Im a huge fan of challenging myself in the fitness realm.
Ive begged my coach to give me weightlifting workouts that are notoriously difficult.
Heck, I started theLifehacker Fitness Challenge, our monthly exercise in trying new things.
But you wont catch me doing 75Hard or a 10-day ab challenge.
Thats because there is a difference between a good challenge and a bad one.
A bad one just wastes your time and makes you feel miserable.
Does the fitness challenge treat suffering as a plus?
Lets start with the biggest lie that viral challenges tell you: that suffering is a goal worth pursuing.
None of these things are true.
Does the challenge expect you to follow things blindly?
Mental toughness often involves knowing when to quit.
This requires mentorship or other appropriate supervision.
You also need to learn when not to do a thing.
Blindly following a challenge because the rules are the rules doesnt build those capacities.
The same idea is at work with draconian fitness challenges.
Is it one-size-fits-all challenge?
There is probablysomeoneout there who can do the challenge as written, but is that person you?
Does it make empty promises?
There should be a payoff for any training program, but it should make sense.
If I do a speed-focused running program, I expect it to make me faster.
If I do a Bulgarian weightlifting program, I expect it to build my confidence with heavy weights.
If I do a volume-focused lifting program, I expect it to help me put on muscle mass.
If I do 30 days of ab exercises, I expect…uh…sore abs?
What happens when its over?
Thats a red flag.
Each phase of training does its job and sets you up for the next.
Does it encourage black-and-white thinking?
Life is full of gray areas.
Disordered eating often involves black-and-white thinking that puts some foods completely off-limits.
OrInstead of eating healthy most of the time, lets put sugar off limits for a whole month.
Many fitness challenges include a dietary component, sometimes involving specific foods or meal plans.
So what does a good challenge or program look like?
When it was over, I was happy to go back to my usual style of training.
Training programs dont have to be like that, though.
They can just be training programs.
It has a specific purpose that aligns with your goals for your training.
It allows for a healthy balance between your fitness and the rest of your life.
You feel confident about your ability to gauge when and whether its time to quit.
