Les Mills Combat vs Insanity

I am a huge beachbody.com fan. They come up with some amazing work outs, give you coaches to help you along the way (if you need a coach, please contact my friend Erika, she is awesome)  and provide Shakeology (nutritional supplements).  They have a great system and if you are like my friend you can make money while keeping fit and inspiring others!

Okay on to my comparison. I have done both Insanity and now am doing Les Mills Combat (LMC).  I will not lie, I am loving LMC (more on that in a few)!

 Insanity, is hard core, you cannot breathe, your heart is coming out of your chest, you sweat like you have never sweated before in your life, you feel like you are going to die, your body is pushed to limits you never ever ever imagined it would be pushed and still survive.  Insanity is not for the weak or the way out of shape.  It is not something you want to start after not working out for years.  If you cannot get through the fit test, then you need to do some conditioning before starting that video work out series (maybe start with LMC). You will not see a lot of weight loss (unless you are way over weight) with Insanity.  You will see muscle gain and a lot of toning.  Insanity discourages some people due to not seeing the scale drop the way they feel it should after almost killing yourself for 2 months. It definitely revs up your metabolism and helps to create a toned body.  So while doing this series, look at your waist size not the scale. There is tons more stretching in this series (and for good reason) than with LMC.   Your warm up is no joke and sky rockets your heart rate up within the first minute through the 9ish min warm up, then you stretch for a good 4 mins, then you do your high intensity work out, then stretch for another 3-4 mins.   Your flexibility increases dramatically with this series, which helps with the moves you are doing.   After doing this series running a 5k is super easy even without training :D, because hello your training was the Insanity series.   Definitely a top notch work out for athletes to keep your edge or for those former athletes who like a challenge and want to get back to your athletic roots.  There is no weight training.  You rely completely on you to build muscles which is great if you travel, you can just bring those dvds with you and still work out. Lots of push ups, LOTS!!!!  I tend to watch the clock and am a little disappointed when I see I have awhile left before it is over as it is intense.   I love Shaun T.  He is an awesome motivator and I like yelling back at him.   Overall I do love this series.  It definitely can burn you out, but it is an excellent workout and you feel like you accomplished something great!  Plus you burn TONSSSSSSS of calories WAYYYYYYY after this work out is complete because your heart rate stays up for hours afterwards. I will go through way over 48 ounces of water during and after this work out.  Yes I am that thirsty and sweat that much (like I need a towel I am sweating so much).  Excellent series!

Now LMC, you should see the scale drop.  You are building lean muscle while burning calories.  You will sweat, but not as much as with Insanity. You are building your arm and back muscles without doing tons of push ups (YAY).  For women this is especially nice, as you will look nice and hot in a strapless dress. LMC will not leave you thinking you will die, you will not sweat as much as you did with Insanity, though you will sweat.  You will not be dying for a tall glass of water during or afterwards like you do with Insanity. There are tons more rest days with LMC, which for me I do not like.  I tend to throw in an insanity video, go for a bike ride or run, on my off days.  I also end up doubling up on the 30 min days if I have time.  So I will do a 30 min combat then the 30 min HIT for a total of an hour (day one and two.. combined into day 1).   LMC does not have tons of stretching   You warm up do a quick hamstring stretch then you get right into it.  There is a cool down and  a stretch at the end.   So more of your time is spent doing the actual work out, not stretching.  It is nice, but I do like my stretching and tend to do more at the end of the LMC work out then that do.   I do love all the boxing, kickboxing and martial arts moves. I also love that hand weights are involved in the HIT work outs so I am getting some weight training in as well. I find this one more fun and I am not looking at the clock to see when it is over. I am actually shocked when we start the cool down.  I like that, but I love love love kickboxing so this work out is right up my alley!  I do love that if you only have 30 mins. You can easily complete this work out.  My heart rate does not get up as high with this series nor does it stay up way after the work out, so I am burning less calories in the long run. The instructors are funny and make this series fun. I have yet to yell back at the screen.  I do wish the intensity was a little bit more, and will probably end up buying the extra dvds to see if that will help.  If you want  a preview of this, most gyms offer,  "COMBAT" and  is basically the in person version of this series.    Overall I do love this series and think it is great especially for those who are not ready for Insanity, or need a break from Insanity.  This will keep you fit, help you slim down and make you feel very empowered!

*** UPDATE:  I am in idiot and did not realize that there are two plans you can follow for the LMC i bought.  There is one that has you working out 6 days a week, and seems to be more intense. Same videos, but starting you out at a higher intensity for those of you who are like me and need the higher intensity.

Hope that helps for those trying to decide a video work out series.

Have a very fit day!