As promised, these are the goals for Brendita’s Body Works first ever 30 Day “Turn Over A New Leaf Fitness Challenge”:
- Make exercise a regular part of your life
- Think of and know that “DIET” is a bad, bad word!!!
- “Teach” your body to burn fat for energy
- Increase your overall strength, including the strength and efficiency of your heart
- Increase your endurance and stamina
- Increase your body’s flexibility
- Decrease your resting heart rate.
- Make healthier food choices through strategic and well planned grocery shopping (BONUS: You’ll save money!)
- Eat regularly scheduled healthful meals
- Increase your daily water intake
- Cut down on or eliminate caffeine
- Eat more “live” foods (uncooked foods, like lettuces, green leafy vegetables, carrots, spouts, radishes, etc)
The 30 Day Challenge will begin on Monday 5 October 2009. Over the next 6 days, I will detail the steps we will take to achieve the goals I have listed above. There are 12 goals listed above, so I will address 2 a day.
I’ll post a grocery shopping list tomorrow, so you will have ample time to get everything you’ll need. I will also advise you on optional items you might want to have on hand such as dumbbells and ankle weights. You will need them if your fitness level is intermediate or advanced. I carefully planned the exercises in a manner that allows you to make the workout more challenging as your strength and endurance builds increases.
Exercise is obviously a HUGE part of this challenge. I really want you all to do your workout in the morning: When you get your workout done, first thing in the morning, you will feel a HUGE sense of accomplishment; you’ll increase your chances of exercising on a regular basis because you’ll virtually eliminate the chances of finding an excuse (real or otherwise) to skip the workout as the day goes on. Finally, working out first thing in the morning jump starts your metabolism. Your body begins the fat burning process early on and continues to do so for hours and hours after your workout has ended. How cool is THAT?
So, tonight, Monday 28 September, before you go to bed, please set your alarm clock for seven minutes earlier than your usual wake up time. Do the same thing each night so that you’re waking up 7 minutes earlier every morning. Example: You normally wake up at 7:00 am. Tomorrow you will wake up at 6:53. Wednesday you will wake up at 6:46. By Monday, you will be waking up a full 49 minutes earlier: This will give you enough time to do the whole DVD workout. Let’s face it: We could ALL use more than the 24 hours we’re allotted each day, but that’s not going to happen. The ONLY way you can get more done in a single day is by waking up earlier. More on this later in the week.
Next week on Sunday, 4 October 2009, before you go to bed, you are going to:
- Find your workout clothes (socks, yoga pants, t-shirt, sneakers, etc.),
- Fill up your earth friendly water bottle and put it in the fridge
- Get the largest towel you can find for use as an exercise mat and
- Locate your copy of Brendita’s 45 Minute Workout DVD
You are going to put all of the above items (excluding the water, of course) in whatever room you’ll be exercising in, so they’ll be ready for your workout the next day. This way, you’ll have NO excuses for skipping your workout. Examples of some possible excuses for not working out:
“I was going to workout, but I didn’t want to wake my husband/kids/roommate up looking for my clothes”
“I would have worked out, but I left the workout DVD in the baby’s room”
“I was THIS close to working out, but I didn’t have a towel”
“I was all set to go, but wouldn’t you know it, I was fresh out of cold water. I can’t workout without cold water, ya know!”
Do NOT weigh yourself. As a matter of fact, no weighing allowed for the next 36 days. Please, don’t concern yourself with numbers on a scale. You can take your measurements, if you’d like. I’ll explain my prejudice against scales later.
Ready? Here we go! I am REALLY looking forward to seeing lots and lots of posts here from everyone who will be turning over a new leaf!!
