30-Day challenges are all over the internet. As summer approaches and bathing suits fill up the racks, the internet posts go wild. From super abs to a tighter butt, there is no shortage of 30-day challenges to get you inspired, but they don’t work. Here are 8 reasons why your 30-day challenge will fail.
Why the 30-Day Challenge Will Fail
Here are a few problems with 30-day ab challenges and 30-day squat challenges.
1. You aren’t addressing your real challenge – food
Sure, you learn a killer move that makes you feel as if real change is happening, but you aren’t making the first real change that matters – improving your diet. You can’t do over 200 squats and sit-ups and expect to get a healthy body. There is more to it. Improve your diet and get moving for maximum results.
To get started, do you know how many calories you can consume to begin losing weight? How about what kinds of foods you can eat for energy, lean muscle, and a healthy heart? Your 30-day challenge isn’t looking as easy as squatting for 15 seconds. To achieve a healthy body, you have to consume the proper amount of calories for your fitness level. Read more about it here: “How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight”.
2. You work only one area
The best workout is a total body workout. When you do the 30-day challenges, you work only one area of the body. Working one area of the body, combined with poor form, leads to injury and overuse. No one ever got the perfect body by doing only one exercise for an entire month. The perfect workout works more than a single area and it requires variations to be effective.
3. Your form is off
When you save and share that 30-day challenge, you don’t get any necessary information to help you actually do the move properly. Poor form when you do a workout leads to injury, it targets the wrong muscles, you can’t breathe, and it can be dangerous.
4. It’s a one-size-fits-all approach to fitness
The 30-day challenges do not consider your age, your gender, your height, your physical capabilities, your diet, or your goals. Effective workout plans consider all of these and more, and a personal trainer can help you achieve these goals. No qualified trainer would ever recommend 30-days of a single exercise to get you in shape, so don’t trust people you don’t know online to promise better results.
5. There are progression issues
These plans are unrealistic and unsafe. If you are a beginner, trying to do 30 to 50 squats on day one is not safe. Not to mention, it is hard for skilled athletes and gym-goers to do the same. Then to increase it the next day? It is not going to happen; however, something else might. You will lose form, you will do them improperly, you will cheat, you will injure yourself, and you do too much too soon. A workout must progress, and progression is based on your current fitness level and desired outcome. You have to push yourself without hurting yourself.
6. Your heart rate isn’t up long enough
To create and monitor your fitness training, you need to know your heart rate. The average heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute, and about 40 to 60 beats per minute for athletes. To burn fat, you need to boost your heart rate beyond your resting heart rate. When you do the 30-day challenge, without any other aerobic activity, you may not being doing it long enough to keep your heart rate in the proper range. Your heart rate should increase by 50-69% during moderate exercise and up to 70-85% during hard physical exercise. This is the “fat burning zone”. The longer you are in the zone, the more calories you will burn.
7. It’s boring
Where will you be after week one? Chances are you will have forgotten about the challenge or moved on to a new one. Why? Because they are boring. Boredom leads to excuses and it kills your intensity. You also experience workout plateaus sooner. Workout boredom kills your goals and your progress.
8. The person on the cover is not doing 30-day challenges
The image of the person – usually a woman – on the infographic is not the person doing the 30-day challenges. These photos are typically stock photos or hijacked photos someone took off the internet. The photo is used to generate an emotional response that drives you to click and share. It is a way to body shame without actually saying it aloud.
Don’t fall for 30-day challenge scams. The more you click and share, the better their sites do. It has nothing to do with making you healthy. You need a workout plan that is good for you and your goals, and you need realistic expectations. To find out more about a happy, healthy body and mind, find a personal trainer who thinks about you as a person and not a marketing ploy