One of the most frequently asked questions I receive on this site is, ” Can I combine Insanity and weightlifting?” The answer…of course you can. However, “how” you combine the two for a more complete fitness program is the real question.
Below is a short program I put together that combines Insanity and weight training on alternating days.
Who This Program is For
There are many factors you must take into account when designing a workout program. Factors such as gender, age, diet, goals, available time, and current physical condition are just some of the many things to be consider. Unfortunately, I am not able to write a program to suit everyone’s individual needs; however, this program is for people who:
- Want to lose weight
- Want to build muscle
- Want to follow Insanity and lift weights
Pretty basic, I know. But when we combine the intense fat burning workouts of Insanity with good old-fashioned weight training, we have a tried and true recipe to lose more weight and build more muscle than doing either alone.
Program Design
The two main factors I took into consideration when designing this program were the sequence of training days and weight training that uses basic equipment – no fancy machines needed.
- Sequencing of training days is very important. For instance, you would not want to train your legs with weights and the next day do Insanity Max Interval Plyo. The body needs time to recover. It generally takes 48-72 hours for complete muscle recovery.
- This program uses basic weight training equipment – no machines. One reason for this is that I wanted people to be able to do this program at home with no fancy equipment necessary. The second reason, free weights make you stabilize the entire body. When using a machine, you are only guiding the weight.
The Schedule
I’ve kept the training schedule length the same as Insanity, which is 60 days. The program alternates daily between Insanity workouts and weight training workouts with the seventh day being a rest day. The fifth week of the program is a recovery week – no weight training is done this week as we will be following the recovery week schedule for Insanity. During the final month of the program, the program uses the more intense Insanity workouts with the weightlifting remaining the same as in the first month.
The Weight Training
For the weightlifting part of this Insanity/weight lifting hybrid program, the training I recommend is a push/pull program. Chest & back are worked on Day 1, shoulders, biceps and triceps are worked out on Day 3, while legs and back are done on Day 5.
The weight training program is built around one to two compound exercises per body part with an isolation exercise also added for the smaller muscle groups. 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions are recommend for each exercise. A warm-up set with light weight should be performed before the real work sets.
The repetition range in the workouts can be altered depending upon your fitness goals. If you are looking to gain more strength, adjust the repetition range to 6-8. For muscle size, repetition range is 8-10, and for muscular endurance/toning, perform 10-12 repetitions per exercise.
Conclusion
Feel free to use this program as is or make any changes you feel necessary based on your daily routine, weight lifting equipment you have access to, any injuries you may need to train around, and of course, your ultimate goals.
The Insanity and weight training program can be downloaded below.
In excel format – here.
In pdf format – here.
If you have questions about the program or any recommendations, please leave a comment below, and I will respond as quickly as possible.
I noticed that in this schedule that you put together, you didn’t add any abs work outs. How would I integrate them in to this? I mean I’m sure I could do the abs work out on any given day. However I wanted to know what you recommend. Thanks in advance.
Gerald
Hi Gerald, I would incorporate the Insanity workout – Cardio Abs – into the program. It is a a short workout that you could incorporate into your daily routine or do the Cardio Abs workout every other day.
Ok, also on the first two weeks I noticed you had the cardio circuit??? There is no video by that name. So I did the pure cardio in place. Which one should be there?
Pure cardio is a good option, cardio circuit is plyometric cardio circuit.
Hello, I just ordered Insanity and should start the program in a few days. I am not 100% sure about a total cardio program so I am doing research on the possiblity of throwing in weightlifting on top of Insanity, hence I found your blog. My question to you is, is your Insanity + weightlifting program good for beginners? Should I finish the first round of Insanity and come back to your program?
Also, I am not looking to bulk up too much, just want to maintain the little muscle mass I have, so is it ok to just do 2-3 times of mild weightlifting on top of insanity instead of replacing half of the program with weightlifting? My last question is, if I replace half of Insanity with weightlifting, amd I gonna miss any good parts? How do you determine which workouts are ok to omit?
Thanks
Hi Steve,
I would go through INSANITY once by itself and then add in some weight lifting. You won’t lose muscle mass as long as your diet is good.
The program I designed goes light on the leg work because of how much you work your legs in INSANITY.
What I suggest is once you get to the body fat percentage you are happy with, start with the weightlifting to add lean muscle and cut back on the INSANITY workouts. Even just doing Cardio Abs every other day should be enough INSANITY workouts when you are lifting weights.