What I Learned From Taking A Week-Long Workout Challenge

At the beginning of this week, I set myself a challenge to go to the gym every single day for five days. As I tend to go 2-3 times a week on a regular basis, this sounded doable, worthwhile, and quite fun. Also I’m not all that fit to going to the gym a few extra times is always a good idea for me (lose some flab, find some abs). Overall, as a challenge, it went really, really well. I made it to the gym every single day, managed a good workout each time, and finished with a great sense of achievement (and a wee bit of exhaustion). However, I will also say that each day was not without its own challenges. My week went something like this:

Monday-Yes! This is fun. I’m going to be so fit. I bet I could do this every week.​
Tuesday-Ooh, I’m a bit sore today. But I’ve still got this!
Wednesday-I’m so tiiiiiiiired. I don’t wanna gooooooo.
Thursday-I get a free pass when it’s over 30c, right? No? Who made these stupid rules?
Friday-I’m hot, I’m tired, and I’m sore. But it’s the last day. Must. Work. Out

So, what did I learn from doing this? Quite a lot actually. I learned that I am excellent at coming up with excuses, and that I complain more than I probably should. I also learned that doing anything for five consecutive days, no matter how enthusiastic you are, or how much you like it, is a lot harder than you’d think, especially when it involves physical exertion. I learned that I have the capacity and will-power to achieve difficult things. And I learned that there are things I can do that makes challenges like these a little bit easier.

For one thing, having an accountability partner/gym buddy is invaluable. My sister Sophie is an avid gym goer, much more dedicated and excited about it than me. Some days she came with me, and some days I reported back to her what I had done while she wasn’t there. She could push me to go when I really, desperately didn’t want to, and encouraged me through the hardest parts of my workouts. Having someone to report to, especially someone doing a similar thing to you, is super motivating, especially on the days when things start to get hard.

Another thing that helped was acknowledging at the start that this challenge was probably going to be harder than I imagined. I started out all positive about how easily I was going to do this. But there is a huge difference between your mindset at the beginning of the week and in the middle when your whole body aches and you’d give anything to stay in bed for another hour’s sleep instead of getting up for yet another workout. However, being aware that things are going to get hard and that you’re not going to be as enthusiastic a couple of days in means that you can plan ahead accordingly.

Being aware of the fact the challenge was going to get harder, I planned my week in advance. I knew what time of day I would go each day, I planned when I could go with someone else, and even what workout type I was going to do on what day, whether I was in for a grueling leg day, or a 5km run. I also planned ahead in other ways too, like laying out my gym clothes the night before, and packing my gym bag in advance so that there was as little to do as possible when it came time to leave.

Making things easy also meant making the act of actually leaving my house and going to the gym easy too, because having to actually go anywhere is the surest thing to put me off. So I combined trips where possible. If I was taking Sophie to work, or picking her up, I would visit the gym on my way back rather than making a dedicated trip into town just to stop at the gym. The less effort involved in getting there, the less excuses I have for why I can’t go.

And the most important thing of all: Having a cheer squad. Whatever challenge you take on, it’s a hard thing you’re doing. And you deserve to have someone celebrating with you and to have people who are interested in knowing how you’re getting on. They don’t have to be doing the challenge with you, but they have to be enthusiastic and encouraging. Because celebrating your triumphs is one of the best ways to stay motivated in the days to come.

So that’s just a few of the things I learned during this week-long workout challenge. While I learned these things by going to the gym for a week, these are the strategies and tricks that can be used to make any sort of challenge, or undertaking a little bit easier. Preparing in advance, removing obstacles before they arose, combating excuses before you have time to make them, and involving other people to motivate and encourage you are all things that work with any project.

That being said, would I do this all again?Surprisingly, now that it’s over, I probably would. I’m already working out ways to work the gym into my schedule more often. We’ll see how the motivation goes outside of challenge week. And, most importantly, am I buff yet?

No. No I am not.

Guess I need to keep going to the gym.

See how my gym challenge went and more in this week’s vlog: