Finishing the 2020 Prepper Health and Fitness Challenge

[Daisy]

Today ends the Prepper Health and Fitness Challenge. Thank you to everyone who participated. I hope that you found it useful and developed some positive habits, and that you’ll keep up the good work. Today is a summary to follow going forward.

Daily Habits

Here are the small habits we’re incorporating into our daily lives.

1. We’re drinking water before we drink other beverages.
2. We’re adding a serving of fruit or veggies before each meal.
3. We’re adding more movement to our day.
4. We are performing 5 minutes of gentle stretches before we get out of bed in the morning.
5. We are focusing on some rest or relaxation time on a daily basis.
6. Replacing calorie-laden, nutritionally-barren snacks with fruits and veggies.
7. Adding in the new habits to support the changes you want to make. (This will be different for all of us, based on our goals.
8. Remember to sit in a way that supports your body.

Workouts

Here are the workouts to figure into your lifestyle.

Strength training – 3 days a week:

• Upper body: Workout 1, Workout 2
• Lower body: Workout 1, Workout 2
• Core: Workout 1

Endurance – 2 days a week

• Workout 1, Workout 2

Flexibility – 6 days a week

• Daily workout, Workout 2

Remember to continue challenging yourself by increasing the difficulty of your workouts.

Measure your progress

It’s time to pull out the notes you jotted down on Day One and see how things are going. I recommend doing this once per month.

What are your measurements?

• Weight:
• Chest measurement:
• Waist measurement:
• Hip measurement:
• Biceps measurement:
• Thigh measurement:

How strong is your core?

Repeat this core strength test.

How is your upper body strength?

See how many push-ups you can do with good form. This video shows you how to do a push-up assessment. If you aren’t going to a gym, the no-equipment version starts at 1:48.

How flexible are you? Try the “sit and reach test.

Sit on the floor upright with your legs stretched out in front of you. This test is actually performed without shoes. You want to have 12 inches between your feet, and have a measuring tape in between your legs with the 15” mark in line with your heels. Now place your hands on top of one another, reach to see what number you can reach to! You get three trials to do this and your score is the highest of the three and remember to date it! (source)

How strong are your legs?  Try the squat test. (If you’re anything like me, your knees may snap, crackle, and pop like a bowl of Rice Krispies when you do this. If you have any pain in your joints, stop immediately.)

Using a chair with no arms, like a kitchen chair, stand in front of it with your feet shoulder-width apart and sit down without using your hands. Then stand back up, also without using your hands. Note how many times you can do this while keeping good form.

How is your endurance?

For this test, you can use a multitude of ways to check out your endurance.

• Walking, either outdoors, at a large store or mall, or on a treadmill
• Running

You can use an app on your phone or a pedometer like a Fitbit to note your distance. Simply walk or run for a period of time (you decide that based on your current health) and document how far you went in that amount of time. When we re-test, you will go for that same amount of time and see how far you went after working at it for a month.

Here are two other ways to document your endurance that involve taking your heart rate.

• The 1-Mile Walking Test
• The 3-Minute Step Test

How do you feel?

The biggest test of all is this: how are you feeling? Are you feeling more flexible and energetic after two weeks of this challenge? Do your goals feel like they’re reachable for you?

Feel free to share any results you’d like in the comments.

[OldMt Woman]

Well, I’m starting from zero, kind of.

I have continued to drink LOTS of water thru this illness.  I am now beginning to do “laps” on my porch.…not doing the stairs yet.  I usually stretch daily but nothing organized…just keeping limber.

I am craving fresh veggies!!!  DH and I are eating a LOT of the fruit/veggie.  Due to illness, I’ve discontinued all dairy except yogurt.  Trying to keep the inflammation down.  I’ll add it in after I’m clear of this.  I’ve also greatly cut down on the sweets during this siege.  Will try to continue with that…hard for me.

Plenty of REST….certainly that.  Not sure how much is enough during illness….it varies.  But I’ve just begun adding some activity…carefully.  I’m drastically weak and low stamina.

Even while sick, most of these good habits apply.  Just have to moderate them to an appropriate fit. 

OldMtWoman ….it will come back slowly.

[Dala Barnes]

I want to thank Daisy for continuing with this challenge with all the personal things she was going through. She rocks!

I am keeping up with the small changes. Most have expanded to larger changes. Doing something daily and increasing the reps. It was totally doable and made a difference.

Thanks again!

OldMnt Woman: I hope you feel better soon.

[Loving Life]

Thank you for this challenge! I needed the support of this group to get myself in gear. I have now picked up these small changes as habits. I am off to a good start.

As it took me a few years to pick up this weight (30 lbs) that I want to lose I don’t expect it to come off in one month and stay off. I have lost 6 pounds and expect the rest of the weight to come off in the next several months.

More importantly I can really see the difference in other areas. I have more energy. I am using my Fitbit regularly. My resting heartbeat has decreased from 75 (Jan 1) to 65 (Jan 28). My sleep is much better. My steps have increased. My stamina has improved. I can feel a difference in my clothes!

Thanks so much!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Loving Life.

[Littlesister]

Wasn’t able to keep up like I wanted for this, but am trying. I have been drinking a lot of water and stretching every morning. Getting out and walking the neighborhood like I used to has been a challenge.  As taking care of DH, making sure he gets where he needs to go without falling, etc. Has kept me busy. Also been doing a lot of cleaning out and going through things. Does that count as exersize?

[Crow Bar]

I consider that as exercise.
When clearing the drive of snow, it is exercise. I can feel my arms like they had a work out next day.

[Littlesister]

We haven’t had snow yet but the weatherman is talking about that dirty word for possible on Thursday next week. Still a week away so anything can happen. And yes if you could see how long and big my driveway is. It is a killer to shovel snow from. Then the front walkway and porches. Very long walkway as well. Lots of killer exercise.

[Author]

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