After completing the last day of Insanity: the Asylum Volume 2

Well, I have completed my 30 days of Asylum Volume 2. I will summarize by saying that anyone who enjoyed Volume 1 will love Volume 2. A lot of the workouts build on what Shaun T designed for Volume 1.

For example, in Speed & Agility (Volume 1) Shaun T utilized movements that developed your agility through exercises that demanded fast, coordinated movements with the agility ladder. X-Trainer (Volume 2) builds on this by requiring you to do the same; but with difficult movements. Thankfully, Volume 2 comes with a DVD that is dedicated to explaining all the agility moves so that you can learn them in a slow, steady process…and be ready to kill it during the workout.

Power Legs (Volume 2) is essentially the next level of Vertical Plyo (Volume 1). For those of you who have done Vertical Plyo, you know that its 40 minutes of absolute crazy hard moves that are guaranteed to completely exhaust you if you are continually pushing yourself. My first time through Power Legs I got through the warm up and thought “wow, this is much easier than Vertical Plyo”…..WRONG…..Lets just say the warm up is deceiving compared what happens during the actual workout. I won’t spoil the fun; but what I will say is that Power Legs is longer than Vertical Plyo, has more breaks; but like Vertical Plyo you’ll wake up the next morning with wobbly legs (at least after the first few times you try it). If you don’t feel that way…either you didn’t work hard enough OR you’re in Insanely good shape.

Other workouts in the series are completely different than Volume 1. For example, there is no direct sequel to Volume 1’s ‘Strength’ workout. Instead there is an upper body workout “Upper Elite” and a Back and Core workout, “Back+6 Pack”. Together they present the strength component (along with certain moves in X-Trainer…..Moving Matrix Pushups (ouch!)). I love the Back+6 Pack workout. In P90X and P90X2 I got so used to doing Chest and Back together or Back and biceps together; but doing abs and Pull-ups? Its a surprisingly awesome mixture. The Upper Elite is also an excellent workout and complements all of the programs of Volume 2. I will say that I do miss the ‘rock climber switch’ from Volume 1. Most people hate it because its so hard; but after a year of doing that move in Volume 1, there’s no replacing it….

Ab Shredder. You’d think that after doing Ab Ripper X, X2 Ab Ripper, Insane Abs, Cardio Abs, or Combat’s Core Attack that you have done every core move under the sun and that you can take anything that Shaun T or Tony Horton can dish out. I thought that going into this 20 minute core workout; but I still had to take breaks my first time through. Volume 1 lacked a dedicated Core workout, so I think Shaun T made this one extra hard to make up for it….at least it feels that way.

Finally (not counting the Stretch DVD or ‘Pure Contact’), Championship+Sudden Death OT is the ‘sequel’ to Game Day. Is it Harder or Easier? Like the other workouts in Volume 2, compared to volume 1, its hard to say if its easier or harder. This workout definitely builds on what you get from Volume 1 though. The agility moves are harder and like X-trainer, you have to be more focused and and more agile to prevent yourself from messing up your ladder. Personally, I like Championship better than Game Day. It demands more from you and it will definitely make you a better athlete. The best part (or hardest part depending on the perspective) is that the ‘Fit Test’ comes at the end of this workout. So after 55 minutes of pushing it, you have to max out with the hardest agility/plyo sequence of the Volume 2 series. For this reason, this is one of my favorite workouts of Volume 2.

So in a nutshell…Volume 2 Rocks! If you got Volume 1 and you enjoyed it, then do yourself a favor and start training with Volume 2 for 30 days and then continue with the 60 day ‘complete’ Asylum Hybrid.

I recently completed another half marathon, this time in Malibu, CA and broke my previous fastest time by quite a bit. Half way through my training I received my advanced copy of Shaun T’s Insanity- The Asylum Volume 2: Elite Performance. I quickly worked this into my existing P90X/Asylum/Running Hybrid and finished the last two months of training by following the plan. My previous best time was a 1:37:42 and I dropped down to 1:31:32. This finally put me at a sub-7 min/mile pace (6:59 exactly) and I’ve been gunning for this for a long time. I really think that combining workouts like Asylum Vol. 1’s Vertical Plyo and Asylum Vol. 2’s Power Legs help with the numerous hills that are found in Southern California. One of these days I’ll have to race a flat course and see how fast I can go. Soon I will post the new hybrid after I do some tweaking to make sure it is at its best!

So I have been corresponding with a lot of people who have been using my hybrid programs and there seems to be a pretty good following. In my own training I have made some improvements to some of the schedules, so I decided to modify all of my existing hybrid schedules. To explain the major change: my original hybrids followed a schedule where the long runs steadily increased in mileage with only a week for tapering. I have experienced in my recent half marathons that adding a longer taper has improved my race day splits. Therefore the new hybrids have a longer taper.  I will post the new hybrids on my ‘hybrids page’; but for now you can view them by clicking the link below:

Click Here to View the Complete Hybrid List on Google Drive!

Finally, Asylum Volume 2 is ready and I just received my copy in the mail. So far I’ve done a quick run-through of the workouts and have completed the first called ‘X-Trainer’. As the description says, Volume 2 builds on what Volume 1 worked on: Speed, agility, strength, balance, and coordination. The volume 2 workouts demand these skills because the ladder work is faster and more complicated and this was definitely true in X-trainer. Also, for those of you who were disappointed in the fact that Volume 1 did not come with a dedicated ‘Ab’ workout, you definitely won’t be disappointed with Volume 2’s Ab Sredder. So far, I’m really happy with this new program and I can’t wait to try the Volume 1/Volume 2 hybrid.

For more information, go to my Asylum Volume 2 page.

My copy of Volume 2 just came in the mail!

I’ve been doing martial arts for over 10 years now and in this time I’ve obtained two black belts (one in Shotokan karate and another in Shito-Ryu karate). So when I first started looking into workout DVDs I had some interest in Tae Bo. Sadly…these never did it for me because the intensity was really low. Especially after doing programs like Insanity, P90X, and Asylum. With that said, I’m really excited about Les Mills Combat which is Beachbody’s MMA styled workkout program which is coming soon. Hopefully it will measure up to my expectations.

I know that are many who have asked for Asylum half and full marathon hybrid schedules. I have also received some comments on how many of my hybrid schedules are ‘too advanced’ so I encorporated more rest time in this schedule. For both the half and full marathon hybrids there are two rest days. The first is mandatory on day 7 where you will either take a complete day off or do some light stretching at the most. The second rest day is optional. Day 5 of each week is scheduled for ‘Back to Core’; but you can opt to take a day off instead. This may come in handy for the day before the 16, 18, or 20 mile long run weeks. In every hybrid that I have actually used for half or full marathons over the past year, the vertical plyo workout has been an excellent tool. Here in Southern California most of the races have uphill portions, so my gains in leg strength and endurance have really helped. In addition, on the rare occasion where I do a flat course my speed gain has been phenomenal. Feel free to comment if you end up using the hybrid. I always look for ways to improve my schedules. For more hybrids or excel versions of this hybrid, feel free to visit my hybrid page.

It is clear that America’s obesity rate is on the rise. The above figure shows the obesity rates listed for each state in 1990, 1999, and 2009. In 1990 The worst was only 10-14% for the rates of obesity; but in 2009 more than half of the United Sates is above 25%. Results like these make me afraid to look at the results for 2009. For a more detailed report, check the CDC’s website on obesity. Many people blame fast food chains, too much time watching TV, and too little time exercising.

But when it comes down to it its all about the choices we make. I understand both sides of the equation because I was obese for most of my life. I am blessed that I had a change of heart my senior year of high school and gained a true desire to live a healthy lifestyle. From then on I have sought ways to improve my own health, fitness, and lifestyle. To me that included changing what I eat, how much I sleep, how much I exercise, and how I treat my body. For years I have focused this inward on myself; but I realized that if I am really passionate about this, I need to turn this outward. Anyone who has a relationship with Jesus knows that his greatest commandment is to love others. So I have decided to try to help others end the trend of obesity. To do that I have signed up to be a coach for an awesome company called Beachbody. Beachbody is committed to ending the trend of obesity in America by promoting better nutrition and adapting to an active lifestyle.

To anyone out there, who is reading this and struggles with obesity: First of all, I know how you feel. I’ve been there and I along with my team want to help you. First of all, if you are trying to change your lifestyle for the better, DON’T GIVE UP! Keep moving forward. If you need help, please contact me, its one of the reasons I’ve set up this blog.

For those of you who have or are in the process of conquering your struggle with obesity, now its time to help others. If this is what you want to do, then join my team by clicking the link below. Or feel free to contact me.

Join Team Beachbody

Brandon Henderson, PhD
Division of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University
440 Riffe Building, 496 W 12th ave, Columbus, OH 43210

Finally, Beachbody is beginning to set the release date for the next installation in Shaun T’s Insanity series, Insanity: The Asylum Volume 2. They have released statements that it will be ready for purchase Fall 2012. To stay in the loop, visit the Asylum facebook page here (Or click on the image below) and you can sign up for notifications.

It seems that the number of professional athletes who use ‘Insanity: The Asylum‘ continues to grow. Evan Valiere, a Hawaiian pro surfer is a proud user of Shaun T’s Asylum program that aims to train you at a level comparable to professional athletes. Evan was part of the ‘North Shore Underground’, an event that was born out of the collaboration between Vans and SURFING magazine to find the top big wave surfer. As one of the top surfers, it speaks volumes of how effective Asylum is as a means to get in and maintain peak athletic performance. If the pros are choosing Asylum, shouldn’t you?

For those of you who know, this will be a reminder; but if you are not informed, Insanity the Asylum (the sequel to Insanity) is much more than just a weight loss or fitness program. It is a sports performance program designed to either make you fit like a professional athlete, or even improve your current athletic performance. This program is so good, even Olympic Gold medalist Hope Solo is a proud graduate of the Program.

Ready to improve your Athletic performance? Check out the Asylum Page.