for the instrumentation amplifier, the biggest confusion for me was the max gain vs output swing. ie the output would get clipped at higher gains. Would that be ok?

Yes; the instrumentation amplifier is expected to be connected up for different use-cases. We worked out a list of likely input ranges, and then worked out a set of gains on each stage that would give the most flexibility. It is not intended that the highest gain will be used with the maximum input swing.