I started a 30 day workout challenge for myself a few days into December. We’ve all seen those cute 30 day challenges for working out where they start you with 5 sit ups and at the end of 30 days you are doing 200. I always wondered if they worked, so I decided to give one a try. Specifically, this one:
Going into the challenge, I was excited and motivated. I had my doubts that I would see the results that these challenges always claimed, but it was still going to be fun. Besides, even if I didn’t end up with toned abs, at least I was doing something.
I decided I wouldn’t significantly change my habits in order to support the success or failure of the challenge. I walk 10,000 steps per day, occasionally go to the gym (big occasionally), eat lots of desserts, and drink at least 40 ounces of water each day. I also have a tiny human, so I get closer to 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night.
I struggled to actually start the challenge, since I knew once I started I would have to commit to it. The first day I was actually pretty disappointed and ended up losing some motivation when I realized it wasn’t totally easy. The fact that I struggled to do even 15 sit ups signified that I was way more out of shape than I had realized. The silver lining was that it didn’t take much time for me to do the workout, reinforcing that even a little exercise can be packed into five minutes.
Once I got into the routine of doing the workout every day, it was easy to set aside the time for it. The big problem was the motivation though. I didn’t want to do the workout. Ever. It felt like a chore that wasn’t going to have any results the entire time I did it. Perhaps that’s part of why it didn’t have results.
Around day ten I started feeling like I was building some muscle. The first 20 or so sit ups weren’t as much work. I could hold the plank longer. Day 17 my abs were starting to feel toned and I was looking forward to a break day. Visual results aside, I could feel that something was being accomplished. I also started realizing exactly how much junk food I was eating. The more active I was the less junk food I wanted.
I went on vacation in the middle of this workout. That was probably the hardest thing for me, and possibly what ultimately caused my failure of this challenge. My partner and I were together constantly and I am not comfortable working out in front of him. I also lost my fitbit, so I went from 10,000 steps in a day to maybe 3,000.
Despite working out every day, and being with family and on vacation, depression struck and it struck hard. I was demotivated, grumpy, and all around unhappy. I started spreading out the workout, doing it more slowly. It made me wonder if the workout wasn’t worth doing at all if I wasn’t trying or was something better than nothing? The reps also started feeling excessive after a point. 100+ sit ups was feeling less useful and more boring to me. The newness of the challenge wore off. I definitely felt like I failed, and in the end, I did. No results were seen, but I’m not convinced that was the fault of the challenge.
I finally called it quits on day 28. That’s right, a pathetic two days from completion and I quit. Between vacation, getting sick, and just losing motivation for it, I completed day 27 after a two week break. I could have finished it. The two days were not a big deal at that point. But the desire was gone. Finishing out the last two days didn’t have a point, since I had failed the challenge already.
I do believe that, based on how much crap I was eating over the holiday, doing this challenge at least prevented me from gaining a terrible amount of weight through the holidays. I compare my before and after pictures and weight and there is almost no difference. I might try a 30 day challenge again, but do it properly and completely next time.
Overall, I would definitely say it built muscle while I was doing it. It also demonstrated that even in just 5, 10, or 15 minutes, you can surprise yourself with how many reps you can do. I think I will try a challenge like this again in the future. Next time, I’ll complete it properly.
