30 Strong Challenge — Who’s Joining Me?

I love a good challenge.

Apparently, I also love signing myself up for things before I fully think through what they involve.

My “fancy gym” is starting a 30 Strong Challenge on October 5th. When I heard about it, I immediately thought, Why not?

After all, Alex—the trainer I met during my goal-setting session at fancy gym—has already challenged me to learn 30 strength-training machines in 30 days.

So naturally, instead of concentrating on that challenge, I decided to add another one.

Because why have one challenge when you can have two?

And maybe there’s a prize.

I’m very motivated by prizes.

The 30 Strong Challenge

For 30 days, there are eight things I’m supposed to accomplish every single day:

1. Get in a workout.
2. Get at least 8,000 steps.
3. Get 30 grams of protein with each meal.
4. Drink half my body weight in ounces of water.
5. Spend at least 15 minutes in nature.
6. Spend at least 15 minutes on recovery or self-care.
7. Get at least seven hours of sleep.
8. Abstain from alcohol.

At first glance, I thought, I can do this!

Then I got to the seven hours of sleep part.

Uh-oh.

This challenge suddenly became much more serious.

Where I Expect Trouble

The two biggest challenges for me will be sleep and water.

Getting seven hours of sleep every night sounds lovely. I fully support the concept. I’m just not particularly good at actually doing it.

And 60 ounces of water every day?

I’m going to spend half this challenge drinking water and the other half looking for a bathroom.

I’m also traveling a little during the 30 days, which could make those 8,000 daily steps interesting.

I can already picture it:

It’s 10:00 p.m.

I’m in a hotel.

I’m exhausted.

My watch says 6,742 steps.

And there I’ll be, marching on a hotel treadmill in my pajamas because there is NO WAY I’m letting 1,258 steps ruin my perfect record.

Doesn’t that sound like fun?

But I’m Not Doing It Alone

I already have three girlfriends joining me, and none of them even belong to fancy gym.

We’re going to hold each other accountable every day.

We’ll walk together sometimes.

We’ll work out together sometimes.

We’ll hike together sometimes.

And I’m sure there will be days when our primary contribution is texting each other:

“GET YOUR STEPS!”

One of my girlfriends is going to do seven of the eight criteria and modify the eighth.

And I think that’s fantastic.

Because this isn’t about perfection.

It’s about challenging ourselves to do a little more for our health—for 30 days—and seeing what happens.

So…Who Wants to Join Us?

You don’t have to belong to fancy gym.

You don’t have to be an athlete.

You don’t have to be perfect.

And if one of the eight criteria doesn’t work for you, modify it and make the challenge yours.

But maybe you’ve been thinking:

I really need to start exercising.

I need to drink more water.

I need to eat more protein.

I need to get outside.

I need to take better care of myself.

Maybe this is your excuse to finally start.

Thirty days.

That’s it.

Want to come along?

I’ll happily message with you every day. We can encourage each other, hold each other accountable, celebrate the good days and laugh about the days when we’re pacing around the living room at 9:45 p.m. trying to get our last 600 steps.

The challenge begins October 5th.

Who’s in?

And Alex, in case you’re wondering about my other challenge…

30 Machines in 30 Days:

Seven down.

Twenty-three to go.

What have I gotten myself into?