Usually at this time of year I would be sharing with you the results of my yearly gym challenge. This is the yearly personal challenge I’ve been doing for around 12 years, where I aim to go to the gym 150 times a year (3 times a week x 50 weeks – see, it’s not so hard when you break it down).
Some years it’s a real struggle to hit the magic 150 target, whilst in others I have floated right past it almost without noticing. But I’ve always got there in the end, until this past year, when my gym attendance looks like this:
Actually that’s not bad, considering. After all, fitness is more of a journey that you take rather than a goal you hit.
As you can see, I started the year with so much enthusiasm, and then it all came crashing to a halt. I did fill in the missing months with various types of home exercise, but it was nowhere near as fun as lifting weights in the gym can be. And that really is the key to finding an exercise plan to stick to – it has to be fun for you to want to keep doing it.
So what do we do when it’s not?
What’s next? A fitness challenge for 2021
This is where I’m at right now: gyms aren’t open for the forseable future. I would like to keep my fitness up in some way, but the last year has shown me that I really don’t like exercising at home. But for now, being at home is all we have. Time for a new approach.
One thing that does work well for me is a 30 day challenge. In the November lockdown I did this 30 day abs challenge and it was really helpful to tick off each day and feel like I was making progress. The current lockdown will almost certainly stretch across more than one 30 day span, so I’m going to take it one chunk at a time.
And even though I have never liked yoga and always found it too slow, I do feel drawn to this 30 day yoga journey from Yoga With Adriene. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the time for a more steady journey rather than an uphill challenge.
I might also do a few of the classes which are being live streamed on the Pure Gym YouTube channel. They’ve got lots to choose from including Combat, LBT and Bodytone.
I think the main thing is to keep moving, preferably forwards. The challenge now is simply to keep going and look after yourself. Everything else can wait.
Are you doing any kind of fitness challenge right now? Let me know what you’re up to in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.
