Tag Archives: challenge

21 Day Cold Shower Challenge

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Say what? Yes! I participated in a 21 Day Cold Shower Challenge with Ben Greenfield. I stood in a shower of the coldest water I could have for 5 minutes every day for 21 days. Not only did it benefit the Brain Trauma Foundation, I actually liked it!

I’ve been listening to Ben Greenfield’s podcast for quite a while now. His topics are so interesting and I’d heard at least two on the subject of cold thermogenesis before he announced the challenge. 

Some of the benefits of cold exposure are:

  • Lowering body fat
  • Increasing hormone levels
  • Improving sexual performance and fertility
  • Lowering blood sugar
  • Cutting food cravings
  • Improving adrenal function
  • Fixing thyroid issues
  • Enhancing immune function
  • Improving deep sleep quality
  • Increasing pain tolerance
  • Reducing inflammation

I had already been doing two minutes a day since hearing the first podcast so I figured it would be easy enough to take it to five minutes. Plus, it had the additional benefit of raising funds for the Brain Trauma Foundation. 

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The participants were all joined in a private Facebook group to share our daily experiences. We were encouraged to take a photo to post. After a couple of weeks, I thought mine were boring so I got some shower caps to liven it up.

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It was a fun experience and something I continue to do. We raised $3,644 for the Brain Trauma Foundation. So it was a great experience all around.

If you are interested in health and sports fitness and endurance, I can’t recommend Ben’s podcast enough. It’s always loaded with interesting and fascinating information!

 

A-Z Blogging Challenge

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I learned about the A-Z Blogging Challenge in the 10 Minute Writers group on Facebook. After investigating the website, I thought it would be a fun one to try. I haven’t been regular with any kind of writing since we moved and now that I’m finally starting to get settled, it’s time to gear back up. This seems like a fun way to do it. 

The way the challenge works is you blog every day for the month of April except Sundays. This leaves 26 days, and as many letters in the alphabet. Some people choose themes to blog to as well but I’ve decided I’d like to stick close to what I normally blog about with an emphasis on coffee and my health and fitness way of life. 

I was able to find coffee shops, within walking distance, so David can come with me while I explore the different places here. We did one today but I found ones that can fit on days D, J, P and V. I can’t wait!

If you’d like to join the challenge, you can sign up here. I’m looking forward to a fun month! 

Ton of Fun Challenge

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I do really well at challenges because I’m super competitive. That’s why I joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge this month. And now, I’ve joined the Ton of Fun Challenge at Fleet Feet Sports.

Tons of Fun Challenge

The 12 week program offers nutrition advice, fitness workouts and accountability. Fitness isn’t tough. We work out every day and I feel terrible if we miss. And I could write a book on diet and nutrition but the actual doing of it? For the food part?  I need accountability!

I went yesterday a.m. for my first weigh-in. I stepped on the scale and learned that I have had WAY too much food fun the past couple of months. The good news is, it makes me feel like crap so I’m ready to get in line.

If you read my blog, you have read about my 100 Goals list. I’ve added completing this challenge successfully to the list. Like other goals on the list, if I attain this one, it will allow me to also achieve (or be closer to achieving) Goals 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 31, 43, 47, 53, 54, and 79. Interesting, eh?

A couple of those goals are fitness and running related. A couple are wardrobe related. 🙂

The program offers support in a facebook group and prizes for reaching various goals. I’m excited. This is one challenge I’m going to win! 🙂

Do you use challenges as a way to help you achieve a goal?

Happy New Year and a Blog Challenge

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited for what 2014 will bring to our lives. When I think of how 2013 went, it’s kind of amazing to me.

It was a great year full of love and success and I don’t expect this year to be any less.

Yesterday, I was searching around the internet for a blog challenge. I don’t know if you’re like me, but sometimes a challenge just helps you get where you’re going more easily. I came across the year long blog challenge at Another Girly Blog. But I saw that the entry to be a part of the challenge had closed way earlier in the month.

I emailed Gaby anyway, just on the off chance I could be added to the challenge, and she did reply saying it wouldn’t be fair to add me when the deadline had passed. I get that. As a Libran, fair is super de duper important to me. And it was awesome of her to respond.

Still… my blog has turned into a book review site. That’s not what I intended to do with it but it’s been the easy way out for the past couple of months while we moved and life was busy.

I became a professional reader for Net Galley last year and am pleased to have an outlet to review the terrific books I’ve been reading (and so they’ll approve me to read more!) but I feel like my blog has lost its identity.

Ultimate Blog Challenge

So I found the 31 day Ultimate Blog Challenge and joined it. Realistically, it makes more sense to try a month of steady blogging before jumping into a whole year of daily blogging. So I’m happy with this and my mind has been tossing around different ideas for blog posts for the month.

Excited for the new year, excited to get my blog on track, and I wish you the very BEST 2014! 🙂

Mission accomplished!

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Woo hoo! I did it! I just finished the Beginner 21 Day Kettlebell Challenge and I’m so excited to have finished. This was a great three weeks. I lost weight, I lost inches, I gained inches and I rekindled my love for the kettlebell. 🙂

Many  thanks to Jamie Espalin for encouraging me to take measurements and photos. I am going to save the photos for a day in the future where I think you’ll be able to see a huge change. But I will share the measurements with you. It’s pretty astounding.

Overall, I had a net loss of 13.25 inches. That includes the inches I gained. 😉

I gained a half an inch in each bicep and 1/4 inch in each of my forearms. I could fairly feel my forearms growing that 1/4 inch, too. I’m happy with gaining inches in my arms because I’ve been swinging Mick every day for three weeks and it only makes sense.

But what doesn’t make sense is the inches I have lost. Astounding is the word I come up with because I’ve never experienced anything quite like this before.

I lost two inches from my hips and an inch and a half from my waist. In three weeks. For real. But here’s a crazier thing. My natural waist is above my belly button where they say you should measure your waist so I usually measure both. At my belly button? I lost 7.75 inches. In three weeks. For real. Astounding, no? 🙂

I thought it was weird when I first took my measurements that my right thigh and calf were each an inch bigger than the left side. I was so sure I was wrong that I measured twice. (I did that with my belly button measurement, too, eventually asking David for help because I was so sure the tape measure wasn’t in the right place.)

Anyway, I lost an inch off of the right thigh and calf and now I’m symmetrical. 🙂

I’ve been eating very clean paleo throughout the challenge. The book suggests having a cheat meal of one hour once a week and I’ve done that. I like it. It gives me a chance to eat things that I don’t otherwise eat and keeps me from craving or missing them the rest of the time. Plus, I don’t end up feeling bad after eating it because I have permission.

I lost a full 10 pounds. In three weeks. For real. I’m super excited about that, too.

Over the course of the 21 days, my average swing went from 17 in each 30 second interval to 19. And the one minute rest period started seeming long.

So…starting tomorrow, I’m going to move up to the intermediate version of the challenge and do another three weeks. I’m excited and a little nervous because it looks like a real challenge but I know I can do it.

Thank you again, Jaime, for encouraging me along and thank you for teaching me how to do the swings!

 

What a difference a banana makes

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And the right frame of mind.

Today, in the 21 Day Kettlebell Swing Challenge, I had a tough 15 minute workout. This workout is the same as Day 4, a day where I thought I had surely killed myself.

I read the Day 4 workout after Day 3 when I went to set my Gymboss. I freaked out at the thought of doing a 15 minute workout with 9 sets of swings. I thought about it all day long.

When I started the work out on Day 4, the first two sets of swings were crap. Because all I could think about was how I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I didn’t want to fail. And by not wanting to so much that I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I almost did.

I finished the workout and promptly threw up.

But I didn’t feel like I deserved mad respect. I felt sick to my stomach all day long, with a blinding headache. When I went to bed that night I prayed that God would let me wake up in the morning. I never want to feel like that again.

I thought a lot about why I ended up feeling that way. We drank an extra large amount of coffee that day before we went for our walk because we got up earlier. I’m not typically an eat before you workout kind of gal so I went into the workout with all that coffee, my system further emptied out by our morning walk, and the sure thought that I would not be able to do this workout.

I think I bottomed out. My blood sugar just went through the floor.

I saw a couple of days ago that the Day 4 workout was going to repeat today. I told David, “I am not going to think about this and let it get into my head”.  And I didn’t.

Because of how badly I felt after Day 4, I wanted to be sure to eat something before I trained today. An early morning google search of just what I should eat turned up a lot of fruit related suggestions. I have been trying to stay away from fruit and focus more on veggies, meat, and nuts so many of the options we didn’t have in the house. But over and over again, I saw the banana as a suggestion. We have bananas.

When David isn’t being

He’s being

I grabbed four Brazil nuts before our walk and, when I got home, I had a banana while I was grabbing my Gymboss, water and kettlebell.

Wow! What a difference a banana makes. My workout was AWESOME! I felt so happy to feel so good.

When I passed the halfway mark, still feeling strong, I thought, “This is why I’m doing this challenge. This is what it’s all about.”

So I’m super excited that I don’t have to pray to stay alive today. I’m thrilled to have had a great workout and to get past Day 8 of the Challenge! 🙂

Plank

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So I’m doing the 21 Day Kettlebell Swing Challenge. And it’s going great! It’s really intense but so far, so good. 🙂

I have been setting my Gymboss each day after that day’s workout for the following day. This way, I can come back from our walk, all warmed up, grab the Gymboss and kettlebell and get started.

Yesterday, I get to Day 6 and I see plank alternating with swings. Huh?

I scroll down until I find this:

with a description of proper form. Apparently, in this program (and maybe in general) the plank is a precursor exercise for push-ups. The Beginner level, which I am doing, has planks while the more advanced levels have push-ups.

Okay. So there are 30 seconds of swings followed by a minute rest then 30 second plank followed by a minute rest. Two sets of each. Sounds easy.

But then I start to think about it. 30 seconds can seem super fast when you are on, say the fourth set of 30 second swings followed by 30 seconds of rest. You barely have time to catch your breath before the beep that signals the next set.

Or, 30 seconds can seem incredibly long when you’re on the ninth set of 30 second swings followed by a minute of rest.

So what will it be? Will I be able to do it? I’m sure going to try.

The first set of swings was beautiful. The minute rest seemed like a long time.

Plank time. I focused on proper form. Keeping my body in a straight line, sucking in my abs, neutral neck, don’t let hips drop, don’t let back arch.

Whew! By the time I did all that, 30 seconds was up. Woo hoo! I did it!

David was fixing his breakfast and I shouted my excitement to him through the open kitchen window.

The second set of planks was a little bit more difficult. I was a little more tired, my abs were starting to tremble and my arms were pleading with me to just let go. And I made it!

I know it was only two planks for 30 seconds each but I’m just beyond excited that I was able to complete them!

You have to start somewhere, right? 🙂