How Asylum Can Spike Your Fitness by Steve Edwards

What do Insanity and Asylum have to do with P90x and P90X2?  They are extreme workouts that often follow a first or second round of the “X”.  In fact, Steve Edwards has another article entitled, “How to “X” the Insanity Workouts” that is well worth reading.

Let’s see what Steve has to say about the relationship between these four great workouts:

“INSANITY’s sibling sequels—THE ASYLUM Volumes 1 and 2—may be billed as athletic training, but in reality they’re far more than that. Those ready to withstand their rigors will find a veritable fountain of youth. Let’s lift the hood on Shaun T’s latest exercise programs to see if you’re ready to get in the game.

ASYLUM Volumes 1 and 2 mimic athletic training, but these programs are not just for athletes. The movements you’ll learn are the same you use in your day-to-day life to stand up, sit down, clean house, do yard work, and so on. These movement patterns regress as we age, both naturally and because we stop pushing our limits. Training with THE ASYLUM will awaken long-dormant neuromuscular connections that will have you moving in ways you may not have done since you were a kid. There is a catch, though: You’re going to have to work for it.

How is ASYLUM different from INSANITY^®?

Shaun says in one of the workouts, “It’s not INSANITY.” What he means is that it’s harder than INSANITY. Since most of you are aware that INSANITY is very difficult, this may be a daunting statement.

But that should not deter you. Beachbody^® offers several training programs that will get you ready. You don’t necessarily even have to do INSANITY first. P90X^®, TurboFire^®, and even RevAbs^® will prepare you adequately. Trying THE ASYLUM off the couch is not recommended. You likely wouldn’t make it through the warm-up.

However, if you find yourself in this situation, don’t fret. Here’s a 4-week ASYLUM prep schedule that’ll get you where you need to be.

Because the workouts in THE ASYLUM series are more targeted, the load is more spread out. This allows you more recovery time between similar workouts. Yes, there will be moments in each workout where you can’t imagine finishing, but the cumulative effect is easier on your body and you’ll recover faster than you think. Also, since most of the individual workouts are under 45 minutes, and both volumes of THE ASYLUM are only one-month training phases, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel to keep you going.

What is the difference between ASYLUM Volume 1 and Volume 2?

Volume 1

Start here first. Volume 1 has 6 workouts, each of which train the body in a different way: Speed & Agility, Strength, Vertical Plyo, Back to Core, Relief, and Game Day. There’s also a bonus 10-minute workout called Overtime that’s used to add a brutally hard finish to any workout.

The workouts are aptly titled; they tell you how they’re going to exhaust you. Game Day is the culmination of your training and mimics playing a bunch of sports in one day, all condensed into an hour. For those of you who want more details, click on the links below to read my analysis of each individual workout.

Strength: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/asylum-strength.html

Vertical: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/asylum-vertical-plyo-this-is-not.html

Back to Core: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/03/back-to-core-in-asylum.html

Relief: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweet-relief.html

Overtime: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-not-whether-you-win-or-lose.html

Speed & Agility: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/speed-agility-sandbagging.html

Game Day: http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/04/game-day.html

Volume 2

Nailed Volume 1? Welcome to Volume 2! Part deux follows the same pattern, but ramps things up a notch. The workouts are a little longer and a little harder for the most part, but follow the same pattern. Reviews of the individual workouts will be appearing on my blog, The Straight Dope, shortly.

What’s so special about THE ASYLUM?

There are two aspects of THE ASYLUM that make it unique. First and foremost, it’s fun. Any egghead can design a technically-advanced training system, but it takes a great trainer to make it entertaining. More than anything, ASYLUM workouts are a blast. Shaun T takes you through myriad movements in each workout that mimic playing sports. If you were ever an athlete, a lot of this training will seem familiar. But, unlike your old coach, he’s combined these sports with movements based on the latest research in applied science. The results are workouts that are both scientifically sound and fun.

But don’t equate “fun” with “easy.” Workouts in THE ASYLUM will be a challenge, no matter who you are. Even Shaun himself struggles throughout the program. Elite fitness always must be earned.

So it’s fun. But does it work?

Absolutely. The second key aspect to ASYLUM is the science. The programs are based on something we call the Athletic Matrix. Essentially, it’s a system utilizing a wide spectrum of sports-specific training techniques that are modified to offer fitness and performance benefits beyond those sports.

We coined the term because our harder programs are based on the same kind of structure used to train professional athletes. It can cover a range of techniques. For example, P90X is like training for a sport in that you isolate various functions (flexibility, individual muscle groups, cardiovascular conditioning, etc.) and focus on them separately using the different workouts. On the other hand, INSANITY is like playing the sport because you train everything at once.

The P90X2^®/ASYLUM analogy is similar, but slightly more targeted. P90X2 is like off-season training. It’s what you do when you have time to systematically break down your body and build it back up to be better than it was. THE ASYLUM, with its frenetic time-efficient structure, is more like football’s tradition of Hell Week—what you do to get ready when the season is about to start.

With P90X and P90X2, you work across 90 days—a lengthy periodization structure where you work on specific elements of fitness, switching from one to another. In THE ASYLUM, we distill 90 days of training into a single month. This means you’re training all of the physiological needs of an athlete at once. There are always some sacrifices when you do this. THE ASYLUM is less versatile than P90X2 and doesn’t go as deep at training certain areas, but it does whip you into condition quicker.

Both variations are ideal for athletic training, but the Athletic Matrix provides benefits far beyond the playing field. You’re building muscle, teaching the muscle how to move in all directions, and improving your cardiovascular system, flexibility, and power. You’ll be stronger, run faster, jump higher, be more flexible, and basically move like you did when you were younger. This works to your advantage whether you’re throwing a 45-yard pass, dancing at your 45th birthday party, or chasing four 5-year-olds around the room.

It’s game night at THE ASYLUM. You ready to play?”

To learn more about Insanity, Insanity: The Asylum and Insanity: The Asylum Volume 2, just go to our store and scroll down to “Specials This Week” (all three workouts currently have great special offers when you purchase from us)!

The Test Group

I found a great post by Steve Edwards that I wanted to share but before I do that, I wanted to give you an update on my Tony Horton Challenge.  I am on Day Four (Day Five if you count doing Ab Ripper X on my iPhone on Sunday) and just cruising along.  Chest & Back, of course, was the first workout, then I ran for almost 40:00 on Tuesday, did Plyometrics X on Wednesday (which I LOVE) and then ran for almost 40:00 again today.

So what is the post that I want to share?  It is called, “The Test Group” and I will paste an excerpt below.  I feel like I am in a test group for 61 year olds making a comeback in life, so stay tuned and see what happens!

From Steve Edwards, “Doing these P90X videos again has reminded me of our test group. No matter how fit you are, P90x will find your weakness and exploit it. We auditioned pretty much every hot shot fitness person and trainer in LA and ended up casting either Tony’s friends (who train with him regularly) or members of our test group who up until that time had little fitness training. It was a great testament to how the X works. Tony and I were talking about this as one “famous” trainer to another and I was getting out performed by some regular Joe whose only advantage was that they’d just finished three months of the program they were auditioning for.  “It takes you out of your wheelhouse and exploits your weaknesses, no matter who you are,’ he said.

I should add that I auditioned too and was one of the latter, which I only did because Tony asked me to. But when my time came around I was in the midst of week 2 and so sore that I could barely wash my hair, much less ace a P90X fit test. I was in such a state of breakdown that I had no clue how long it would last. I was fit; having just finished a full bike racing/multi-sport season. But fit meant nothing. I was out of my wheelhouse and so sore that I could barely walk. ‘You gonna be ready in a few weeks?’ Tony asked. ‘I have no idea,’ was my reply. ‘We should just cast test group people.’

I did get better. A couple of months later I did one of my hardest birthday challenges that combined my usual endurance activity with heaps of pull-ups, push-ups, and other assorted anaerobic stuff. The X was perfect training for it.”

To read the rest of  “The Test Group”, please click here….