2013

#300aDAY December Challenge is on! Are YOU ready?

#300aDAY December Challenge is on! Are YOU ready?

Before you commit to the December challenge... Did you know?



  1. Did you know that the average North American gains [highlight] 5 pounds[/highlight] per year after the age of 25 ?

  2. Did you know that between [highlight] 1.5 to 4 pounds[/highlight] of this weight gain occurs between American Thanksgiving and New Year's Day?


How crazy is that?!  It blew  me away when I learned this simple stat, but after reflecting on my past it makes total sense.  It's the holiday season and we all take breaks from routine.  It seems that December is the one time a year where we can throw all our amazing lifestyle habits out the window in favor of celebration.  But unfortunately for many it can offset any good that we achieved in the earlier 11 months of the year, and ultimately also set up our new year on equally shaky ground.

It's the compound effect at work.  We all have something called our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is an indication of how much energy (calories) our bodies need to do the things we do -- i.e. live!  However, a person's BMR will fluctuate based on activity levels and such.  But for the sake of showing you the power of " a little too much " each day, here's a simple example to put things into perspective.

Example of " a little too much " each day


Jack and Jill are avid wine drinkers.  Jack has a BMR of 2000 calories per day and Jill, being smaller than Jack, only needs 1500.  Jack and Jill lead sedentary lifestyles and both are I.T. managers for a local tech firm.  They eat a sensible diet and typically try to eat within their caloric needs.  However, Jack and Jill are wine connoisseurs and have decided that this year will be their year of wine and will try a new wine every other day.  Jack drinks 2 glasses of wine every other day, while Jill 1 per day ( after all they heard its great for their health ).  Unfortunately Jack and Jill aren't aware that the wine they're consuming puts them over their daily calorie needs.  Jack, in drinking 2 glasses more than he needs every other day is drinking 300 calories too much, meanwhile Jill is drinking 150 calories more per day than she needs.


Fast forward to the end of the year and Jack has consumed 54,750 more calories than his body needed (182 days x 300 calories per day), which translates into a weight gain of about 15.5 pounds!  Jill on the other hand has also consumed 54,750 calories too much (365 days x 150 calories per day), which means a weight gain of 15.5 pounds as well! (note it takes about 3500 calories to make a pound)


Who would have thought that drinking 1 or 2 glasses of wine could cause so much weight gain? In the words of Jesse Pinkman, " Yeah, science! "



So, what do you do to avoid the Holiday weight-gain?


The solution is easy... take the December #300aDAY challenge!

Dec 300aday challenge graphic

Every day for the month of December complete the following:



  • 100 burpees

  • 200 seconds of planking (cumulative or all at once)

  • followed by 2 minutes of absolute stillness... yes, I think this is the hardest part.


Don't let this intimidate you , to scale the workout back, do the following instead:

  • 50 burpees, 250 seconds of cumulative plank hold, followed by 2 minutes of stillness

  • 75 burpees, 225 seconds of cumulative plank hold, followed by 2 minutes of stillness


About the Challenge


Here's a short video explaining the challenge, how to do the exercises and a few tips to get you started on the right path


[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsK7EmljAVM[/embed]

Why the Burpee ?


Why not? For starters, the burpee requires no equipment.  It's as simple as lying down on the ground, standing back up, followed by a little jump so your feet barely leave the ground... then repeat x 99 times.  I was asked in an interview once " if I had to choose one exercise I could do the rest of my life, what would it be? "  My answer?  Burpees of course.  It's a full body exercise that's both cardiovascular and conditioning at the same time - it doesn't get any better than that.

Why the Plank?


I'll give you 3 reasons

  1. Strength: It works the whole body, period. Enough said.

  2. Mental: It works your brain... trust me, there comes a time while you are planking where physically you feel like you can keep going, until the body starts to tremor just a bit... at this point it is all mental! You CAN do it... I know you've got 200 seconds in you.

  3. Aesthetic: who doesn't want a strong, sexy core?  Trust me - working the plank will get you one. Capiche?


Why 2 minutes of stillness ?


Let's be honest with one another.  Do you meditate?  I don't.  Even when I do a yoga class and the teacher ends the class by asking everyone to assume " Savasana " (the total relaxation pose), I'm the first person to say to heck with it, hop up, roll my towel up and head for the showers.  In speaking with my yogi friends, this is missing the point of yoga.  So I threw this in to challenge all of us on the other side of mental fitness.  For 2 minutes following your workout I want to see you DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Don't look at your phone, listen to your iPod, whistle your favorite tune or move period.  You will try your best to do absolutely nothing for 2 minutes...

I truly believe this will be the most challenging part of this workout.  What do you think?

So now that I've explained the #300aDAY December challenge, the WHY behind it, and the exercises, I will ask you again...


are YOU ready to START?


 [button color="red" size="big" link="https://www.facebook.com/groups/300aday/" target="blank" ]Click here to join[/button]

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