First things first, my team totally crushed it and won the challenge 🙂
How the challenge worked is every time you attended class you added a sticker to your team’s chart on the wall. Even though I’m 24 years old, I found this method oddly satisfying and rewarding. You also received additional points for all social media mentions and special events attended. The team with the most points and individual with the most points were awarded prizes for all their hard work. I’m not an incredibly competitive person… but it still feels good to win and have hard work pay off!
In 6 weeks I took 33 classes total at Uplift averaging about 5.5 classes a week — not too shabby! I was really interested in getting stronger more so than weight loss and am happy to say I can definitely feel the difference. I used to seldom pick up the 12 pound weights in class. By the end of the 6 weeks those were my go to for chest and back exercises.
I honestly think a challenge like this can be great for a number of reasons. It’s a perfect way to get out of a fitness rut if you feel yourself plateauing and bored of your current workout routine. I also think there’s always something extra motivating about being part of a team and a challenge. I’m not a particularly chatty person at the gym and don’t go out of my way to strike up a conversation but found myself interacting with my fellow challengers who I saw each and every day at the time classes.
All in all I’m really happy I participated in this challenge. I’ve never participated in a formal challenge like this before, just my own personal ones like that time I went to yoga 22 days in a row in honor of turning 22 years old. Coming into this challenge I was seriously craving routine to my workout schedule and it totally provided just that in my life. I really liked that it took the stress out of planning workouts– everyday I rolled out of bed and headed to the 6:30AM or 7:30AM class, showered at the studio (did I mention their bathrooms are amazing and well stocked with great goodies?), grabbed Starbucks and walked the 4 blocks over to work. It was perfect.
Since the challenge ended Monday I’ve been taking it a bit easier on my body and definitely needed the rest, but I’m excited to start up again this week and check out some new fitness classes in the city!
Have you ever participated in a fitness challenge? Why or why not?
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