It's our 6 week Body & Lifestyle challenge - Are you in?

January 13 will mark the start of our ‘6 week body and lifestyle challenge’. 

My aim with running a challenge like this is to help you start the New Year off on the right track.

I have called this a body AND lifestyle challenge since everyone will have different reasons for taking part. 

It is not just about getting in great shape and losing a little weight (although it may be).  It may be that you want work on some aspects of your lifestyle, for example, be more consistent with your exercise or stretching, or you may want to just work on posture, add more movement to your day or simply cut down on the processed food you eat. Everyone will have different goals.
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This is not the type of challenge where I will tell you exactly what exercises to do or exactly what to eat (of course I will give some hints and tips on these things). My hope is to point you in the right direction and give you some motivation to set some goals and stick help you stick to it for 6 weeks.

Why 6 weeks?
Having a healthy body requires you to have good, healthy habits and creating these new habits takes time.

A study published in the Journal of Social Psychology showed that on average it takes 66 days to create a new habit. 

My hope is that if you can stick with the challenge and reach your goals, you will be well on the way to creating new, healthy habits and really get your year off to a great start.

How to be involved
If you want to take part in the challenge, let me know so I can keep in contact to see how you are getting on.  You can email or let me know when you are in for your adjustment. To get the most out of the challenge here is what to do:

• Set your Goals.  Whatever your goal is for the challenge, write it down. These goals may be big or small, it all comes down to what you want to achieve with the challenge. Also make sure the goals are realistic.
• Take photos. If your goal is to lose weight or change shape then this is important.  Most people hate this, but it is the best way to see what has changed over the course of the challenge. I would take 3 photos: One from the front, back and side.
• Take your measurements.  Again, if your goal is linked with weight loss or body shape, this is important.  If you don’t know where you started you won’t know what changes you have made. I would weigh yourself, and take some simple body measurements (waist, chest, biceps and thighs). Be as detailed as you want to be and write them down.
• Tell someone you are taking part. Being accountable is a big part in succeeding in a challenge like this.  I can help you stay on track and be accountable if you want me to do that. Otherwise tell your husband/wife, partner or friend you are taking part and they can help you stay on track. Better yet, do it together. This will always help you get better results.
• Follow us on Facebook. If you don't follow us already make sure you follow our Facebook page I will be posting regularly during the challenge with new blog posts, motivation, recipes, exercises to try etc.  It will help you get better results.
• During the challenge record your training or progress. Simply writing something down and keeping track of your progress can make a big difference in how successful the challenge is. For example, I wrote a blog post on how to get the most out of your walks. One of tips was to use a pedometer to track your walks AND record them. A study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that men and women walked 15% more each day when they used pedometers and recorded their daily steps in a diary than when they just wore pedometers but didn’t track their performance.  You can read the blog post here or watch the video here.

Speaking of accountability…….
One of my main reasons for doing this challenge is to help me get back on track.  Moving house at the end of last year (I lost my home gym for a while) and the busy holiday season has caused me to lose some of the progress I made over the last few years with my own transformation.  So in order to be held accountable myself, here are my goals for this challenge (please ask me about when you are in).

• My big goal for this year is to be in the best shape of my life by my 40th birthday at the end of September. 
• My goal for this challenge is to lose some body fat, be more consistent with my exercises and clean up my diet.
• My final goal is to work on my mobility and balance through some natural movement training. I will post some blogs on this shortly.

​So there are the details for our 6 week body and lifestyle challenge.

I hope you will take part in some way. 

I know that if you put in some consistent effort, your body will thank you for it.

Remember “Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results”.