10,000 Kettlebell Challenge Kickoff!

It's January 31st.  Tomorrow the 10,000 Kettlebell challenge starts in earnest.  We kicked it off this evening with a big pasta dinner via Skype with family in Toronto who are participating.  I can tell you there are two very enthusiastic young ladies who are diving into the challenge with both feet!

Best of luck, everyone!  I hope you find the motivation to power through this month and not only reach your goals, but exceed them.

Let's DO THIS!!

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A Letter from Marilyn

I received an interesting letter from Mom (Marilyn) a few days ago.  She has been trekking the hallways on her virtual walk to the next town.  Incidentally, as of this morning, she is 2 km away from her original goal for the fitness challenge, so she and her grandson are mapping out the distance to the next town.  Wow!

Anyway, back to the letter.  It speaks for itself:

Thank you very much for naming me Honorary Fitness Mentor for your challenge. I feel very honored indeed. Yesterday [January 26] was an exciting day for another reason as well: I woke up feeling different somehow, and then realised that I had no stiffness in my legs. They felt normal again for the first time in years! If this is due to my increased walking, then I plan to enlarge the scope of my walk. Instead of setting a specific goal, I'll just keep on to the next town, and the next, and see how far I can go! This fitness challenge is amazing - I would gladly do a month of exercise in exchange for another a day of relief from the stiffness and fatigue! Best wishes to all participants - I hope you will have good results, too!  Mom

I hope that encourages you as much as it encourages me.  Keep up your efforts, everyone!  Go for it!!!

Fitness Challenge Cartoon (minus the drawings)

I wish I could draw, because I'd love to put pictures to these ideas.  Anyone who has gone through a fitness class or a regular sport can probably relate to some of these stages along the journey.  If any of you want to volunteer a cartoon or two (Chris!!), I'd be happy to put them on the blog.

1. Eager Excitement – you haven't started yet
2. Gung-ho – you bought new exercise clothes at Sportchek and posted pictures of the track suit on Facebook
3. Workout Shock – sweating is caused by work, which is derived from effort
4. Day two – Stiff and sore
5. Day three – Owwwww.  Day two was nothing
6. Finished first week – pheww!
7. Second week – I want to quit
8. Finished second week – that’s a milestone
9. Third week – “Two more weeks?  Seriously?”
10.  Finished third week – Wow.  That wasn’t so bad.  I actually feel okay now
11. Two days to go – I can do this!  I actually feel pretty good
12. I did it!  A whole month.  I feel awesome.  I’d like to keep doing this

One Week Countdown!

There's a week to go before the fitness challenge starts in earnest.  My personal plan is to taper down my workouts this week for some extra recovery.  And there are plans afoot to kick-off the challenge with a joint Balmertown-Toronto pasta dinner on January 31st - via Skype!

Find yourself some creative ways to start the challenge and jump in with both feet.  Don't forget to cheer on your friends who are participating, too.

Oh - one more thing. . .  we arranged for an extra day this February for you.

Our Honorary Fitness Mentor

We have named an honorary fitness mentor.  She is our Mom, Marilyn, and we chose her because she has always lived a life of encouraging, supporting, leading, directing, helping and motivating others. She continues to do these things as best she can in spite of the progressing effects of Parkinson's disease.

When we told her about our idea for this fitness challenge, she put together an ambitious plan for herself.  She had her grandson measure the total length of the hallway in her apartment building. They calculated that one "lap" (down to one end of the hall, all the way back to the far end, and back to the starting point) was about 130 meters.  Therefore, 8 "laps" would roughly equate to 1 km.  She has been working on doing 2-3 laps per day, which translates to 1 km about every 3-4 days.

Her goal for the fitness challenge:  to walk to the next town (it is 13 km).   I ought not to say her age, but I think her goal (heck - even her willingness to participate!!) is pretty impressive for someone who has been grappling with Parkinson's Disease for nearly 10 years!

So, if a mentor is someone who teaches by example, encourages, motivates, and lays down a standard for you to emulate, she fits the criteria as our Honorary Fitness Mentor.  Thanks for the great example!

Tell us your plans!

Knowing that you are a part of something bigger than yourself can encourage you to stick with a challenge when you might otherwise lose your flame of enthusiasm (the way a tea light burns lower and lower, flickers a few times, and then goes out).  We hope that being part of this fitness challenge will encourage you to persevere long enough to break through any discouragement or lack of motivation you have.

Here is one way we would like to do that.  We would like to make a list of people who are participating in this challenge, along with what they are doing.  It would probably look something like this:

Mom - Moosomin:  Walk 13 km
Dave - Toronto:  10,000 kettlebells
Richard - Balmertown:  10,000 kettlebells
Leah - Red Lake:  20,000 Steps/week, Fitness boot camp
Friend - Saskatoon:  500 situps
Sister-in-law - Kelowna:  Walk 28 miles

. . .and so on!

It's not about outdoing anyone (except your brother, or maybe a REALLY good friend).  It's just about seeing that others are challenging themselves like you.  I think it's like having a whole bunch of workout partners.

So, if you are planning to participate in the challenge, please email me and let me know what you're going to do.  I just need your first name (or some kind of "handle") and what it is you are planning to do for the challenge.  I'll put these on the list as I get them.

Help us paint a picture of the "something bigger" we are trying to do with this fitness challenge.