Are 30 day challenges that great?

If you've ever been interested in exercise or at least read a magazine focused on weight loss or healthy living, you've probably already come across them. We're talking about the 30-day challenges that literally flooded the internet some time ago as a revolutionary workout plans that will sculpt your physique and improve your physical fitness within a month.

But is this really the case? Are the 30-day challenges really as miraculous as various magazines claim or is it just a clever way to push additional exercise tools on you? That's exactly what we'll focus on in today's article.

What is a 30-day challenge?

A 30-day challenge is essentially a training program that focuses on one specific part or one given exercise. For example, you may come across 30-day challenges for push-ups, squats or plank.Most often they are just aimed at problem areas such as the abdomen, hips or thighs.

The idea is very simple. At the beginning of the challenge, you start with a specific number of repetitions of that exercise, which with each additionalm day, you gradually increase the number until you reach a horrendous number, which is supposed to be a sign of your perfect physical readiness. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, it's far from it.

Why don't 30-day challenges work?

If 30-day challenges didn't work, wouldn't they be promoted so often in newspapers, social media or TV ads? Then you've probably fooled yourself.

The 30-day challenge is used by manufacturers of various sports equipment or dietary supplements for cheap advertising. Tell me yourself, when was the last time you saw a challenge that wasn't hosted by, say, a sports equipment retailer, or at least accompanied by products from one of these companies? People tend to compete with each other, so it's a given that if they accept such a challenge, they'll share it with friends, which is how advertising gets further and further.

There are a number of reasons why these appeals don't work and we'll highlight the most important ones.

Demotivation

The main idea behind 30-day challenges is that they don't take much time and you can do them even when you're working hard. Moreover, according to their promoters, you will get your dream figure in just a month, which is what many people hear about.

The problem, however, is that these challenges often target non-exercising individuals and immediately put a relatively high repetition load of often quite demanding exercises on their shoulders. Moreover, the number of reps increases with each passing day, making the workout increasingly difficult. However, this also means that if a person simply fails the workout one day, he or she will start to feel like a failure and give up on the whole challenge. This effectively puts them back to square one and in an even worse mental state than before the challenge began.

Short-term results over sustainability

It's no secret that 30-day challenges target primarily short-term results. This might not be a problem if you want to get in better shape before going on vacation or a challenging physical exercise, for example. If you're looking for sustainable results, these challenges won't be right for you.

Don't misunderstand, 30-day challenges can actually make the exercised part look great. This is mainly due to getting properly pumped and scratched. The trouble, however, is that once the exerciser completes the challenge, they get complacent and go back to their old ways. Since these people may not have a deeper understanding of the workout, they may slip into the yo-yo effect and end up making their physique worse.

It does not lead to habit formation

All exercisers know that achieving the dream physique requires consistency and hard work. Thirty-day challenges, unfortunately, don't look any further than that dream 30-day mark. Although many people claim that 21 days is all it takes to form a habit, studies suggest that it's definitely not that easy.

After all, it's not just the time factor that matters when creating a habit. You also need enough motivation, achievable goals, and a strategy tailored to your capabilities. If you have a strong aversion to something, you'll never really get used to it and you'll have to overcome yourself to do it. That never bodes well in exercise.

It's boring

We're going to tread a bit on the thin ice of subjective opinion here, but for us, 30-day challenges are just plain boring. Although each workout has a different number of reps, which in itself could be a challenge, and comparing it to the desirableIt's just not fun to do just one exercise every day for thirty days.

The problem with recovery

I'm sure we don't need to remind you that recovery is both weight loss and shaping and muscle strengthening, as scientific studies confirm. However, the 30-day challenges forget that. Although they usually include one rest day, this is not nearly enough for perfect muscle recovery in non-exercising individuals. It's easy to slip into overtraining with a high number of reps.or worse, muscle fever, which can return you to the waters of demotivation.

The benefits of 30-day challenges

However, not to merely castigate, we have to admit that these challenges have something going for them too. Among their main benefits we could include the following:

• Good short-term results
• They can be a motivator for beginners
• They can improve performance on a specific exercise
• They can get beginners to exercise

The main advantage we see is that they are widely available and people who don't normally exercise can come across them. They may even be able to motivate them to become more interested in exercise. However, they are often too complicated for complete beginners and they may quit very quickly.

So what to choose instead of the 30-day challenge?

Instead of ineffective challenges, it is much better to set more sustainable goals and start slower. If you are a complete beginner, for example, you can start getting used to the movement, try dynamic stretchingink to loosen up your joints, walk and start with basic movements such as squats, push-ups and so on.

Of course, you can motivate yourself with challenges here too. Try to go a little further each day, improve your exercise technique or feel free to add repetitions. The key to everything is to keep the workout varied and fun.

If you decide to start going to the gym, you can slowly start to build up a training plan. You can then tailor it to your exact needs and gradually work your way to real and sustainable results.

Should I even try the 30-day challenge?

That, of course, is purely up to you and your training goals. For example, if you want to lose weight quickly on problem areas and don't mind that the results won't be permanent, you can definitely give it a try. In addition, if you set your diet correctly and choose a fat burner, for example, 30-day challenges can be an interesting option.

But if you're aiming for really long-term results, a healthy lifestyle and gradual improvement in your performance, we adviselook for a different training plan that won't show such results in the short term, but will last longer.

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