I’m 10 days into the 30 Strong Challenge and halfway through my personal quest to conquer 30 Machines in 30 Days.
At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if October is supposed to make me stronger—or simply keep me too busy to get into trouble.
30 Strong…and Apparently I Have Friends Who Are Just as Crazy
One of the best parts of this challenge has been having five remarkable women join me.
And here’s the impressive part: they don’t even belong to the fancy gym.
They’re doing this because they wanted to challenge themselves, support each other, and see what happens when you commit to doing a handful of good things for yourself every single day for 30 days.
And by “a handful,” I mean eight.
Every. Single. Day.
The 30 Strong rules are:
- Get in a workout
- Walk 8,000 steps
- Eat 30 grams of protein with each meal
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water
- Get seven hours of sleep
- No alcohol
- Spend 15 minutes in nature
- Spend 15 minutes on recovery
There are no rollover minutes. No extra-credit steps. No banking eight hours of sleep on Tuesday so you can stay up until midnight on Wednesday.
Every day starts at zero.
So far?
I’m 8 for 8, every single day.
Ten days down. Twenty to go.
Ask me again around Day 27 when I’m standing outside at 9:45 p.m. trying to get my 15 minutes of nature while drinking water and doing recovery stretches to save time.
Meanwhile, Back at the Fancy Gym…
As if 30 Strong wasn’t enough, Alex, one of the trainers at the fancy gym, challenged me to learn 30 different weight machines in 30 days.
Challenge accepted.
I’m halfway through the month and have officially conquered 16 machines.
There is, however, a potential problem.
I’m not entirely sure there are 14 machines left that I don’t know how to use.
I may need to conduct an official inventory.
I can picture myself wandering around the gym with a clipboard:
Used it.
Used it.
Know that one.
Absolutely not. That looks like a medieval torture device.
WAIT! WHAT DOES THAT ONE DO?
What started as a fun challenge has actually turned into something much more valuable.
Learning all these machines is giving me more confidence in the gym, especially on the days between my training sessions with Isaac.
I still look forward to my sessions with Isaac because there’s a huge difference between knowing how to use a machine and having a great trainer who knows when to push you, what you need to work on, and—perhaps most importantly—what you would happily avoid forever if left unsupervised.
Yes, Isaac.
I’m talking about lunges.
And Then There’s Barre…
Because apparently I needed another way to exhaust myself, I’ve also started taking Barre classes a couple of times a week.
I really like Barre.
Barre does not appear to like me.
Those tiny movements look so innocent.
“Just lift your leg one inch.”
Sure.
No problem.
Then you do it approximately 4,700 times while holding onto a ballet barre, your leg starts shaking uncontrollably, and a cheerful instructor says:
“Eight more!”
EIGHT MORE?!
I was done 23 repetitions ago.
Barre challenges my legs, glutes, core, balance and muscles I apparently owned but had never formally met.
And that’s exactly why I keep going back.
Someday, I would like to finish a Barre class and casually think:
Well, that was pleasant.
We are not there yet.
Currently, I finish Barre and think:
What just happened to me?
Still Healing. Still Getting Stronger.
There’s one other important part of this story.
I’m still recovering from a pretty extensive back surgery.
I’m getting stronger, but healing takes time. I probably have another couple of months before I truly feel like my “old” self again.
Although lately, I’m beginning to wonder if I really want my old self back.
Maybe I’d rather meet the new version.
The woman who keeps showing up.
The woman who learns another machine instead of walking past it because she doesn’t know how it works.
The woman who takes another Barre class even though she knows perfectly well it’s going to kick her butt.
The woman who gets her 8,000 steps, eats her protein, drinks her water, gets her sleep, recovers, gets outside—and wakes up the next morning and does it all over again.
Every week, I’m seeing improvement.
Not huge, dramatic changes.
Little ones.
A little stronger.
A little steadier.
A little more confident.
And I’ve learned that when you stack enough of those little improvements on top of each other, eventually you look back and realize you’ve done something pretty remarkable.
Ten days of 30 Strong: 8/8 every day.
Sixteen machines conquered.
Multiple Barre-induced near-death experiences survived.
And I’ve still got half the month left.
Now I just need to find 14 more machines.
Alex, you may have seriously overestimated the size of the fancy gym.
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