Do Life 12 Week Challenge

You may know Ben Davis from his blog, "Ben Does Life". He went on an incredible journey and lost 120 pounds on the way. He documented everything and is what inspired me to start running and start my own blog to keep track and motivate myself.

On Jan 2nd, 2012 he started a 12-week challenge for all his minions (that would be me and a bunch of other awesome people!). I will be posting it here for those of you who want to join in...

Here's Week 1's Challenge. I will post my response to it soon! Friday or Saturday. :) Happy Beginnings to a Happy New Year!

Welcome to Week One and congratulations on taking this 12-week voyage. Let's get to it. (for best results, print this page) Week One Theme: Assess, Resolve, and Act.  Quote: "You have to act your way into right thinking." Fake it until you make it. Sometimes that's what we have to do. A lot of times we find ourselves accepting our crappy habits, whatever they may be, as a way of life. Breaking those habits is difficult and we're not going to immediately adopt new healthy habits as a lifestyle. Sometimes we have to force them until they become routine. This isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean we're not "cut out" for whatever change we're trying to make. Remember that. This week is all about determining where we are currently and where we want to be. That is, after all, what a resolution is, right? It might be worth it to get a notebook or word document and label it "Do Life Challenge." WEEK ONE CHALLENGES: (Since we're all at different places in our health and fitness journeys, there will be some differing challenges.) Write down five quantifiable goals for yourself. Emphasis on quantifiable. And they must be realistically achievable within one month (more on this below the challenges).  Assess yourself and write down your current stats in all five areas. Do you want to lose six pounds? Find out exactly where you are now. Do you want to run a 35-minute 5K? Write down your current time. Etc. You might need to get creative with assessments. That's okay. There is no requirement on your goals or your assessments. By Monday night, get on the floor an do as many pushups as you can. Modified (from your knees) or regular. It doesn't matter how many you can do. Write this number down in a notebook or word document. Pushups will be a "fun" recurring litmus test throughout the 12 weeks.  Beginners: Do 120 minutes of exercise this week. The exercise can be anything physical as long as you're working that heart rate. Walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, yoga, weight-lifting, anything.  Intermediate/Advanced: Add 30 minutes to your average week and push the intensity during those 30 minutes. It doesn't matter if it's five intense minutes during six different workouts or one extra intense 30-minute session.  Identify your biggest excuse. Write it down on a wall in your house. Then in your notebook write a way to eliminate that excuse. Not enough time in the day? "Eliminate American Idol and Glee." Sorry Each night before bed, write four things you did well that day. Goal-setting:  I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions and why they ultimately fail and I've come to this conclusion: We think way too abstractly, way too long-term, and way too macro. For example: If we tell ourselves, "in 2012, I want to lose weight" we are guilty of thinking too abstractly and long-term. That's way too much time. We'll find ourselves slacking and saying something like, "I'll just start in February; I'll still have 11 months to lose weight."  No. We need to be specific and we need to think shorter-term. Try this: "I want to lose six pounds by February 1st." Eliminate the abstract. Make it quantifiable. Even better, add appendices. "I want to lose six pounds by February 1st by training for a 5K and eliminating soda."  Think micro. How can you get better TODAY? When you're driving in the car at night, you can't see your destination. You can only see what's just ahead. You end up at your destination, but you did so by looking at WHAT'S NEXT. Now you have a plan of attack. That's what goal-setting is all about. Saturday I'll make an official submission thread. By Sunday, post your weekly reflections, results, and thoughts there. Be sure to take pictures if you can. Get creative.

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