MY 1ST 30-DAY CHALLENGE - Weight Loss Part 14

As you'll know from my previous two blogs part of my weight loss journey has included getting fitter. In fact, you'll probably know by now that improving my fitness is what kick started my weight loss in the first place.

In my last blog, Exercise, How to Stay Motivated, I mentioned that I'd set myself a 30-day fitness challenge to help improve my strength. This was my first ever challenge, so there was bound to be a bit of trial an error involved.

Now that the challenge is over I thought I'd share my experience for anyone else that is thinking of trying a similar thing.

The first thing I did was chose my exercises.

I didn't want to do too many as I was challenging myself to do these exercises every day and I didn't want them to take up too much time. I concluded that three was a good number, but also wanted to make sure that these exercises focused on different parts of the body.

So, I chose to do planks, calf raises and tricep dips. Why? 

Planks are excellent for overall toning and apparently very good for weight loss as well. So, I get to build muscle and lose weight with one move.

Dips help strengthen the triceps and therefore help to combat those dreaded bingo wings. I need all the help I can get in that department!

Calf raises are pretty self explanatory, but my main reason for doing them is to strengthen my legs in preparation for climbing my first Munro. I will hopefully also have leaner, better looking legs!

Secondly, I gauged my ability in each exercise to use as a starting point. No point in starting with 10 dips if I could only do 5... I then used examples of other challenges to work out how to progress throughout the 30-days.

One thing I didn't do, which was a mistake, was give myself any rest days. Turns out these are very important so that you don't over exercise, as this may cause overuse injuries. As it turns out I had some accidental rest days because of travel, and later added some.

For me, it was also a mistake not to print out the challenge so that I could keep track of what I was supposed to do each day. I didn't always have access to the internet to check my challenge. Nor was I always able to update my progress online on a daily basis. If I had printed it out it would have been easier to keep track.

So how did I get on? Judge for yourself!

	Challenge	Progress
Day 1-4	40s plank x 2 30 calf raises 10 dips	D1: 40s+30s plank, 30 calf raises, 10 dips D2: 40s plank x 2, 40 calf raises, 10 dips D3: 40s plank x 2, 40 calf raises, 12 dips D4: 40s plank x 2, 40 calf raises, 14 dips
Day 5-6	50s + 30s plank 40 calf raises 12 dips	D5: 50s+30s plank, 40 calf raises, 12 dips D6: 50s+30s plank, 40 calf raises, 14 dips
Day 7-8	50s + 30s plank 50 calf raises 14 dips	D7: 60s+30s plank, 50 calf raises, 16 dips D8: 60s+40s plank, 60 calf raises, 15 dips
Day 9-11	60s plank 60 calf raises 15 dips	D9: 60s+40s plank, 60 calf raises, 16 dips D10: Complete fail! It seems travelling makes finding the time and opportunity to do this challenge a bit difficult... D11: 60s plank, 60 calf raises, no dips...
Day 12-16	60s plank 70 calf raises 16 dips	D12: Again complete fail! Travelling... D13: 60s plank, 80 calf raises, 16 dips D14: 60s plank, 80 calf raises, 18 dips D15: 60s plank, 80 calf raises, stupid amount of one leg dips from a step in Pump FX. D16: 60s plank, 80 calf raises, 18 dips
Day 17-19	60s + 30s plank 70 calf raises 16 dips	D17: 60s plank, 80 calf raises, 16 dips D18: Rest Day D19: 60s+30s plank, 80 calf raises, 16 dips
Day 20-23	70s plank 80 calf raises 18 dips	D20: 35s+70s plank, 80 calf raises, 18 dips D21: 70s plank, 80 calf raises, 20 dips D22: 70s plank, 80 calf raises, stupid amount of one leg dips from a step in Pump FX. D23: Rest Day + 90 dips, oops!
Day 24-26	70s + 40s plank 80 calf raises 18 dips	D24: 70s+40s plank, 110 calf raises, 20 dips D25: 70s+40s plank, 80 calf raises, 18 dips D26: 70s+40s plank, 80 calf raises, 20 dips
Day 27-28	60s plank x 2 90 calf raises 19 dips	D27: Rest Day D28: 60s plank x2, 90 calf raises, 20 dips
Day 29-30	70s plank x 2 100 calf raises 20 dips	D29: 70s plank x2, 120 calf raises, stupid amount of one leg dips from a step in Pump FX. D30: 70s plank x2, 150 calf raises, 20 dips

As you can see, for the most part I did pretty well. I even exceeded my targets occasionally. Particularly where the calf raises were concerned.

I definitely feel stronger as a result, and am pretty chuffed with what I have achieved. Planks and dips are still hard, but if they were easy, I probably wouldn't be getting any benefits from doing them.

If, like me, you need lots of small targets to keep you motivated, I would highly recommend trying out a 30-day challenge. Either one that you find online, or do what I did and make up your own.

I have since modified my challenge to include better progressions and, more importantly, rest days. And I've created a PDF for anyone who would like to try it. The PDF also includes video links to help anyone who might be new to the exercises.

We'll all have calves of steel soon enough!

*DISCLAIMER: Just a wee reminder that this is what has worked for me. There's no guarantee that it will work for everyone as we are all different. I’m not a professional!