P90X and Insanity

In the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to try both of these Beachbody programs. Here are my candid impressions.

In general, I loathe jumping around my basement covered in sweat when I could be outside enjoying the fresh air and scenery. However, I do believe these programs benefit people who need their workouts to be rigidly structured. I think it’s easier for exercise newbs to push play on their DVD player and be told exactly what to do in the comfort of their own home.

P90X helps keep me honest about how often I’m weight training, and I do enjoy modest changes in muscle tone from the videos. Insanity is more cardio focused, but I didn’t see any benefit of using these videos over my normal running routine.

Overall, if you’re already comfortable in a gym, own some free weights, and have your cardio routine down to a science, don’t bother with either of these programs. If you struggle with motivation or have never regularly exercised, they might be worth a shot.

P90X

Pros: the form demonstrated is good, and tips are given to reduce possibility of injury. Focus is toning muscles through free weights. Tony Horton is somewhat irritating and a total meathead, but he’s somehow still likeable. Good variety within the program.

Cons: Cardio portions of program are very basic and easy for someone of reasonable fitness. If you already regularly lift free weights, there isn’t much benefit from this program. The warm-ups in some videos are tedious. Need some equipment.

Insanity

Pros: solid cardio workouts. Most people find Shaun T to be inspirational (but I found his commentary to be completely inane).  No equipment necessary.

Cons: poor form demonstrated by many individuals in the videos. Lots of high impact—which was fine for me, but I honestly think this is too much strain on joints of people who are overweight. In my opinion, if you’re overweight and not used to strenuous exercise, you’re just asking for injury. The videos are all very similar. The warm-ups include a lot of running in place, which I found to be frustrating (if I want to run, I go outside).

In the kitchen:

I made a huge batch of injera bread, which kicked off a flurry of curries in the past few weeks. Injera bread is a sour, yeasted flatbread that is served under many Ethiopian dishes to be used as the utensil. I had a failed experiment with this bread last year using buckwheat flour, so I looked around town for the traditional flour—Teff. For those of you in FTC, I found it at the Indian market at the corner of Drake and Shields.

 

Injera can be very sour, so if you’re not adventurous, I’d recommend sticking to something a little tamer, like naan.

3 cups teff flour 

3 cups lukewarm water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. yeast

Combine ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and leave on the countertop for 3 days. You could feed this like a traditional sourdough starter, but I didn’t.

On the 3rd day, pour off the sour smelling liquid that has collected on top. Add enough white flour to make a firm dough. Knead for 10 minutes, return to bowl, cover, and leave overnight.

In the morning, add enough lukewarm water to the dough to make a very thin batter—like crepes. It should coat the back of a spoon. If it’s at all chunky (mine was), run it in batches through a blender or use an immersion blender. The yeast should still be working, but if it’s not, you may add a sprinkle of yeast at this point.

By the evening, the thin batter should be bubbly again. Using high heat and a non-stick skillet, sprinkle a little pinch of salt in the bottom of the pan. This helps form the bubbles and prevents sticking. When pan is hot, swirl enough batter in pan (again, kind of like a crepe) to cover the bottoms of the pan. For my 12 inch skillet, I used about ½ c batter. Immediately cover with a lid, and allow it to cook for 1-3 minutes (depending on heat and thickness). They’re done when the edges start to lift off the pan and the center is just set. They get tough and chewy if overcooked.

Repeat for remaining batter and serve with your favorite curry. This recipe made a very large quantity of injera, so we ate various curries all week. 

First, we started with doro wat, the Ethiopian spicy chicken and egg stew. The spice mixture in this dish is called Berbere. You can find recipes to make it yourself, but you can also buy a really nice mixture at Old Town Spice Shop.

Next we made an eggplant and red bell pepper curry. The main seasoning in this was garam masala.

Potato curry was last on the list, featuring light coconut milk (99 cents at Sunflower) and green curry paste.