30 Day Dares

Tim — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:44:00 -0600

My stomach has a little more insulation around it than it did back when I was younger, and even then I was nowhere near good shape. Whenever I start a workout program I always find a way to let my schedule take control and put the program out to pasture within the first few weeks. This goes double for things like ab workouts.

Along comes Kate. She’s in great shape, but her sister is in even better shape from teaching multiple aerobics classes per day. Kate tells me that her sister swears by the 8 Minute Abs program, and so I buy the DVD for next to nothing. And it sits near my computer for two weeks before I even do the workout once. And then months pass. See the problem?

Last summer I read 30 Days to Success by Steve Pavlina, but it took until 10 days ago for me to put the 30 day trial concept and my need of a stomach workout together. It’s really pretty lame that I had to make this challenge. Really, it’s only 8 minutes! I wasn’t going to write about the experience at all until tonight, but tonight was the kind of night where momentum was either going to slump or soar.

I got home late, and while talking to my sister at midnight I realized that I hadn’t yet done my workout. She tells me to just do it tomorrow, or even to just do it twice tomorrow. I’m sorry, that just won’t work. See, if I do that, tomorrow will come around and I’ll start to think things like “well why workout today? I’m tired… I’ll just do it three times on Friday.” I’ve played that game before with workout programs, and that’s just not a sustainable way to exercise. I know, you’re shocked.

Instead I did the workout. The 8 minutes zipped by. How could it not? We’re only talking about 8 minutes! The important thing is that I’m now on to day 11 of a 30 day dare rather than back to day 0. It is great to have such a measurable, beneficial, and attainable goal to help me overcome my abdominal apathy.

How can you dare yourself to improve a little bit each day for 30 days?

Peak Progress: 30 Day Dares

30 Day Dares