Workout Challenges to Try This Year

Workout Challenges to Try This Year

A workout challenge is not the same as your workout routine. You have probably come across one or more workout challenge calendars on your Facebook feed or a trending 30-day challenge on Twitter or Pinterest. Joining one can be tempting, but the level of difficulty of a fitness challenge is different from your daily workout routine. So before you join in, make sure you are ready to take up the challenge till the end. 

The lowdown on workout challenges 

Do these challenges work? A challenge may or may not work, depending on how you approach it. Sometimes a challenge cannot deliver the specific promised results such as toned abs, but the process of practising daily a new behaviour can help you learn new, better habits. 

According to fitness experts, a fitness program should yield results in four to eight weeks, so when you take up a 30-day fitness challenge, it will only serve as a basis or foundation from which to progress and attain your fitness goal. That commitment to work out for 30 days might be the nudge you need to keep on exercising. 

Also, 30 days might be enough to start seeing tangible results and boost your energy levels. 

A 30-day challenge also has a psychological aspect to it. The ’30 days’ in the challenge seem to always strike a chord with a lot of people. The reason for this is because of human beings like finite goals. If your fitness instructor told you that you would be doing the same exercise routine forever, you would lack motivation. But 30 days seem very achievable for many people, and as you do the challenge, you start to see results, which in turn propel you to continue working out. 

Fitness challenges 

While you cannot expect to achieve miracles in just 30 days, there is no denying the strides you would have made in those few days towards achieving your goal. It will also help you improve your health and put you on the right path toward achieving your weight loss target. 

Want to give a 30-day challenge a try? Here is everything you need to know about the prevalent weight loss challenges. 

• 30-day plank challenge 

Planks are known for working up all your body muscles and boost metabolism. It is one of the most effective compound exercises and involves several muscles, thus allowing you to burn more calories at once.

Challenges involving planks are widespread among fitness enthusiasts because they can work the entire body with just a single move. 

Planks strengthen the core; therefore, when you take up a 30-day plank challenge, you will start to see significant signs of progress in your posture. The back pain will also fade if you had back pain and decrease spinal column and back injury risk. 

When doing planks, be sure to get into the correct posture to see results. 

1. Get your exercise mat. 
2. Get into posture on all fours with your shoulder and elbow width apart 
3. Raise your body in a push-up motion while keeping your elbows on the ground 
4. Align your body parallel to the ground 
5. Hold this position until you are exhausted.

If you don’t do it properly, you risk injuring your neck, back, and shoulder, making sure you get the posture right. 

30-day squat challenge The squat is another form of a compound exercise, meaning it works with several muscle groups in your body. The main muscles engaged in this exercise are the glutes (the muscles in your butt) and quads (front of the thigh muscles). Additionally, the movement also works the muscles in the hamstrings and hip and the muscles around your knee. Lastly, during the training, the core muscles again fire up to give you balance. 

A squat challenge may require you to do up to 200 squats a day to build the muscles involved. 

Though this challenge offers the best way for burning calories and developing muscles, making the same movie every day may not be beneficial for you compared to doing various squat activities. When you mix up the actions, you work up different glutes, core, and thigh muscles. 

There are many variations of squats, the most common ones you:

1. Bodyweight squats 
2. Plié squats 
3. Pulse squats 
4. Plyometric squats (jump squats) 
5. Split squats 
6. Barbell back squats and 
7. Goblet squats 

The stance for squat may vary from what you saw on YouTube or the internet, but your feet must be positioned between your hip and shoulder-width apart, and your toes turned slightly around 5 degrees out. Your shoulders should be back, your spine neutral, and your chest open. Last but not least, be sure your heels stay firmly down throughout the movie. 

To initiate the squat movement:

1. Send your hips back like you are sitting back into an unseen chair.
2. Lower down with your chest lifted but maintain your lower back at a neutral position.
3. Press through your heels to stand back to the starting pose. 

Note that squats don’t involve any muscle from your upper body or core and exhaust the lower body. 

• 30-day cardio challenges

Cardio training or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the favourite fitness challenges among fans because of the short time required to complete the exercises. You only need 20 minutes for HIIT exercises, including strength training, cardio, or both. It is useful for burning calories because it increases your heart rate significantly due to the quick moves between exercises and little rest time. 

Some high-intensity interval training challenges can focus on just cardio only. Others may combine cardio with strength training, while others may include plyometric such as jump squats, jumping lunges, and jumping rope. 

HIIT workout challenges tend to yield maximum results within a short time, making it one of the most effective and suitable for people with a hectic schedule. 

However, HIIT challenges may not take you through an appropriate warm-up, and the downtime is minimal. Nevertheless, the exercises will help you increase your heart rate and reduce it safely. 

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