A New Beginning, A New Challenge

Hello, and welcome.  If you are reading this post, you have been invited to join me on a journey -- a quest for health and fitness. 

With the turning of a new year comes an opportunity to start fresh.  Today, tens of thousands of people will begin their New Year's resolution to "get in shape." Gyms get crowded.  New running shoes are purchased.  Diet plans are started.  Visions of a lean, tan summer physiques are in the forefront of many peoples' minds. 

Approximately 97% of these people will fail.

But you and I, my friends, will not fail.  Indeed, we will be among the 3% of people who actually embrace fitness as a lifestyle, as all of us already do.  But what's the fun in just keeping with the status quo of our current fitness routine?  Why not throw in a wrinkle -- a piece of flare?

The Challenege: 365 Days of Fitness.

My challenge to myself is to perform some (any!) sort of physical fitness every single day of 2013 -- and to keep a record of it in my little journal.  Most of my days' entries will consist of my normal workout for that day: a run, a lift, perhaps a bike ride.  The challenge becomes present on those days where we either don't have anything planned, have a scheduled rest day, or have one of those days where we just don't feel like doing a GOSH DARN thing.  Can you do something on those days?  Anything?  It can be as simple as dropping to the ground and cranking a set of 10 push-ups or sit-ups.  Or maybe working it into your daily routine:  Do you work on the 11th floor of a nationally recognized hospital?  Take the stairs.  Do something, anything, outside of your normal routine that can be classified as a form of fitness.

The next part of the challenge is to keep an accurate record of each and every day.  At the end, there will be 365 entries.  That will be a very impressive collection of fitness -- a trophy of your accomplishment.  You can use whatever method you choose to keep a record of your daily fitness.  I will be using a spiral notebook, logging my entries by hand.  If you would prefer to keep it on the computer, or a Google doc, feel free.  Just get it recorded.

In a world where we are faced with a disgusting obesity epidemic, and an every growing trend towards a sedentary lifestyle, it is important to maintain an active lifestyle.  Will a day of doing nothing but 10 push-ups do anything for your overall health and fitness?  Not really.  But it's the principle of it.  Those 10 push-ups are 10 more of anything than Joe Schmoe who weighs 305 and is on a one way train to having diabetes and a heart attack at the age of 47.  We must be better than that, and lead by example.

So my friends, I invite you to join me on this quest.  Most of you, too, will quit, because you are all weak, feeble minded people.  But to those of you who can defeat this challenge, I will stand with you at the end, hand in hand, as your brother in arms.

I plan to write on this blog weekly, to keep everyone updated on my progress.  Check back if you feel so inclined.

Good luck.