BeWOW Six-Week Challenge: Week 1

Your total-body transformation starts now.


If you’re bored with the monotony of going to the gym, need to make some healthy changes in your life, or need a reason to start exercising and eating a healthier diet, then I have a challenge for you: Follow this exercise and nutrition program for the next six weeks and see what happens. Seriously, what do you have to lose?!

This challenge is not about weight loss; it’s about getting healthier and stronger. It’s about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, holding yourself accountable for the foods that you eat, and making the healthiest decisions for your body that you possibly can. At the end, maybe you’ll have lost a few pounds, maybe you won’t. But, more importantly, you will be stronger and healthier, and proud of the efforts you put forth in exceeding your own expectations to make positive changes in your life.

Here’s how it’s going to work. The first week you will do “The Challenge” workout, which I’ll explain in a minute. Then, you’ll get homework to complete during the week to keep you on track towards your goals. For the next four weeks, I’ll post a new workout and give you some new homework to do. So, the workouts will build on one another, and be tailored to help you improve on the different aspects of “The Challenge” workout. Then, in the sixth week you will revisit “The Challenge” workout that you did on the first day to see how you progressed.

In addition to the workouts, I will give you some nutritional guidance each week as well. There will be a new tip each week, which will be general rules for you to think about. They will be structured in a “More or Less” format. This means that one week, your tip will be to eat more of something (awesome, right??), and the next week the tip will be to eat less of something else. That way, you are gradually making healthy changes, and not having to do some intense diet (ew, horrible word), where you are only allowed to eat lettuce and drink water for six weeks straight.

After you complete the challenge workout on the first day, record how you did; based on your performance that day, set realistic goals that you would like to achieve when you complete “The Challenge” workout again at the end of the six weeks. Make sure you write down your goals, and keep them in a place where you will see them every single day. You could even share them with someone, or find a friend to do the challenge with you. And, as always feel free to share your progress with me and the rest of the Be Well Philly family. Leave a comment on this post, or share your results on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #BeWOWChallenge.

Work hard, commit to the process, and challenge yourself. Ready? Let’s go.

BeWOW Six-Week Challenge: Week 1

The Rules:
Always start by warming up for a few minutes (light jog, elliptical, bike, etc.).

As you go through “The Challenge” workout, record how long it takes you to run your mile, how long you can hold your plank, and how many reps you completed in one minute.

You are going to run 1 mile.  Record how long it took.  Then, you are going to do 1 minute of different exercises to see how many you can do in 1 minute.  Record how many you did before moving on to the next exercise.

“The Challenge” Workout:

Cardio: 1 mile run (record your time!)

Plank test: Hold a plank for as long as you possibly can. Record your time.

Strength and conditioning: Keeping good form, do each of the following exercises for one minute and record how many reps you can do. Rest for no more than 30 seconds between each. Click the links below for video how-tos.

Squats

Push-ups
Alternating lunges
Toe-touch crunches
Rows (using a band, weights, machine, or TRX)
Hamstring curls on physioball
Overhead press
Ski jumpers (left and right is one)
Tricep dips

The More or Less Nutrition Challenge:

Eat MORE vegetables. Try having a meal of just veggies every day this week.

You don’t have to drastically alter any other part of your diet.  All I’m asking is that you eat more fresh veggies.  You know what your diet consists of now, so whatever that is, just do lots more.

Homework for the Week:
Do at least 30 minutes of cardio three days this week
Do one more strength training workout (here’s an idea)
Keep a food diary
Write down your goals for your six-week challenge

……..

Audrey McKenna Hasse is the owner of A.M.Fit, a personal training and healthy consultation business on the Main Line. You’ll find her workouts every Monday right here on Be Well Philly.

Photo: Shutterstock