Checkin’ In on the 3x A Week Challenge

I've seen some of you tweeting away about the 3x a Week Challenge this week and I have to say I am so proud of us!  Many of you came through and did your "thing" 3 times this week (or are almost there) and I have to applaud everyone for joining in!  It was way more fun doing the 3x Week Challenge with people instead of alone.  This week I chose to add Weight Training 3 times this week.  I completed my mission - but not in the way that I anticipated initially.

Joelle and I were talking and she observed that I do a lot of cardio but no weight training which might help me shed some inches and get my butt into the next jean size I'm after.  Let me preface this by saying I am very happy with my body at the present time.  It's not perfect and it has created two children so I give it a pass in some areas but I am always working towards improvement and would love to get rid of those last nagging pounds that never seem to come off.  So I thought, "She's right... some weights might be just what I need."

So I started the week out with the best of intentions but swore it wouldn't interfere with the spinning classes I'm now addicted to. Monday I went to spinning.  Tuesday, I ended up missing the gym due to a kid rash and a trip to the pediatrician. Plan derailed.  It was clear I was running out of opportunities to "lift" and I wasn't sure how I was going to lift weights 3 days consecutively without injuring myself.  So I made an executive decision.  Substitute weights with something I've never done before.

So instead of lifting weights on Wednesday I tried a Group Step class.  My first ever.  It was confusing and hard and kind of frustrating (I think I felt like crying at one point - how lame is that?). But when it was over I was wildly hyped up.  It challenged me... it was something I couldn't do 100% because of being a rookie and I needed to do it again. I had to do it again to prove I could do it.

Thursday came and I did my weights like a good girl but all I could think about was "I want to do that Step class again!".  So I did step again on Friday to complete my 3x a Week Challenge.

Here's the beauty of this challenge.  We made rules, purely to provide motivation and organization.  But the object here is to encourage yourself to make healthful changes to your life in small steps so they become permanent.  If you try to do it all at once (eat healthy, take vitamins, drink water, work out, etc etc etc) it becomes overwhelming. Doing all of it at once is too abrupt and those new habits may not stick.  In the case of the challenge, for me, it forced me to try something new that was intimidating to me. And what do you know, I loved it.  Step will be a permanent part of my work outs next week and probably beyond.  That may have never happened had I not added something new, slowly.

This coming week is Week 3 for me since I unofficially started early.  My task this week is to drink my water at least 3 days next week.  That means I need to drink at least 60 ounces of water over the course of a day, 3 times next week.  I will be keeping up my Spinning addiction (rewarded myself with some cycling shoes! So psyched!) and will be doing Group Step twice again this week.  Let's keep the Challenge going! How did you do this week?  What is your task for next weeks 3x a Week Challenge?

New to the Challenge? Read the rules and join in!