So, just because I was curious, I tried one of the Insanity workout DVDs. I was able to get behind it up until the "warm-up" stopped and they went into six minutes of static stretching.
This may be opening up a bag of angry cats, but I would suggest just... skipping that part of the video. Just fast-forward right through it.
Your muscles are already primed for exertion by that point; you've done movements similar to the rest of the workout with gradually-increased intensity up to that point, so your muscles are as ready as they're going to be. Recent research has shown that stretching before working out reduces performance in both potential and actual output categories. Without getting into the actual biology of it, here's a source:
http://wellbeingwire.meyouhealth.com/physical-health/more-evidence-that-stretching-before-exercise-is-a-bad-idea/If you follow the trail, it'll eventually lead you to the research journals, should you be interested in reading them.
The long and the short of it is that pre-workout stretching reduces explosive muscle performance, as said above, which is a major problem when the workout you're doing is primarily burst-oriented, which Insanity unquestionably is.
The rest of the workout was good, and every bit of what BeachBody says it is. I enjoyed it, and I want to continue the program. I'm just going to be skipping the six- to eight-minute stretching segments.
