The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

The title of this post is something a certain trainer/instructor has told me often - how you finish one session sets the tone for how you start the next. If you coast at the end of one class, you will have a hard time getting off to a good start at the next one.  That thought is a good one as this 52 day challenge winds down.

Here in the home stretch of this 52 Day Challenge, I've had a chance to learn a bit about the goals I had set and how relevant they are to my fitness goals.  Obviously, the core workout and eating goals are important.  I think the objective of 21 cardio sessions this time around may have been a little light, as I am hitting between three and four workouts a week on average.  Next challenge, I may bump that up to 25 to ensure a good stretch goal.  The RT number is pretty close, as I am targeting three sessions a week (in line with the Hard Body plan I am following).

I am right on the edge with my goal of 88 clean eats.  I was really hoping for 94 this time, giving me a shot at platinum, but I find that eating clean is the toughest part of the challenge for me.   Not coincidentally, it is also the goal that seems to have the greatest effect on my weight loss.  I am ready to bump this number up a bit next time, maybe to ninety.  Slow and steady.

On the discretionary goals, I think the 5% challenge is a good stretch target.  I am going to miss this one, but it is definitely achievable and I will keep that one on the list.  The 1500 crunches has been a tough one- I bumped this up from 1000 my last challenge, and it takes a certain amount of discipline to throw in one or two sets of crunches after every workout to keep the numbers moving in the right direction.  However, I'm not sure that doing crunches forever is really the best use of my time, and is not having the effect of significantly strengthening my core.  I will probably replace this one with something more holistic - maybe pushups, planks, or some other full-body exercise.  

The posting goal was really a one-time thing - although I intend to keep up the blog, I won't be setting a minimum number of posts next time. 

New goals?  The 3600 challenge is something I find intimidating, so I might take that one on as a personal challenge.  The 40-4-40 objective is a great one - I think I would have been close on that one this time around if I was tracking it.  That's another possibility.  And there are any number of other goals - running miles, strength gains on basic exercises like bench press, etc.  I have a lot of thinking to do before picking the five or six goals that will be my focus next time around.  These final days of the challenge are a good opportunity to try stuff out and maybe identify the right goals for me next time around.