30 Day Challenges

Over the past few years, I have been seeing and uptick in these 30 day challenges. Being in the industry as long as I have, I immediately have issue with any workout that is done every day. The science is as clear as crystal. The days off are where the magic of tissue remodeling and strength building occur. Working out every day is bound to have a negative impact on your body, especially if you are not physically fit to start off, which is the case for many challenge acceptors. Secondly, any workout that is to be performed daily to the same muscle group, like squats, can be detrimental to the support structures that also perform important movement functions such as hamstrings & ab/adductors.

I set out last month to do a 30-day ab challenge. There are many to choose from, so I carefully looked to see which ones had the most variability as well as DAYS OFF!! The one I chose still had some obvious flaws (to me), but I embarked upon this challenge. Below, I will post the challenge in case any of you dare to step up (or should I say ‘sit-up’) to the challenge. The bad news is that I did not ‘officially’ complete the challenge. The good news is that I did do an ab workout every day of the 30 day challenge. Around day 13, I started to get a little intimidated about the number of crunches, sit-ups and leg lifts I had to complete. The challenge, in my opinion, increased reps at an unrealistic rate for someone who had not done ANY dedicated ab work in….a while.

Paradigm Shift
I went into this challenge looking to blow up the entire idea of these. However, by the end of week 2, I started to find myself more dedicated to my overall fitness goals, not just the ab challenge. If I looked at each day of the challenge and followed the increases to day 30, of the challenge, it had me doing 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg raises and a 2-minute plank. I concluded that even if I continued to do 65 sit-ups, 75 crunches, 40 leg raises and a 1-minute plank for the remaining 12 days, it was better than quitting all together. I was right. Matter of fact, I have even started to add a few more reps/sets for good measure and I find myself motivated to get my ab work in 3-4 days a week. Now, I may never get a six pack, but I have seen my waistline trim down and my overall wellbeing improved. I can sit here and tell you that this all because of the 30-day ab challenge, but there is actually another underlying factor at play here that is the REAL magic behind these challenges, but I’ll save that for next month when I teach you to be your very own drug dealer.

Are you up for the challenge? Get ready for summer by doing this 30 day Ab Challenge!

Day 1: 15 Sit ups/ 5 Crunches/ 5 Leg Raises/ 10 sec. Planks
Day 2: 20 Sit ups/ 8 Crunches/ 8 Leg Raises/ 12 sec. Planks
Day 3: 25 Sit ups/ 10 Crunches/ 10 Leg Raises/ 15 sec. Planks
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: 30 Sit ups/ 12 Crunches/ 12 Leg Raises/ 5 sec. Planks
Day 6: 35 Sit ups/ 15 Crunches/ 15 Leg Raises/ 25 sec. Planks
Day 7: 40 Sit ups/ 20 Crunches/ 20 Leg Raises/ 30 sec. Planks
Day 8: Rest
Day 9: 45 Sit ups/ 30 Crunches/ 30 Leg Raises/ 38 sec. Planks
Day 10: 50 Sit ups/ 50 Crunches/ 30 Leg Raises/ 38 sec. Planks
Day 11: 55 Sit ups/ 65 Crunches/ 33 Leg Raises/ 42 sec. Planks
Day 12: Rest
Day 13: 60 Sit ups/ 75 Crunches/ 40 Leg Raises/ 50 sec. Planks
Day 14: 65 Sit ups/ 85 Crunches/ 42 Leg Raises/ 55 sec. Planks
Day 15: 70 Sit ups/ 95 Crunches/ 42 Leg Raises/ 60 sec. Planks
Day 16: Rest
Day 17: 75 Sit ups/ 100 Crunches/ 42 Leg Raises/ 65 sec. Planks
Day 18: 80 Sit ups/ 110 Crunches/ 48 Leg Raises/ 70 sec. Planks
Day 19: 85 Sit ups/ 120 Crunches/ 50 Leg Raises/ 75 sec. Planks
Day 20: Rest
Day 21: 90 Sit ups/ 130 Crunches/ 52 Leg Raises/ 80 sec. Planks
Day 22: 95 Sit ups/ 140 Crunches/ 55 Leg Raises/ 85 sec. Planks
Day 23: 100 Sit ups/ 150 Crunches/ 58 Leg Raises/ 90 sec. Planks
Day 24: Rest
Day 25: 105 Sit ups/ 160 Crunches/ 60 Leg Raises/ 95 Planks
Day 26: 110 Sit ups/ 170 Crunches/ 60 Leg Raises/ 100 sec. Planks
Day 27: 115 Sit ups/ 180 Crunches/ 62 Leg Raises/ 110 sec. Planks
Day 28: Rest
Day 29: 120 Sit ups/ 190 Crunches/ 62 Leg Raises/ 115 sec. Planks
Day 30: 125 Sit ups/ 200 Crunches/ 65 Leg Raises/ 120 sec. Planks