What’s up CrossFit Kent Islanders! This weekend we have our annual holiday party (sweet!), and then the following weekend we’re going to kick off our New Year’s Whole Life Challenge. The overarching goal of this post is to get YOU to join us in the WLC, but rather than stuff all the details of the challenge in your face, I’d like to tell you why I really love it, and why Denee and I make it a regular occurrence at the beginning of each year.
The Whole Life Challenge is, at it’s core, a 6-week exercise in developing healthy lifestyle habits. We tend to think of it as a nutrition challenge, and that is probably the biggest piece of it, but there are also components dealing with exercise, mobility, hydration, sleep, mental health, and daily reflection. You can see the general goals of each of these components as well as the daily “how to play” process in the Quick Start Guide. If you haven’t done it before you’ll want to check that out.
As I have participated in the WLC over the past couple years, I’ve seen tons of benefit and learned some key lessons about success in building better habits. Here are my top three:
- It takes 6 weeks to solidify a good habit. Really, the key here is repetition. If you want to change the way you eat, one or two weeks won’t cut it because you will see it as a short-term change, and will more easily fall back into your old ways immediately afterwards. Six weeks is enough time that it becomes a new way of life, you will start to feel more healthy and move the needle significantly toward your body composition goals. After six weeks, you won’t want to give up on that great feeling. Bam, new habit.
- Teamwork is key. We talk a lot about how one of the major reasons that CrossFit is effective as a fitness plan is that we do it together. Working out with a team provides motivation and accountability, and creates strong personal bonds. When we take on the Whole Life Challenge, we do it as a CrossFit Kent Island team, and each night we will share reflections on how the day went — small successes and obstacles overcome, as well as setbacks. The team will rally around one another, encouraging each other to keep up the positive momentum and to get back on the path when we stray.
- Live Well, Feel Good, Get S%&t Done! I don’t have any metrics or tangible proof around this — it’s hard to objectively measure mental acuity without some serious brainwave equipment — but I’ve noticed a dramatic change in my energy and focus when taking on The Challenge. And that results in getting more high-value work done, finishing projects that have been sitting idle for too long, and even feeling like I have more time and energy to play with my kids. Doesn’t that sound like a benefit that you would want to keep going after the 6 weeks?
Not everything will “stick” after six weeks, and you might feel like there were parts of the WLC that you don’t want to keep up in the long-term. But if you take on The Challenge and really lean into it — give it your best effort — I know that you will come out the other side with some great momentum, some newly formed and solidified habits, and maybe even learn a little about yourself and how it feels to be firing on all cylinders.
I hope you’ll join us for the Whole Life Challenge, which starts on January 18th. Sign up now at wholelifechallenge.com and make sure to join the CrossFit Kent Island team so that we can do this together.
To our health!
Ryan