Mini-Challenges For Motivation

A good way to jump start any fitness regimen is to add in some Mini-Challenges.

A Mini-Challenge is a good, short, and brief 2 to 4 week period to really focus on one part of your fitness goals.

Some examples:

A 10,000 Kettlebelll Swing Challenge: I've done these in the past, usually in January when a national challenge month has been held.  It's a pretty common challenge among kettlebell enthusiasts such as myself. I took a break from it this year since I was already going to do a special challenge. I've documented my previous 10K Swing Challenges in my Kindle guides at http://tinyurl.com/rkofp . You don't have to wait to start one each January, a 10,000 Swing Challenge can be started for pretty much any month out there. For those curious, over 30 days, its an average of 333 total swings per day.  I have done higher volume mixed with lower volume workouts to complete the challenge in less than 30 days.

The 24 Day Challenge: This is the one I just finished in January that was put on by AdvoCare. It involved a 10 day Cleanse phase, followed by a 14 day Max phase.  I felt I made more progress on the Max phase portion and a big part of that was due to the MNS packs I took from AdvoCare.

14 Day Challenges:  This is a good stand-alone challenge that a lot of AdvoCare reps will do, sometimes extending it to a 4 week, 28 day effort.  I'm going to be starting up the Slim Challenge, taking it for 2 weeks instead of 4 like many are doing.   I bought enough Slim packages to cover this over the 14 days.   Another 14 Day Challenge could be just using MNS packs for 14 days, or combining it with Spark.  Take a Spark before your workouts and also take your MNS packs as planned out.  MNS packs are typically 30 minutes before breakfast, another before lunch, then one pack with breakfast and another with lunch or dinner. The MNS packs are a simple way to take in multiple products without having to buy each bottle separately.  Spark also comes in handy sticks, 14 to a bag, to really blend in well with this type of challenge.  These types of challenges are better suited for taking nutritional supplements for the short term to see how well they work for you. They are great if you are on a budget and can't afford higher challenge packages like the 24 Day Challenge one.

Various Workout Plans for 28 Days: giving a workout plan a solid trial basis for 4 weeks of time is a good gauge to use.  It allows for a brief focus of effort, week by week, and allows you to fit it into other large scale efforts.  90 Day programs are also popular, but many will wane off of them if they hit a small roadblock or have a really bad stretch of days when the plans go off the rails.
A 4 week, 28 day or 30 day plan can help you turn a month into a success and help lay a solid foundation to build upon. Some good ones to use at home are Home Workout Revolution and also The Achievable Body.

These are just a handful of challenges to consider, especially if January did not get off on a great start for you with your fitness goals.  Know that there are other solutions than just starting all the time in January with a new set of goals, the process is continual and short-term challenges can help you make a big difference over time!

Success Starts Here!
Coach Rick Karboviak
http://asapworkouts.com