing Insanity; bragging rights.

There’s no reason to workout like a professional athlete if you’re not a professional athlete. You will get no benefit doing so.

There are routines that can work your muscles and at the same time calm your emotions and clear your mind for the day. Doesn’t that seem better for your life than just exhausting yourself and gaining some muscle? Don’t you think that will help your career, or school work more than Insanity?

You’re not going to want to do anything after this workout and that’s going to destroy your productivity.

I’ve heard people say the reason I don’t like this routine is because “I didn’t want it enough” or “I’m just making excuses.” Want what? Unnecessary exhaustion and short lived gains?

The reason is I don’t see any value in this routine. I know exercises and health techniques that BLOW AWAY the health benefits this routine provides. And does so in the most enjoyable way possible.

One of the biggest health myths is you need to exhaust to have a nice body or get health benefits; this just isn’t true and there are smarter ways to do it.

It Cost Too Much and Takes Too Long

The $120 cost to get Insanity is even worst than it sounds. This is because after you move on because of how exhausting it is, you’re going to probably want to buy the next big, popular fitness video.

You should be learning health skills that will benefit you for your entire life and not wasting your time on gimmicky workouts like this.

Also, it can take over a hour to complete some of these workouts. When you factor the time it takes to shower and the time you need to rest after the workout, it’ll probably take a hour and half.

That’s way to long to devote to your body and muscles; it’s just unnecessary. Your health and happiness depends on more than just that and if you spend so much time focusing your time superficially, you’ll never develop the important parts.

No Focus on the Most Important Aspects of Health

Insanity, like most programs, only focus on muscle development and weight loss. The truth is the main aspects of health are:

1. Your lungs
2. Your skin
3. And all your internal organs

Muscles are a sign of health and beauty and if the three aspects of health I just mentioned are extremely healthy, muscles become easier to develop. You won’t need hour long routines to get them.

Your lungs are the source of your bodies energy and some would argue your breathing is the single most important aspect of your health and well being.

The whole yoga tradition is based around your breath.

Your lungs play a vital role in your metabolism. Your metabolism comes form the combustion of oxygen and your food. Having weak lungs doesn’t give your body enough oxygen and metabolic disease results.

Metabolic diseases include:

• Diabetes
• Anemia
• Obesity

The best way to maintain your lungs and avoid these diseases is through breathing exercises. If done correctly, breathing exercises are extremely easy and will help you build muscle and lose weight with little effort.

Also, it is really important to note only 1 out of every 50 people breath correctly.

Your Skin is your bodies protective layer and defends against bacteria and germs. If your skin is weak, germs penetrate your body easier and you become more susceptible to sickness.

Also your skin eliminates toxins and poisons from your body. If this process is interrupted, these toxins remain in your body, and it can have really bad effects.

There are thousands of tiny muscles connected to your skin that receive little exercise in the course of their life. After a while your skin loses its tone and begins to wrinkle and sag.

The only way to keep your skin firm and healthy for life is with friction and cleanliness. There’s a few way to do this and this is the best way.

Your internal organs need to be healthy or you can get some serious diseases. What’s the point of having a well developed body if you end up having kidney problems or digestive problems.

Your organs help make your blood and use the nutrients from food to power your body. If you have poor blood or can’t metabolize food correctly you put yourself at serious risk and can never get the body you desire.

Besides just physical benefits, having healthy lungs, skin and internal organs are extremely important to over well being and emotional health.

Everything we eat, drink and breath, no matter how natural or organic, has some level of poison in it.

Our eliminating organs, digestive system, liver, kidney, bowels, skin and lungs are responsible for filtering these poisons out.

If these eliminating organs don’t do their job auto intoxication or “self poisoning” takes place.

This can lead to not only physical problems but:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Giddiness
• Nervousness
• Concentration Problems
• Low Energy

All these can be avoided by following the links in this section.

My Final Word

Insanity is highly commercialized and only focuses on muscle development. Plus it’s overly exhausting, too long and costs too much.

I consider these types of workouts to be gimmicks.

Insanity’s gimmick? How exhausting it is.

That doesn’t mean extra health benefits or anything like that, it just means you’re not going to want to do it for long.

If you want muscles and to lose weight, you can do it in much easier ways. And if you truly want health inside and out, there are routines that can do that, while developing your muscles in 15 minutes.

Like I said, the main benefit of Insanity is to say you did it and that’s about it. You might be able to impress a few people with that, but I guarantee you impress more with true health.

Please comment below if you have any comments or opinions. Also, share with friends and family on social media.

If you’d like to know the person behind the review and to hear my story, click here.

Thanks for reading!