Category: Health and Fitness

I sent this e-mail to some people today. This is a focus of one of my goals for the New Year.

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Hello and Welcome to the 90-Day Fitness & Accountability Challenge!

If you are receiving this email, it means that I’ve babbled on about this 2014 challenge and you expressed some interest. Wouldn’t it be awesome and fun to get a group together where we all work toward our fitness goals in a motivating and accountable way? Exciting!

So what exactly is the challenge?

When:

Monday, January 6th – Saturday, April 5th. That’s only 90 days.

The Fitness Goal:

Task 1: Set your fitness or physical activity goals.

“Resolutions” often come with lofty expectations and usually fall off the radar after a few weeks. As I began chatting with different people in December and during the holidays, it became clear that many of us have fitness or physical activity goals for 2014. Many of those goals require a training routine. Here are some that were mentioned:

• Increasing cardio activity to N number of days per week
• Practicing yoga at least 3 times per week
• Training for the Vancouver half-marathon in May
• Conquering the Tough Mudder race this summer
• Creating a routine to train for a triathlon in September
• A cross-country skiing schedule to prepare for the Lake Louise loppet
• A 90 day round of P90X3: 6 days per week, 30 minutes per day

Think about what you want to accomplish in the 90 days, and determine what you are working toward. What do you hope to achieve with this 90-Day Fitness & Accountability Challenge? It’s completely up to you!

How Often?

Task 2: Set the number of days per week you are willing to commit to physical activity.

We all lead busy lives, but there is always time to dedicate to your health. How many days are you willing to commit to uninterrupted exercise or physical activity in order to achieve your goals? For each day, you should complete at least 30 minutes of whatever helps you reach your goal: yoga, running, a P90X3 workout, XC skiing, stretching. It doesn’t have to be the same activity for all days. Change things up and vary your workouts, but keep your goal in mind.

If you think you can do 4 days, then consider choosing 5! Remember, this is a challenge group, so take yourself out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. It may require you to reassess where your time is going, but trust me, you can always find at least 30 minutes a day for an intense, focused workout. Consider doing above and beyond the 30 minutes, or throwing in a stretching activity after each workout.

To make this a challenge and to ensure that fitness and physical activity become a routine, you must be willing to be accountable for at least 3 days a week.

Tracking and Accountability

Since this is a 90-Day Fitness & Accountability Challenge, we need to be accountable. This means tracking your fitness and progress each week. Accountability will help us all stay focused. It’s far easier to fall off the fitness wagon when it’s just you, but as a group, we want each other to succeed. Know that there are others working toward their own goals, while going through successes and difficulties that are similar to your own.

I will be checking in with each of you each week (yes, you’ll get sick of me by the end!), and centrally tracking everyone’s progress on a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will contain your name, your fitness goal, and your number of “accountable” days. Then each week, I’ll record how many days you’ve completed and send out the spreadsheet to the group. Even though this is a group challenge, it is important to note that this is a very personal 13 weeks and the only person to compete against is yourself.

Some Perspective

90 Days, or 13 weeks, may seem like a long time. It is! But let’s use the New Year momentum and really create a scheduled fitness routine. It takes about 3 weeks of repetition before the workouts feel like a habit.

Remember, too, there is quite a connection between the mind and the body. A positive attitude will go a long way! Thinking that you’re lazy will make you feel lazy. Thinking that you are awesome and can conquer any workout and achieve your fitness goals will make it much easier to complete your challenge. Keep your eye on the prize: a healthy, happier and fitter you.

Action Items:

1) Please confirm if you would like to be part of the challenge. If not, please let me know- I will not take any offence. If I do not hear from you, I will assume your answer is “no”.

2) Set your fitness goals. What are you working toward? What do you hope to achieve with this challenge?

3) Set your frequency of fitness and workout activity per week. How many days are you willing to commit to per week? This will be your number of “accountable” days. (The minimum is 3 days a week and each workout should be at least 30 minutes. Take yourself outside of your comfort zone! If you think you can do 3 days a week, then consider choosing 4!)

4) Let me know by Saturday, January 4th.

Any questions, please ask!

I’m excited to be taking on this challenge with you all and I’m equally as excited to hear about everyone’s goals.

Rick