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Week 8 sees you at the very end of the program, just a hair’s breadth away from finishing. You’re so close you can see the finish line, but watch out, these three challenges might trip you yet.

  • Thinking You’re Done: It’s easy to fixate on short term goals, and INSANITY is no exception. For many lf you, reaching this point has been what the past two months has been all about. You’ve waited for the end to come, and now it’s so close you can taste it. The danger lies in your outlook: after two months of killing yourself, feeling like you’re ‘done’ can cause you to want to relax and crash right after you final workout, and then not get back up again or exercise for two, three weeks. What will this mean for you? Relapsing and losing your game. This danger is very real, and it all comes down to what your outlook is.
  • Having No Follow-Up Plan: It makes sense that while you are in the heart of this workout you will think of nothing else but finishing it. That you will be completely fixated on reaching the end, and have total focus on that and nothing else. But too many people set themselves up for failure by not considering about life after Insanity. What are you going to do when you’re done? While the first challenge addresses people who don’t want to do anything but relax and live the good life upon finishing, this challenge is subtler and addresses those who want to keep going but haven’t thought about it yet. Now is the time to start thinking of your next workout plan, not three week’s from now!
  • Burn Out: The final danger of this last week is also related to outlook, and that involves your attitude toward health and fitness in general. For eight weeks now you’ve been carefully watching what you eat, working out as hard as you can, and living an intense and challenging lifestyle. This isn’t the intensity you should be planning to live on forever, but many people will be so burned out by the effort this took that they might want to really give careful nutrition and exercise a drop. Are you so burned out that you want nothing to do with intense exercise again?

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So those are the challenges, what are the solutions? How can you make sure you don’t crash and burn and quit like most people do during this toughest of weeks? Check out our tips below for advice:

  • Plan Today For Next Week: You’ve got one week left to go. What happens the week after? Do you already have something lined up? Possible solutions range from doing another Recovery Week and then starting the program up again, or checking out the new Insanity: The Asylum workout that will help you kick things to the next level. Perhaps it’s time to check out P90X or another extreme workout from us, or to simply do some cross training for a month to relax and rest before kicking it back up. Either way, plan NOW for what you are going to do exercise-wise when you’re done.
  • Start Thinking About Nutrition and Your Life: So you’ve managed to stick to the Insanity nutrition plan, and it’s been a rough two months. Hopefully by now you have an intuitive grasp of what to eat and when, how much and why, but are you planning to stick to healthy eating after you’re done? Are you going to stay in great shape through Insanity styled nutrition, or are you going to give healthy eating a break and start up your old habits? It’s only by thinking about it now that you will be able to ensure a healthy lifestyle beyond Insanity, so really try to figure out what worked for you, what didn’t, and why.
  • Realize that You Control the Intensity Level: Don’t think that it has to be this hard and intense for the rest of you life, and allow that to discourage you and turn you away from working out. You can choose to go anywhere from here, finishing this last week and then taking control of your life. You now have a new body, a new healthy outlook on life, and whether you never do anything as extreme again or decide to keep challenging yourself, as long as you stay healthy, active, and well fed, you will have succeeded at what Insanity is all about. So prepare to enjoy yourself responsibly, and don’t feel locked in or trapped by this new intensity you’ve been a part of. Remember: as long as you’re moving and eating right, you’re going to be in great shape no matter what!

 

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