30 Day Challenge.
Once again it’s time to announce my next thirty-day challenge.
If you are new to my blog, every month, since I turned 40 back in September, I set a new thirty-day challenge for myself. The goal is to have my year of being 40, a time to press outside of my comfort zones and to challenge myself in new ways.
I’ve noticed a tendency to switch one month with a challenge that is more mental in nature and the next month with a challenge that is more physical in nature. Obviously, most challenges contain an element of both, but one does tend to be the stronger factor.
February’s challenge was to read 3 classic novels in 30 days.
So sticking with my tendencies, March will be a challenge that is more physical in nature.
March Challenge.
The 30-day challenge for March will be:
30 days of achieving 10,000 steps per day
&
30 day plank challenge
10,000 steps per day.
There are a lot of popular indicators that we should try to walk 10,000 steps per day. There is some debate about that precise amount of steps. This PubMed abstract from 2004 said this appears to be a reasonable goal for most populations.
I’ve been noticing that I have a tendency to spend a lot of time sitting. Between writing posts, editing photos, and other computer related work, I often sit for many hours at a time.
Even though I do move to go to Pilates, run errands, and clean my house, I still felt like challenging myself to move more. 10,000 steps gives me a target to attain. I’ve dusted off my Fitbit and will be tracking my steps throughout March. I plan to do more walking, running, and hiking since the weather is getting nicer.
I do have a secondary motive for having such an active challenge for the month of March. We head to Aruba at the end of this challenge and I would like to be more fit before we head to crystal clear beaches.
Plank Challenge.
Since I will be in a bathing suit for most of that week in Aruba, I wanted work on strengthening my core muscles. I decided to look at plank challenges. As soon as I mentioned it, both the hubby and Miss Sunshine said that they would join me on this part of the monthly challenge.
I dug around on Pinterest and opted for this Jillian Michaels 30 day 5 minute plank challenge.
Don’t worry, it’s not side planks like the photo of me from Christmastime. This time I’ll try to have someone snap some photos at the completion of the plank challenge because it’s hard to get in to form in time for the self-timer!
As always, you are welcome to join along on the challenge.
The hubby and Miss Sunshine are advocating we start the challenge at higher than a 10 second hold to start since they’ve held planks longer and I’ve been going to Pilates (mat Pilates) for a year and can hold a plank longer as well (although I don’t think any of us have tried to attain the finale of 5 minutes).
We may take that option, but don’t feel like you need to do that.
Even if you only choose to do one of the two challenges, I hope that you’ll join in this month!
Let your light shine!
Amy
