The latest high impact craze - Did Insanity cause it?

[Kimberly33]

I think the wave of Bootcamp style programs started it, along with the popularity of HIIT workouts.

[Terry]

If it could be proved that Beachbody ever caused a craze, I'd vote on P90X. It seems that just about everybody has heard of it.

[Sue B]

I was also thinking, as I flipped through this month's Exercise TV programs, that there are an awful lot of high-impact "bursts" nowadays. But I believe the fad was begun by the popularity of Jillian Michaels' DVDs, especially 30 Day Shred, which came out 2 years ago and is still the #1 fitness DVD on Amazon with over 2000 reviews. Producers notice that and rush to copy it. They don't care what works, they only care what sells.

I like interval workouts, and they really up my conditioning, but I don't think they're the be-all-end-all. A few months ago, just spending a few hours on my feet at a warehouse store and helping my parents load and cart things around, killed my back and my feet. Since then, I've been making an effort to get in at least one long steady state workout a week.

[Sarah-lara]

Bootcamp style gyms were first and were all the rage in Hollywood. Crossfit gyms have been around since the 90's even but picked up popularity, probably around 2005. Then we started seeing DVD workouts in bootcamp style, including Barry's Bootcamp (2007). There were several other similar releases before Insanity.

Beachbody is kind of like Madonna - they have the time and money to scout around large cities for all the new trends to develop: bootcamp, Brazilian martial arts, religious-themed workouts, etc. (I have heard that's what Madonna does to stay fresh: go to clubs in London, NYC, etc. and listen for new sounds that haven't gotten on the national radar yet and then work with people there to form an album. Makes sense to me)

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by adrien_73

I can only get to 60-65% of my max HR when I power walk on a 0% incline! Doc says not to add hills/incline so this just isn't enough for me.

Try putting it on a 1% inlcine. It's supposed to better emulate outside walking (and I can't imagine the doc being against such a small incline).

You mention later you also walk outside. Try to add speed to your walks. If you can get near 5mph, I almost guarantee you will get 'enough'!

[adrien_73]

Originally Posted by Kathryn

Try putting it on a 1% inlcine. It's supposed to better emulate outside walking (and I can't imagine the doc being against such a small incline).

You mention later you also walk outside. Try to add speed to your walks. If you can get near 5mph, I almost guarantee you will get 'enough'!

I always walk at 4.3-5mph. I might reach 70% of max, but not the 80-90% that I'm used to!

[LynnO]

Originally Posted by Sue B

I was also thinking, as I flipped through this month's Exercise TV programs, that there are an awful lot of high-impact "bursts" nowadays. But I believe the fad was begun by the popularity of Jillian Michaels' DVDs, especially 30 Day Shred, which came out 2 years ago and is still the #1 fitness DVD on Amazon with over 2000 reviews. Producers notice that and rush to copy it. They don't care what works, they only care what sells. SNIP

I was thinking the same thing- the home video high impact trend started with Jillian, although hiit, etc has been around for quite a while. Also agree with producers looking for what sells, not necessarily the latest trend. Although these things are not mutually exlusive.

[KathAL79]

I have to agree that Beachbody timed Insanity's release perfectly to capitalize on the boot camp and intervals (HIIT, metabolic circuit / intervals) trends popular not just in exercise videos but also in gyms. My gym chain isn't exactly a trend-setter, but they know when they can't avoid hopping on a bandwagon, and bootcamp and Shred-type workouts have dominated the schedule for a while, although they've yet to put a clone of Insanity on the schedule.
So I'd say Insanity didn't cause the trend, but it certainly raised awareness about those styles of training and made them even more mainstream.

Abbe, I'm with you on liking plyo moves and jumping (controlled, at least) but disliking quick changes in elevation, especially dropping to the floor with an elevated heart rate.
Honestly, I prefer mixed impact to all or mostly high impact, however, as I prefer moderation to keep everything happy: some controlled jumps to get the benefits, but not so much that I suffer the consequences.

For some reason Cathe's style of high impact bothers me, especially my shins, but I don't usually have issues with other instructors'. I've tried different shoes, putting puzzle mats down, changing which room I work out in (for flooring), and adding in foam rolling and extra stretching, and all to no avail. I suspect I need her super cushy flooring to be able to do her workouts comfortably.

[beatchica]

Ooooppps sorry for the poor spelling. Completely unintentional.

[FitBoop]

Originally Posted by saffron

Quote:
Originally Posted by beatchica
FitBoob I have thought about this as well, nice point.

... wish I had some of those - my boobs are quite lazy

Boop. Let's not tell Betty about this. She is too genteel to handle it .


Adrien, I am sorry to hear about your knee. Have you tried swimming? I find that swimming gets my heart rate way up. Plus it is a great total body workout. Lately I have been thinking about getting back to using the Reebok slide; it is great cardio, nonimpact, and works the lower body and core in a unique way. I am not sure if that would aggravate your knees, though.

I hadn't thought of Jillian starting the high impact trend. Even though there have been various bootcamp-style, high impact workouts over the years, like Barry's and Cathe's, it seemed to me that ever since Insanity came along, a lot of instructors started coming out with high impact. It could be due to Jillian's, but maybe I just want to think it's due to Insanity .