The latest high impact craze - Did Insanity cause it?

[Cowgirl32]

Originally Posted by FitBoop

I like plyo and jumping, but don't like quickly going up and down from the floor (it makes me feel sick). I enjoy the challenge of Hiit (high intensity interval training) workouts, feel like I am increasing my endurance, and feel like I am burning lots of calories. I worry, however, that doing too much impact will eventually take a toll on my knees or cause some other injury.

I like Turbo Fire Hiit workouts.

I did temporary trade for an Insanity workout and liked it ok, but my body hates impact in general. I like to mix intensities and what I LOVE about Turbo Fire is that I can still make it high intensity but keep it low impact.

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by bearcatfan

If I remember correctly, Cathe's knee surgery was due to a skiing accident.

That was her first knee surgery, years ago. The more recent one was something about "plica syndrome".

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by RedPanda

I think the way P90X is set up, with old school bodybuilding splits - back and biceps one day, shoulders and triceps the next (or whatever) is asking for trouble. The trainers at my gym set up a similar program for me, which contributed to my shoulder injury, and I've seen people on other forums who have had similar experiences. IMO, that type of split is outdated and potentially injurious.

It's not the split itself that is the problem, IMO, it's how the workouts are sequenced.

IF one did these workouts back-to-back, or even too close together (as Cathe suggests they be done for STS Meso 1), it would not be good for the shoulders, but in P90x, you do one upper-body workout on day one, the lower body workout on day 3, and the second upper-body workout on day 5.

[RedPanda]

Originally Posted by bearcatfan

Just curious ... what is wrong with that kind of split? What body parts would you group together?

You can't really isolate your back, chest, or shoulder muscles because if you work those body parts, you'll be working some other upper body muscles at the same time, so this type of split, if performed on consecutive days, could lead to an overtraining injury.

Since my shoulder injury, I'm a strictly upper/lower split person. I don't lift the day before or after my deadlifting days (and I do very heavy deadlifts) because, while it's primarily a lower body exercise, that lift does involve some upper body strength.

Originally Posted by Kathryn

It's not the split itself that is the problem, IMO, it's how the workouts are sequenced.

IF one did these workouts back-to-back, or even too close together (as Cathe suggests they be done for STS Meso 1), it would not be good for the shoulders, but in P90x, you do one upper-body workout on day one, the lower body workout on day 3, and the second upper-body workout on day 5.

OK - I didn't get that, and I'm relieved to hear it.

My impressions about the sequencing of the upper body workouts in P90X came from a podcast in which the commenters were talking about the program. They must have formed their impression about the sequencing of the workouts from the titles of the DVDs, rather than by looking at the workout plan.

[FitBoop]

Regarding split weight training (doing different body parts on different days), I believe it is an excellent form of training. Every type of training is not for every "body." I don't think that a properly designed split weight training routine is inherently dangerous for most bodies. In fact, I believe that it is better in many ways than doing all upper body parts or all lower body in one workout. Of course, it all depends on a person's goals and fitness level. I do not recommend split training for beginner exercisers. It is too much load on the muscles and connective tissues for a beginner.

Split weight training is good for people who already have an established strength base, in that it allows for more work to be done by each muscle group. When you do split training, you can, for example, do 4 exercises of 3-4 sets for each body part. I tend to like doing pushing muscles on one day (i.e. shoulders, triceps and chest) and pulling muscles (back and biceps) on another day. Sometimes I break it down more. Other weeks, I prefer to work opposing muscle groups together (i.e. chest and back one day, biceps and triceps another day, quadriceps and hamstrings another day, etc.).

In terms of P90X, I also injured my shoulder. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was a split routine. It had to do with the types of exercises, which require shoulder rotation while doing the motion. For me, lifting heavy while rotating the shoulder is a recipe for an injury. So, instead of doing the rotations, I stick to doing a straight shoulder press with no rotation, palms facing forward. I find that a shoulder press with palms facing inward causes problems when lifting heavy, so I avoid that position, too.

How did we get from Insanity to heavy lifting?

[steakhousegirl]

I don't know. I love splits and they've always worked well for me. I also think a lot of injuries may be from folks not doing the exercises properly and lifting too heavy.

PlyoX, Insanity, Cathe's HiiT and now Turbo Fire all suit me quite well and I'm no spring chicken. Shaun T's advice about always jumping from the bottom up sticks with me every time I jump now. HiiT is the best thing that ever happened to me!!!

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by FitBoop

How did we get from Insanity to heavy lifting?

At least we're still talking about exercise, LOL!

[Helen]

Scott Colby did a series of interviews in 2008, and most of the 'experts' back then were emphasising HIIT, and heavy lifting. When I heard those interviews, the notions were already familiar to me, but how consistent everybody was about it being the most efficient way to train made me take notice.

Those interviewed were:
Joe Vitale, John Allen Mollenhauer, John Benson, Joey Atlas, Rob Poulos, Kelli Calabrese, Kyle Battis, Craig Ballantyne, Vince DelMonte, Tom Venuto, & Alwyn Cosgrove. I still have both my original transcripts & summary.

No, it wasn't Insanity.

[hch]

I don't have an original answer for the original question, but how much are we mixing up high intensity and high impact in this thread?

"HIIT" always stands for high intensity for me, not only because of what the acronym originally means but also because for my more intense cardio workouts, I tend to go for high intensity without high impact.

[FitBoop]

Originally Posted by hch

I don't have an original answer for the original question, but how much are we mixing up high intensity and high impact in this thread?

"HIIT" always stands for high intensity for me, not only because of what the acronym originally means but also because for my more intense cardio workouts, I tend to go for high intensity without high impact.

In terms of why I started this thread, I was thinking about how so many of the latest DVD releases have high impact aerobics, and how so many video instructors are making versions of high impact workouts, some of which incorporate Hiit training. All of these workouts contain lots of plyo (jumping) and bootcamp style exercises. It seems that many instructors are increasing intensity by increasing impact.

Also, I want to clarify that my thread question about Insanity was not whether it started Hiit training or high impact aerobics (which it obviously did not since these types of training have been around for ages), but whether it started the trend towards so many recent releases of high impact style training in workout DVDs. My observation is that in the past few months, there is an inordinate amount of high impact aerobic DVDs being released, compared to the past decade or so. Plus, I don't mean the type of high impact aerobics of days gone by, but the type of high impact that makes you want to either puke in a bucket or throw something at the TV .