Fitness junkie: surviving INSANITY

As the mother of two boys, being happy with my body has always been a bit on and off. But now I'm on track. I am two days away from finishing my second round of Insanity and I don't plan on stopping. But I wasn't always excited about my next workout with Insanity. In fact every now and then I have to remind myself that I need to do it because it works. And it really does...but it's just as much of a test of your mind as your body. So here are some tips for surviving and thriving when it comes to the Beachbody Insanity program:

• Don't sacrifice your form! The people on the Insanity dvds are athletes and I still can't quite keep up with them. Follow the moves at your own pace to start with, pushing when you can and taking a breath when you need to. But no matter how fast or slow you go, don't sacrifice form. This means knees behind your toes at all times; every squat, every lunge, knees stay behind toes. If you hurt yourself, you can't keep doing the workout, so don't hurt yourself.
• Don't make excuses. If you commit to trying it, you need to commit mentally. Tell yourself no exceptions, you can and you will finish this program. "Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right." And yes, sometimes life gets in the way. There may be one or two days that you can't do it for reasons beyond your control...don't quit. "Turn every set-back into a comeback".
• It's not a waste of money if it works. I just watched an infomercial the other day for the program and was amazed that they are now offering a 2 month money back guarentee! That's insanely awesome for anyone just curious to see if it works. And if you do it, day after day, you'll fall in love with the results it provides.
• Crazy pushups and other moves...one at a time. If you can't do the eight in a row that the Insanity people are pumping out quickly, try one or two with good form. I had to. Sometimes when I got really tired I would go to my knees and do 'girly pushups' but I always tried to try everything that they did first....and over time I got better. I never knew my body was capable of so many pushups! It just goes to show that over time you can improve.
• Have an accountabili-buddy. If you can, have someone else do the program with you. For me the first round it was my little sister. We couldn't always do it together, but we would check in on each other and send the occasional pix message of a sweaty face with the text "Feeling Insane!". If you have someone to hold you accountable, you'll more likely stick with it.