There is no one-size-fits all recipe here but there are 4 pillars of your health and fitness to work on, how? Let's dive in.
XYZ days pushups, abs, squat, you-name-it challenge, XYZ minutes a day workout for fat loss and the list goes on. What are all of those? Let’s look at their common traits. These challenges want to make you:
- Move
- Stick to the plan for a consistent amount of time
- Push to reach the goal with eventual sacrifices during the (usually short) challenge period
- Get going by yourself as when they’re done, you are simply on your own back to the start
Depending on the type of challenge you jump on, there are a few things to keep in mind to check if this is a good or a silly one that I’d rather suggest you to avoid.
Sorry not-so-sorry
Let’s get this straight from the start if you join a 30 days abs challenge hoping to shred your abs by just training for the required period I guarantee you that, if that is the only thing you do, by no means your abs will be all of a sudden visible as the stubborn layer of belly fat magically vanishes at the end of the 30 days. You are going to achieve a stronger abdomen (which is already a great feat so good job) but not fat loss.
Let’s shake this off the table right away.
There is NO way that ANY challenge for fat loss that trains a specific muscle, for example, the abs, will make you lose fat in general not to mention lose on your abdomen or your arms, or your thighs or wherever the challenge claims.
Why join a challenge?
Ask yourself these question:
- Why would you do that?
- For what purpose?
- What are your expectations from this?
- Do you do it randomly out of boredom of for a specific reason?
Any action without the right reason rarely stays on track, so clear your mind first.
Here comes the important part: no XX days challenge for fat loss (or muscle gain) makes much sense unless nutrition is taken into consideration. End of the story. There’s a high risk of frustration ahead and I say this not because I want to dissuade you from being more active, but because I believe it’s the right thing to tell you so that your expectations are in check.
If you choose any challenge to do because it looks fun, it helps you move more and be more active making you feel better, absolutely go for it!
Any action without the right reason rarely stays on track, so clear your mind first
What are the 4 pillars of your health and fitness to work on, challenges aside?
I would like to help you track and understand the most fundamentals aspects that you should have clear in mind when it comes to the 4 pillars of your health and fitness decisions:
- Eat right for your goal (and drink water)
- Train/move to reach your goal doing activities that you like and get you excited (lifting, hiking, biking, any sport!)
- Sleep, rest and recover
- Repeat A.K.A. be consistent
Let’s have a look at them a bit more in detail.
1 - Eat right for your goal (and drink water)
Screw “eat healthy”.
Why? Because it’s too vague and more then often there are many “healthy” foods on the market that when you look at the label of are actually worse for you than beneficial so, eat RIGHT for your goal.
What does this mean?
- Get your daily calories needs so that you have an idea of what’s your goal.
- #eatyourprotein first, adjusting the quantity to be sure you have plenty for you to retain muscle mass if you’re going to start a calorie deficit period to lose fat or to increase your muscle mass if that is your goal.
- Add plenty of veggies because they are ridiculously beneficial for your health in the first place, secondly because they help you feeling fuller if you’re reducing calories and then because a diet without veggies is simply unbalanced and lacking.
- Have fruits yes, fruit is good for you end of the story.
- Eat your carbs, the key here is to understand that they are another essential part of our diet and you can eat them as long as they match your daily calories intake. Preferably whole grain sources when available.
- Drink plenty of water a day, plenty like a big bottle a day. Water is essential to your life and your body massively relies on water to keep functioning at its best, to keep itself clean of toxins, to aid in the fat loss process as well as in the performance of your workouts. Put a bottle of water on the table in front of you and drink it throughout the day.
It’s fine if you go out with your friends and have some extras, what matters here is the long term consistency, the more you have the better will the journey to your goal be. Have your expectations adapt to your days and weeks and you’ll be ok.
2 - Train hard but smart to reach your goal
3 - Sleep, rest and recover
Your body needs sleep and rest to be able to perform, both for your brain health, and for your body composition goals.
A sleep deprived body will not function properly and won’t help you stay on track with nutrition and training.
A sleepy brain craves for the easy and more than often poor food choices, like that extra full bag of chips, those cookies right there on the shelf, that “healthy” granola bar or that juicy venti Starbucks crème brule Frappuccino.
A sleepy brain is more likely tell you that actually staying on the sofa and watch the Kardashians is a much better option that go out and move as well as actually increase the risk of injuries during our training due to reduced level of coordination.
If you’re sleep deprived black coffee doesn’t count that much, sure it can give you a sense of wakefulness and help you to push a bit more, but ultimately you’d be less performing. Now imagine if you slept sounding and had your inner battery at full power what could a black coffee help you achieve….
Don’t cut on your sleep and rest, there’s no such thing as “tomorrow I’ll sleep longer to recover the lack of sleep” the hours you don’t sleep…are gone. Be conscious about it next time you want to binge on the newest Korean Drama until 3am to be up and running at 7:30am, as long as you’re doing it consciously and not just out of boredom, you can deal with the consequences of it like an adult and not like a toddler.
4 - Repeat A.K.A. be consistent
I won’t get tired of repeating this. If you’re not consistent in your health and fitness choices, you will not be able to achieve whatever goal you chose for yourself.
Hold your horses before you say “but I did everything I could” and ask yourself again, did you REALLY do everything you could and by the book?
Be honest here, if you seriously have been at least 70% consistent every month of your training and nutrition for a few months, you should have progress in your hands right here and now.
If you didn’t there is something that we can talk about. We’re humans, and unless we track what we do, we can’t rely on our memory.
Do you remember what t-shirt or dress were you wearing two Saturday evenings ago? Neither do I, I would remember my protein intake and calories if I tracked them, so if you’re about to say “it’s my body structure, my hormones, my horoscope, I can’t change” or “I don’t need to track, I remember all the macros” it’s BS.
If you really are sure that you have been consistent and tracked every calorie you had and nothing changed you can consider going for a checkup but believe me, chances are there were some other issues here and there, find them, correct them and go back on track.
Don’t forget!
Whatever you choose for your health and fitness, make sure you understood the 4 pillars of your health and fitness that should help you making the best choice for you: Eat, Train, Sleep and Repeat.
Keep those clear in mind and I’m sure you will find the right path. On the other hand, the next time you see a challenge on IG, filter it using today’s ideas before you jump right in and potentially waste time and effort.
