New Year’s resolutions have been out of fashion lately… Most people seem to take pride in NOT making any resolutions as another year comes around…
I LOVE these!!! The self-experimenter in me is doing a little dance at an opportunity to start something new. (Not that you have to wait for January 1st to do that.)
Yes, yes, most of the resolutions fail. I even coined the term “January 1st phenomenon”. The “I-will-change-myself-my-life-and-the-rest-of-the-world” attitude that strikes on the first day of every day. That’s kind of the problem. Too much too soon.
I jumped on the wagon and joined 2013 365 Days of Fitness Challenge. From the event description: “The idea is to complete the basic list of exercises in the challenge everyday. If they are part of your WOD or other planned activities ( races, crossfit, etc…) they can count toward the challenge. If you can exceed the minimum by all means do so. […] If you need an easy day just do the minimum list of exercises. There are no rest days.”
Here is the daily basic requirements for the challenge:
run/walk 1 mile
25 sit-ups
25 pushups
25 burpees
25 squats
20 lunges (10 per leg)
75 jumping jacks
2 minute plank
2x 60 second wall sits
You’ll notice that the workout is pretty short, and all body weight, which means it can be done ANYWHERE. Therefore, no excuses. It takes between 20 and 40 minutes to do, depending on your fitness level (and whether you sprint the mile or drag your feet like I did yesterday).
I find most of these pretty easy, and I do not know if I will necessarily stick with these for an entire year, however, I thought it was a great way to kick off the year with some consistency.
After few days, I find having to run/walk one mile each day most helpful, as it gets me moving. Wall sits are definitely the most difficult! Holy cow! Especially if you do them after a trail run (hi, Captain Craig!). I’ve also been replacing situps with crunches, just because those feel better on my back.
Keep in mind that if you are just starting out, doing this every single day with no rest days may be quite intense. I find that breaking it up helps. For example, you could do half of the reps in the morning and half at night. You could also run a mile one day, and walk it the next day.
A really nice side effect of this challenge is that once you start moving, it’s really easy to KEEP moving. Remember the reps and exercises posted are the minimum, and once you do 25 squats, what’s 25 more? I also really like adding jumping rope to this routine.
I challenge you to try this one! Let me know how long did it take you, and how you felt in the comments.
Signing off, Solo