exercise_every_day | October 2010 Challenge Declaration

As promised last week, here is the October Challenge Declaration Post!

Challenge yourself for October! Find a fitness goal that you want to achieve, that you can achieve, with diligence, in one month.

Declare your goal by October 1, then on October 31 we will have a roundup of how we all did!

The goal can be simple, like being able to run a mile by the end of the month (even slowly!).

It can be progressive, like moving from wall pushups to floor pushups.

It can be process oriented, like trying to exercise 25 of the next 31 days.

Try to make it something YOU want that is challenging but doable.

If you want to participate and you just can't think of anything, check out what everybody else posts, then copy somebody! :D

I also offer a generic challenge: Achieve 20 pushups in a row at 45 degrees or lower.

If this works out and people like it, I'm thinking we might make this a monthly event, with a challenge declaration post around the 26th, and a challenge results post on the last day of each month.

So let's get started!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

muck_a_luck

I will be attempting to kick up into handstand by the end of the month. I've been wanting to get this for ages, and just not putting in the effort to get it done. The time is now, me!

From:

bewize

I'm in. My goals include: exercising every day (still working through the 90 Days of Madness project) and finishing the 30 Day Shred. Also, I want to start running at least 15 miles a week.

From:

just_ann_now

I've been reading about the various 40 Days of Yoga challenges (for meditation and improved eating habits, as well as asana practice) so I'm going to commit to 45-60 minutes of yoga each day through October (and continuing into November), daily meditation, and mindfulness of what I'm eating (to wit: giving up my weekly Hardee's biscuit. *sigh*)

From:

muck_a_luck

Noble goals. (Though your biscuit sacrifice reminds me of those What to Expect When You're Expecting women who were advising about prenatal diet and saying how maybe the preggers chick could splurge on a muffin once a week and I was like, you're kidding, right? :D )

From:

muck_a_luck

Awesome!

From:

just_ann_now

splurge on a muffin once a week and I was like, you're kidding, right?

I know! I'm generally very good about being careful, but that biscuit has been my weekly junk-food splurge for years and years. Breaking the Tuesday Hardees habit will probably be much more difficult than anything else I do this October. (And the ladies there are so nice! They know me! They'll miss me! How can I deprive them of the joy of my smiling presence?)

From:

muck_a_luck

You gotta do what you gotta do, I suppose. They will miss you, though. *is sad for them*

From:

rydra_wong

*cheers you on!*

Edited Date: 2010-09-29 05:16 pm (UTC)

From:

shanaqui

Sounds like an awesome idea!

From:

rydra_wong

This is a little vague, but I want to work consistently enough to make some visible progress in Royal Pigeon (getting my hands further down that damn strap).

I've got the hip and quad flexibility, I think, but I really need to open up my shoulders and upper back, so this would be a good thing for me to work on.

From:

shanaqui

Having read some articles and step by step guides to it, I am totally ready to commit to trying to be able to do wheel pose, with a secondary goal of doing yoga every day while I'm working on that.

From:

shanaqui

Good luck!

From:

willful_zephyr

Go for it!

From:

willful_zephyr

I'm going to commit to several things.

I will do yoga every day (part of the 40 Day Challenge). I will exit the JV pull up series by the end of the month (6-9 pull ups).

I will also try something new, and go to a spin class to see if I like it.

From:

muck_a_luck

Kewl.

I think I am going to put a pullup bar on my Christmas list and make pullups part of my January challenge. I think my 40 days of yoga will come, too, but that might be my November challenge, as I'm about to take the first week of October "off" to do a big writing project...

From:

muck_a_luck

I predict that once you try it a couple of times, this will be a piece of cake for you! :D Then you can go to family gatherings and pop up into Wheel and impress and frighten all your relatives! :D

From:

muck_a_luck

I like it!

From:

willful_zephyr

I have a version of this (link to amazon).

There are more fancy versions, with more handgrips, which I probably should look at moving to as I get better at pull ups.

From:

opusculus

I think I'll do: I will work out every day that's on my schedule when it's less than 90 degrees out, and do an easy workout at least half the time when it's between 90 and 100. Giving myself room for not moving when it's too hot to think will probably help, overall.

From:

to_love_a_rose

I'm just going to go a little beyond the generic challenge. I'm aiming for 25 hands-and-toes floor push-ups and 35 sit-ups.

From:

shanaqui

Hahaha. I tried it a couple of times a while ago and haven't been able to get my arms extended, yet. But I'm workin' on it.

From:

rydra_wong

Yowza. Go you!

From:

yvi

I have no idea where I am fitness-wise anymore, but I suppose it's pretty bad after almost 3 months with next to nothing...

I want to go out for exercise 6 times, whether that be running, squash, or something else. And do indoors exercise also at least 6 times, whether that be free-weights stuff or something else. Any exercise needs to be at least 25 minutes. So that's 12 times exercise in one month.

From:

carolyn_claire

I'm unwell, today, so I didn't go to my final (I hope) PT appt*, but I'm going to go ahead and sign on for push-ups (starting on the wall) every Mon-Weds-Fri and crunches every Tues-Thurs-Sat, and do nothing on Sundays. My goal is to just keep to the schedule, see what happens, and then set number-type goals for the next challenge.

*The PT said that starting wall push-ups would be okay, at this point, already, so I'm not jumping the gun. (She also said that I should avoid anything like an overhead press from now on, which also lets out handstands and downward dog, too-DD is possibly how I did this to my shoulder in the first place.)

From:

lullabymoon

I'd like to double my worktop pressups from 10 to 20, basically an extra one every three days. Doable for me, but at the same time not going overboard.

From:

dreamingpixels

I am going to trade in an hour of my Morning Internet Time for an hour long walk. (In other words, I'm gonna try and get up off my butt and move every single day this month!)

From:

silverhare

I aim to get twenty hours of activity on the Wii Fit.

From:

thene

I aim to run at least 5 miles per week.

I aim to add something new to my exercise every week, probably focusing on things I can do with my set of weights. I GET BORED EASILY WHAT CAN I SAY.

From:

silentflux

Ok. I'm going to give this a try. Exercise in some way at every day whether it's a walk, a vid workout or doing exercises in commercial breaks. In addition, I'd like to get in some stretch/yoga (10 minutes or so) every day. Just get moving and off my butt, lol.

From:

rydra_wong

I GET BORED EASILY WHAT CAN I SAY.

*g* I have the attention span of a gnat, so I sympathize! Here are some links that you might find useful to raid for ideas:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
http://www.stumptuous.com/cool-exercises-youve-probably-never-seen-before
http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/231977.html
http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/235642.html
http://lifting-heavy-things.dreamwidth.org/10287.html

From:

muck_a_luck

Excellent!

From:

codyne

My goal is to continue training for the Las Vegas Half Marathon on December 5, and not miss any of my scheduled runs. I run/walk three times a week, using a 30:60 second run/walk ratio. I do two maintenance runs of two miles each, and one longer run. The long runs alternate between mileage-increasing runs and shorter recovery runs. For October, my long runs will be 9.5, 4, 11, and 4 miles. (The last week in October, I'll be out of town, and have scheduled the time off into my training.)

Runs are followed by 4x15 crunches (two sets of regular and two sets of oblique crunches), 2x15 pushups (currently on the counter, but I may try to move to the floor in a week or so and/or increase the number of sets), and 10 minutes of yoga-type stretches.

I've been training for 8 weeks already and haven't missed a run/walk yet, so I'm hoping to keep it up all the way to Las Vegas!

From:

semielliptical

My goal is to exercise every day (barring illness) for at least 30 minutes. Consistency has always been my biggest problem, so I want to continue to work on developing the daily habit before tackling another goal.

From:

green

Okay, I have been having a hard time with coming up with something challenging and yet attainable to do for this, but I have settled on:

I will exercise every day of October for at least 30 minutes.

My goal for the past two months has been to exercise every day for at least TEN minutes, and I've done well with that, going over to about 20-30 minutes on the average. Hopefully a 30 minute minimum will get me doing 40-50 on average. :D

From:

foreverinblue

I wanted to use mine again but my sister convientely "forgot" to give me my wii balance board back and it just so happens she won't have time now to return it til christmas. Ugh.

Good luck to you though!

From:

0jack

My Oct. Challenge is to do and journal the following:

* 20 minutes exercise a day, excluding regular walking. (pushups, situps, squats, nordic pole walking, walk/jog, weights, pilates, skipping)

* continuing self-administered trigger point therapy (this stuff is saving my bacon) & stretching. (edit: can't forget the rebounder and balance board--I couldn't feel my feet properly for most of my life, so need to keep up the therapy.)

* at least 10 days of ALL PALEO eating--reserving the right to alter this depending on the outcome of appts with a gastro Dr and an allergist (again). I have a shit-ton of food allergies and "probably Crohn's, do you want a biopsy, or do we just go with it?"

* working up to 15min continuous skipping

Edited Date: 2010-09-30 07:24 pm (UTC)

From:

zennish

I want to be able to deadlift my bodyweight for at least 3 reps (without injury!).

doing it without having something go pop is gonna be the hard part. orz

From:

rydra_wong

Mmmm, deadlifts. Have you got Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength? I'm working my way through it at the moment and it's full of seriously useful advice, especially on form and how to avoid making things go pop; I think I've dogeared half the pages in the deadlift chapter.

From:

0jack

Is there a comm for book reviews of stuff like that? I have some books on muscle health and self-treatment that I'm reading and using right now--helping myself out of chronic pain and into fitness with them (and a looooot of drugs). Or would here be an appropriate place?

From:

nicolakgreen

I have really fallen out of the exercise habit since I got back, so a challenge is just what I need.
I will do at least 30 minutes yoga every day, get back in the gym 3 times a week, and swim at least once. I am fairly certain that once I get in the pool I'll enjoy it - I am just having a terribly hard time getting through the door.

From:

rydra_wong

Ooh, good question. I know people have been posting book reviews in

lifting_heavy_things, so that's definitely one possible place.

ETA: Forgot to say: I for one would definitely be interested in your reviews; sounds like you're working on some interesting stuff (trigger point therapy is the awesome). And I know there are other people in the comm dealing with chronic pain issues.

Edited Date: 2010-09-30 10:29 pm (UTC)

From:

silentflux

From:

zennish

No, but I've heard it recced pretty much everywhere - must be some good stuff in it! I find that unless I've got someone prodding me with a sharp stick I tend to keep my shins not-quite-so 90 degrees, so I just have to continually think about keeping my legs straight.

\o/ deadlift!

From:

shopfront

My goals are going to be habit oriented this month. I've signed up to healthmonth.com for three non-exercise habits, and for here I think I'll aim to exercise every day, even if I only jump on the treadmill for a few minutes. If I give myself a mental health allowance of one day off a week, then I'm aiming for a minimum of 26/31 days.

From:

natmerc

I'm going to pledge to weight training 12 times in October.

I've also starting skipping again the past couple of months, and I'd really like to master double-unders. So -- by the end of October -- I want to be able to consistently do them, at least 10 in a row.

From:

mixofsun

I have several goals, but I suppose I should narrow them down. :) I managed to exercise every day in September (in one form or another), and I want to continue moving in October. It's also been quite a while since I have been able to practice yoga (health/injury issues), and as long as I'm careful, I can start back with that again. I'm going to try for the 40 Days, and see where that takes me. :)

From:

zats_clear

I need habit forming - so I am challenging myself to do my morning yoga routine, all 6 minutes of it, each day. It is not much but it makes such a difference in my outlook and the state of my back!!!