You see, I have very distractable nature. I keep trying to do monthly challenge calendars and after a couple of weeks in I just lose steam with them. The majority of them I have tried do not have rest days figured in, and this is the first problem I have with them. I have RA and I am prone to getting rundown and chronic fatigue. I don't sleep very well either or very much ever.
My body forces me to take rest days. I start out with the intention that I will just double up on the plan the next day to catch back up to the current date with them. Then, that ends up sounding like too much so I take another rest day. Eventually it turns into a rest week.
After that one of two things happens. The first time this happened, I went full bore hardcore and did as many days off my challenge calendars each day as I could until the end of the month and was able to finish 3 of the 5 challenge calendars I had started that month. The second month, I just never got back to those challenge calendars and just started doing my own chosen exercises til near the end of the month. Before that month was over the Yogalosophy Dietbet started with Mandy Ingber. I love Yoga and had been dying to do this one. I started the Yogalosophy routine when the Dietbet started. I did this for a little over a week. Then I needed a rest day which turned into two but on the 2nd one I used my AeroPilates Reformer at least.
Then, I fell inofe with this machine again. I kept going with the Yogalosopny routine most days til the end of the bet. Sometimes I did the Yogalosophy and used AeroPilates. Some days I did one or the other. The thing was I had gone off from the book and the actual plan. I was doing the basic routine and adding in moves from Cassey Ho's Blogilates challenge calendars at the end of my routine too. I was adding in some other stretches and moves too. I was just going with what my body was needing in each given moment.
This felt absolutely amazing. I have been practicing Yoga off and on for a few years, but this was amazingly different. I had always followed videos or apps or planned routines from other people like the Yogalosophy book. Yet, now I was using the basic routine and then making the practice my own by adding in my own variations each time. This has given me so much more strength and confidence in my practice.
However, in the end of the 28 day Dietbet and Yogalosophy Y28 Revolution the truth was that I had failed to finish my goal I had set for those 28 days again. My goal had been to stick to focusing on this book and this routine alone for 28 days. I was still exercising 5-7 days a week, but not finishing the challenge I had set up for myself in the beginning.
Not reaching goals like this of completing challenges for 28 days or a month can spark negative self-talk. I always feel like somewhat of a loser for not reaching my goals of finishing said exercise challenges in my given time limit. I try to reason with myself and remind myself that everyone is different and not everything works for everyone. However, I still kinda feel like something is wrong with me.
But not anymore! I know I have a shorter attention span after the head injury I had in 2003. I know a month is a long time to commit to just one exercise challenge calendar; like with the Yogalosophy and Yogalosophy alone mentality I tried to have this last time. It is a long time to try to commit to 5 exercise challenge calendars at once like I tried to do in February and March. It was so much stuff that didn't have rest days in the calendar that I felt too overwhelmed to try to make up when I missed days. I was missing Yoga and AeroPilates really badly when I was trying to do 5 challenge calendars every day these months. I was missing my Gaiam TV subscription, missing my other exercise apps, and everything else and I kept burning out on the somewhat stationary may exercises I was doing with multiple repetitions.
To combat all these issues I have been having with trying to complete monthly challenge calendars, I have decided on something that I want to try for the month of May that I think may work better for me.
Instead of trying monthly challenges or trying to stick to a monthly plan or trying to find a way to get in everything I love; I am going to start doing weekly challenges for myself. I will try to focus on doing 3 exercise activities I love 5-7 days a week. I can keep some of the activities the same from week to week and change others or I can do 3 new ones each new week. The important thing is that it will be up to me to decide. Each weekend starting with May 2-3 I will pick my 3 exercise goals for the week. As long as I do each of the 3 once that week it will be counted as a win for me for the weeks. I will have to do at least 2 other days of activity too having me doubling up on a couple or tripling on one. I can even add in another one of the mood strikes me, but the focus will be on at 3 exercise routines for the week.
My options can come from anywhere. I can a week of a certain challenge calendar that I had been working on before or a new one I find online. I can do the Yogalosophy as one of my exercises to do that week. I can choose AeroPilates. I can choose to use any of my certain apps that week. I can choose to use my Gaiam TV subscription for Yoga videos or some other videos from there. I can choose dance videos from Dance Fitness with Jessica or any other YouTube fitness instructor workouts. I can create my own workouts. I can choose whatever I want; the sky is the limit.
The important thing is that it's all up to me to plan my week, and I can keep it the same the next week or I can change it up if I get bored or want to try something else. My monthly goal from May 4-31 is to complete 4 weekly challenges that I create for myself. I will choose my first 3 exercises for the week starting on the 4th the weekend prior and as long as I do each one of them once that week and get at least 2 more days of exercise, it will be a week completed.
I think this is more my style of a monthly challenge. There are so many wonderful workouts and challenge calendars and fitness instructors and exercises out there. I feel too overwhelmed and bogged down when I try to make myself commit to just one (or 5 since I like diversity) for a whole month. This way I can add diversity to each week, but won't be doing too much for myself to keep up. Monthly challenges work great for a lot of people, but as I said before everyone is different and they don't work for me. I hope my month of different weekly goals with exercise variety will suit me better.
PS: Please let me know what you think!