This post is a review of the fitness video Insanity Fast and Furious.

Insanity Fast and Furious

Insanity Fast and Furious is a standalone workout video that is not a part of the normal Insanity box set. This is used sometimes as a precursor for someone who is interested in the whole series and shows them what they can expect from the box set. The workout is only about 20 minutes long; however, the whole purpose of this DVD is fast! Or speed, speed, speed. Not endurance. Which will leave you kind of disappointed if you are used to the pace and intensity of the regular Insanity workouts.

The way the video is arranged is just like the normal Insanity workouts, but only condensed into a 20 something minute workout. The format of this video is the same as the other Insanity DVD’s: Warm-up, Stretch, Workout, Cool Down, Finish.

Warm-up:

Jog – No real reason to kill yourself here as you are only jogging in place, which is usually the toughest thing for people just starting out since they are so full of energy. Do not go crazy just yet; there will be plenty of time to kill yourself later in the workout.

Jumping Jacks – Good old school yard P.E. jumping jacks. No this is not a fancy wacky jacks, or cross jacks, just your basic plain Jane jumping jacks. Be sure your hands touch on the top every time.

123 Heisman – This exercise is infamous in the normal Insanity box set. Just like you are holding a football Heisman trophy style, 123 Heisman, takes 3 steps side to side while you alternate holding your imaginary football from side to side. If you need further clarification just search my website for “Heisman” over in the navigation bar.

Jump Rope / High Knees – Just like you are jumping rope, the only variation is you are adding in high knees, from being in TONS of classes, what I mean by high knees is HIGH KNEES, meaning  your knees should be coming waist height.

Fall Squats – (I think Frog Squats would be a more appropriate name) I don’t think that this exercise was done in other Insanity videos. A fall squat is like doing jumping jacks, but instead of using your hands to touch over your head, you take both of your hands (together) and touch the ground in front of you when your legs are in the outward position. Since this is a squat, be sure to get your butt back, and keep your back straight.

Plank Squats – This is a plyometric move. A plank squat is exactly like what it sounds like. You come out of plank position (the “up” in a push-up position, legs at shoulder width apart) to jumping yourself into a low squat all in one fluid motion.

Repeat warm-up sequence – This round you are going faster.

  • Jog
  • Jumping Jacks
  • 123 Heisman
  • Jump Rope / High Knees
  • Fall Squats
  • Plank Squats – Don’t sag your butt!

Water Break

Stretch – In my reviews, I don’t talk about what stretches are given because, if you are serious about getting in shape and are truly interested in getting in shape and not just *information* on getting in shape, or talking about getting in shape, then go buy the workout, it’s totally worth it.

Workout:

Remember this video is entitled Fast and Furious, so you are looking for both speed and form. I am a big believer of form over the number of reps, or the amount of weight you can do, form trumps everything.

Sprints – High, Low, Floor / Moving Push-Ups – This is a full body workout. So stay focused on your form and go as fast as you possibly can.

  • Sprint – High – These are full sprints coupled with a high knee.
  • Sprint – Low – These are still a full sprint only no high knees, and you are in a flat back bent over position.
  • Sprint – Floor – Here you will be in a plank position and still in full, in place sprint.
  • Moving Push-Ups – You are doing just that, moving side to side as you do push-ups, as you are going to your down position you place one arm in the direction you want to go, then go to your down position, when you are going to your up position use the opposite arm to go in that same direction. This is one rep
  • This is one set
  • Repeat Sprints – High, Low, Floor / Moving Push-ups sequence
  • Repeat Sprints – High, Low, Floor/  Moving Push-ups sequence

Power Knees / Diamond Jumps

  • Power Knees (coconut crushers)- In Power knees, all you are doing is while in a slightly squatting position you bring your knee (right or left) to the opposite side of your body to your hands like you are crushing a coconut you have in your hands with your knee. I call this move coconut crushers they call them power knees. Alternate sides for each set
  • Diamond Jumps – Jump straight up and form a diamond with both your hands (over your head) and legs (meaning they have to tuck underneath your butt)
  • This is one set.
  • Repeat Power Knees / Diamond Jumps.
  • Repeat Power Knees / Diamond Jumps.
  • Repeat Power Knees / Diamond Jumps.
  • Repeat Power Knees / Diamond Jumps.
  • Repeat Power Knees / Diamond Jumps.

Ski Abs / In & Out / Oblique Push-ups

  • Ski Abs  – Done from a plank position, imagine if you are skiing and your legs have to move (together) from left to middle to right. The same thing is being done here, using your abdominal muscles to control your legs, hop your legs from inner right, to plank position (middle) to inner left. When I say “inner” I mean that you are crunched inwards to your right or left side.
  • In & Out – These are like the plank squats you just did in the warm-up however you do not come up to a squat position you are only using your abs to bring your feet close to your hands (together) then again using your abs hop back out again to a plank position.
  • Oblique Push-ups – Just like normal pushups only on your down position use your legs to bring one knee to its respective shoulder. Alternate sides.
  • This is one set
  • Repeat  Ski Abs  / In & Out / Oblique Push-ups – Remember form over everything, take a break when you need to, then get back into the game!
  • Repeat Ski Abs / In & Out / Oblique Push-ups
  • Repeat Ski Abs / In & Out / Oblique Push-ups
  • Repeat Ski Abs / In & Out / Oblique Push-ups

High Knee Oblique Twist

  • You know high knees, the only twist is you are using your arms (both) to engage your oblique’s (the muscles on the side of your abs) every time one of your knees come up to your waist position as you twist your body toward that raised knee. Repeat for the allotted time period.

Burpee Push-up Jacks

  • Start out in a standing position, then jump down into a plank position, knock out 2 push-up jacks, they are exactly what they sound like, after your second push-up jack jump back into a squatting position, lastly jump into the air. This is one set. Repeat this sequence for the allotted time period.

Power Jumps

  • Jump straight up in the air, then using your legs to bring your knees up to waist height (yes in the air, use your core to help you accomplish this) use your hands to touch your knees. Repeat this sequence for the allotted time period.

Football Rolls / Plank Holds

  • Sprint in place with your hands at shoulder height, slightly bent over, this is a football roll, then on queue jump back into a low (tricep) plank (arms glued to your sides in the lower position of a push-up, with wide feet). Then again on queue get back into position one. Repeat this sequence for the allotted time period.

Plank Punches

  • Holding yourself in a plank position, alternate arms to punch directly in front of your head. You are not in wide feet for this exercise. Repeat this sequence for the allotted time period.

100 Meter Dash

  • Imagine yourself as an Olympic sprinter preparing for the 100 meter race. There are three positions a sprinter is in. On your mark: You are in the down position, Get set: Both legs are up in the sprinters pose, Go: then you are sprinting (pump your arms and get your knees up) you will be running as fast as you possibly can, until queue. You will be repeating this for the allotted time period.

Water Break

Cool Down Stretch

Finished.

Insanity Fast and Furious

Unlike the other videos which were shot in a gymnasium, this video looks like it was shot in a converted New York City apartment, in which they brought in a bunch of gym stuff to give it the feel of a workout studio, about ¼ the size of the P90X studio that Tony Horton was in during his videos.

Conclusion

I will admit that I had to stop a few times during the workout to catch my breath, because I am used to doing at least an hour workout when I do a workout. So there is a level of pacing that I am used to. The flip side to that is at the end of the workout, even though I was tired, I was only that tired for a few minutes, and during the cool down stretch, I felt like I could have hit the menu button, flipped back to the beginning of the dvd and done the workout again, no problem. That may have been an issue of my own that I didn’t push myself hard enough, but what I consider a good workout is when I feel like I pushed myself to the absolute end of physical abilities and I am hanging off a 2000 foot drop cliff and I am only hanging on by my dirty fingernails, and trying to claw myself back to safety. This video does that *during* the workout. But it fades quickly, mainly due to MY ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers.

Overall I give this a 4 out of 5 Charles Faces.

 

  • If you are interested in the Insanity series but are still on the fence about dropping the coin to get the whole thing, get this one and test it out yourself.
  • If you question your fitness level and want a good, quick, and high intensity workout GET THIS ONE.

Since you are interested you may as well get a 25% discount with your order by becoming a coach! Just click on the seal!

Insanity
Insanity

To buy Fast and Furious for $20 Click the box below.

Buy Fast and Furious for $20
Buy Fast and Furious for $20

This concludes my review of the video Insanity Fast and Furious.


Charles Lloyd
Charles Lloyd

Self processed fitness missionary and author of most of the ridiculous fitness articles written on Charles Lloyd Fitness.com. I am not really a writer, but a workout fiend who happens to have a blog. The single mission of this website is very simple: Get You In Shape. I have been blessed with the gift of good health and want to share it with you. Join Me.

    22 replies to "Insanity Fast and Furious – Review"

    • Joe

      Charles, thanks for the great review; I’ve only just discovered this DVD release, so your review was very helpful. I have a question — I’ve done P90X twice and for the past several years I have done a variety of Advanced Taebo workouts. All told, I’m getting sick of devoting 5 days a week to working out, an hour per day. Plus I have a new job starting, and so I’m looking for max cardio in the minimum time. (That’s actually how I discovered this DVD, doing a Google search of that phrase…!)

      So my question is…would this Fast and Furious DVD make for a good SOLE cardio workout done 3 times a week? What is your opinion on that? I’m looking to cut down on workout time…maybe 3 times a week I do a battery of pull-ups and push-ups from P90X, circuit train style, followed by a quick but intense cardio. Plus of course, I will cut down on fats and etc to equal the balance. Anyway, what do you think — or is it that the only way to burn fat and keep it off is to get a full time-filling program like Insanity itself?

      Thanks!

    • Charles Lloyd

      Hey Joe,
      As the SOLE cardio workout, this video would absolutely suck (I actually sell the thing)! Not because its a bad workout, but because of muscle memory. After about 2 or 3 weeks of doing this workout 3X per week it would lose its luster not only that, this is a timed workout meaning if you just put the DVD in you know exactly how long its going to be, what the moves are and how much energy you will use, and so will your muscles, which makes it bad!! If you are trying to burn fat OR improve your cardio, the absolute worse thing you can do, is to the do the same thing (cardio wise) every time.

      I guess the real question is what EXACTLY are you trying to do? lose weight, lose fat, increase cardiovascular endurance, increase muscle mass, lose muscle mass? P90X, Insanity, TurboFire or whatever program, while are not marketed as being for a specific thing, do a certain thing. When we get down to the science of it P90X and Insanity are COMPLETELY different, and do COMPLETELY different things. If you want to increase muscle mass P90X is the way to to, but with increasing muscle mass, you are also going to increase fat because to gain muscle mass you HAVE to eat. If you want to increase endurance/cardio then Insanity is the way to go, but in that you are also going to lose muscle mass. Need proof? Look at the types of people who actually do the workouts in the video. The P90X people generally have more muscle mass, The Insanity people are usually more lean, except the couple of people who they put in the back of the gym who are ALWAYS sucking wind by the mid/end.

      So yeah the question is what exactly are you trying to do? Let me know, and thanks for dropping by.

    • Elle

      Hey Charles,

      Just came across your blog for the first time and it’s great. I’m absolutely tickled by the “Charles Faces”!! Lol. I tried Insanity once. Ok, to be completely clear, I tried to do the fitness test once and I thought I was going to die. Literally. I started having heartburn and I just had to stop. I never did it again. I don’t need to lose much weight, just about 7 lbs, but I’d like to increase my endurance and tone. Would you recommend I start out on this program then try Insanity again? Or would you recommend something else? I just started the Brazil Butt Lift two days ago and I love it so far. Any suggestions?

      Thanks in advance,
      Elle

    • Charles Lloyd

      Thanks for dropping by Elle,
      Someone finally gets my “Charles Faces” rating thing :D. Well it depends on your current shape conditioning, diet and all that good stuff. The whole Insanity workout is just like the fit test…INSANE, it takes a crazy amount of endurance to be able to keep up with the people in the video. I am going to email you right now, hopefully the email that you have listed is a good one.
      TTYS,
      Charles

    • Sarah

      Hi Charles, I completely got the smile factor rating :0). I am about to turn 40 and over the past 3 years have worked very hard to change my body and lifestyle. I was using a personal trainer before having to move countries and haven’t had one since. Since moving over the past 9 months I have unfortunately gained back 10lbs and lost some of my toning I had worked so hard to gain. I have been trying to make it to the gym but with starting a new career, being a single mother of 2 and a new puppy this is not easy! I am looking for something that I can get up early in the morning and get the workout done! I want to regain what I have let go a little and make myself proud for my upcoming 40th birthday.

      Should I jump right into Insanity or go for the Fast and Furious?
      Thank you so much for your anticipated reply!
      Sarah

    • Charles Lloyd

      Hey Sarah,
      Fast and Furious and Insanity or two separate things, meaning Fast and Furious is a single workout, while Insanity is a 90 day program. Depending on your body type I would either recommend Insanity or P90X (also 90 day program), but more importantly I would recommend you follow the diet program, which is the toughest part of the whole 90 days.

      The nutrition is 80% of the program, if you only follow the workout program but half-ass the nutrition program you will only get half-ass results. If you follow the whole thing: workout and nutrition, you will be a superstar, I have seen it 100’s of time from people just like yourself over the last 3 years. If you are not signed up already make me your Beachbody Coach and I will help you the whole way. Don’t get me wrong its going to be rough, Im on my 100th (seems like) round of P90X, and its still hard! But you can do it. TTYS

    • Lisa

      Just want to clarify … Insanity is a 60 day program, not 90 day. Your response to Sarah on 6/7 indicates it’s 90 days like p90x.

    • Charles Lloyd

      Good catch Lisa, I am so use to doing the P90X hybrid that I forgot that pure Insanity is 60 days.

    • Hayley-Louise

      charles, I have just happened upon your website by chance, its what i have been looking for!! I do Tracey Anderson dvds, do you think it is a good idea to mix this with insanity, i get a bit bored doing the same thing, could I mix it up and get results?

    • Valerie

      I justgot my Insanity Fast & Furious 20 min workout DVD. I am smaller, 5’2, 120 lbs.. Just trying to firm up and get in better shape. If I am doing this for 3x a week along with eating right (fresh fruits, veggies, appropriate carbs and protein..), how soon would I see results? As in- weight loss, firmer body in general…

    • Charles Lloyd

      Hey Valerie, If you are eating right, working out and getting enough sleep, you will notice a difference inside 2 weeks. The best way to judge the difference is to take pictures and measure yourself, then after 2 weeks of doing what you are doing you will notice and see a difference.

    • Christina

      Hi, I’ve recently started the fast and furious workout with a couple of friends. I’ve been doing the video for two days now and I am so sore. I’m trying to get in shape for two-a-days for college soccer(womens). I was just wondering if this video will help me get in shape for all the running coming up in august? Or if it’s just a video to help people lose weight and tone up.

    • Charles Lloyd

      A little bit of both. If you want to get better cardiovascular shape I would recommend the normal Insanity program or Turbo Fire (which is currently on a 30 Day Free Trial Promo). Let me know if you are interested.

    • Christina

      Ok well I definitely don’t have the money to spend on the full insanity workout but a free trial would be great!

    • Charles Lloyd

      OK, I can hook you up, but I am not sure it will be worth it on both ends if you don’t have the money to pay for it and will have to send it back after 30 days. Insanity is not one of the programs though, only P90X, Brazil Butt Lift and Turbo Fire Challenge Packs are the ones currently on special. If that is something you want to try let me know and I will email you with the details.

    • Rene

      Any idea when fast and furious we be released in the U.K,desperate for the DVD as finished pure insanity and the 20minute workout fits better with my time

    • Maddie

      Mr. Llyod,

      I was thinking of buying this instead of buying the whole package cause the whole package is too expensive. I just have a few question about this dvd though.. I just want to know If it’s right for me and and if it will actually help me lose weight. I am currently 120 and i am 5’4. I just wanna lose at least 7 pounds and try to tone my body, especially my stomach. Any tips or advice on how i can lose weight in a inexpensive way ? Lol

    • Irene

      Hi Charles,
      I was just wondering if this workout would be considered more of a strength or cardio workout, or is it a mixture? Because I’m looking to buy a fast effective strength workout dvd and not sure if I should purchase this.
      Would you be able to recommend any that would suit someone of an above average, but not excellent fitness level?
      Thankyou!

    • Stephanie

      Hey, I was wondering how many days is the fast & Furious work out supposed to last? Or is it the same length as Insanity?

      Thanks!

    • Anil

      Hi Charles,

      thanks for the brilliant review. I am looking at losing weight and getting into shape. I am 5’4, 160 lbs. I am confused which program to go with. Fast and Furious or Insanity. I was leaning towards F&F, but would like to know your comments

      thanks,

    • Johnny Cage

      Charles whats up bro ? I was wondering if im trying to lose weight and get abs what workout should I be doing after I do one insanity workout ? For example I’ll do cardio power and resistance then ill add another workout. would fast and furious be better or cardio abs ? Also I completed Insanity already so now im doing it my way sort of

    • Charles Lloyd

      JC, To do that you are going to need to ramp up your cardio and cut calories, I know it sounds elementary but that is the route to success.

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