Give us a short history of your journey to health and fitness before the challenge.
As I approached my 40’s I decided that I would like to be fitter in my 5th decade than what I was in my 4th decade. I had always dabbled with jogging and simple gyming but had never been too focused on either. So early in my 40’s I started taking running more seriously and ran my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Comrades Marathon from 2016 – 2019. During this time, however, I did not pay any attention to how or what I was eating, but did start to do a little more gym along with the occasional #Grid class.
What prompted you to join the Sleekgeek 8-Week Challenge?
A new friend of mine had done it before and invited me to join him as he tried to get back into shape for summer.
Give us a quick overview of the nutrition and eating plan that you followed during the challenge.
This was probably the most informative and life-changing aspect of the challenge. I realized how many carb’s and how little protein I was living off. I obtained a good well-balanced eating plan from “Live Smart” which made prepping simple, yet tasty, well-balanced meals for each meal of the day a much simpler task than I had ever envisaged. Getting the right mix of Protein, Carbs, Vegetables/Fruit, Fats, and Dairy across all the meals of each day made a huge difference to my ultimate results on the challenge. (…and now into the future!)
Give us a quick overview of the training and exercise plan that you followed during the challenge.
My training consisted of both gym work and running as follows:
Running: 1 track/speed session a week; one long run a week (16 – 24km) and a hill session (8 x 300m repeats) every alternate week.
Gym: 1 Grid session a week, plus 3 x 45 – 55min sessions comprising the following: 3 – 4 sets of 7 – 9 exercises, with 30 – 40 sec cardio between each set and a 2min recovery between each exercise. Each week the reps for the exercises would vary between 2-5; 9-11; 12-15 or 16-20.
If you could give 3 pieces of advice to future challengers, what would they be?
- Get a well-balanced, and practical, eating plan from the start and focus on getting accustomed to it as soon as possible.
- Don’t be a perfectionist, you’re going to have good and bad days. Just keep moving forward.
- Find a friend or a team to do this with. We need accountability and each other.
Why should people enter the challenge?
DO THIS FOR YOU – BECAUSE YOU’RE WORTH IT!!!
No matter where your weight or fitness levels are you will see significant results if you persevere with this challenge. It may even change the way you live your life FOREVER.
You must be logged in to post a comment.