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Welcome to Day 21 – and congratulations on reaching the end of the 21-Day Step Challenge.
I hope that you’ve been pleasantly surprised with how easy it actually is to bump up your step count if you really try.
As a final piece of wisdom: If you want to build life-long healthy movement habits, then find ways to make it fun and enjoyable.
For some of you, this may indeed be going for a nice long walk, or a run, or to the gym.
But for others, it might be playing with your dogs.
Or a night of dancing.
Or a walk with friends.
Or playing with your kids.
Or surfing, or golfing, or hiking.
For me, my favourite way to get active and get my steps in is to play a game of Padel – I get ~10,000 steps and burn over 1,000 calories in a game and it doesn’t feel like exercise at all, just pure fun.
While the health and fitness industry likes to focus on the “most ” or “most effective” workouts, it’s important to acknowledge that people have gotten into GREAT shape in MANY different ways.
Some people run, swim, or cycle, other people lift weights or go to bootcamp classes. Some people do martial arts like karate or tai chi, while others do yoga, pilates, or even just walk and hike a lot.
When you do more of what you enjoy and have fun with it, then it becomes more sustainable.
So, ask yourself:
1) What are your different choices for structured, deliberate physical exercise? These could be things like going to the gym, running, cycling, sports, etc. Regardless of which is most effective, think about which of those you enjoy the most. How can you do more of the ones you enjoy?
2) What are other things that you enjoy that are more active than just sitting or driving around? These could be things like gardening, taking your dog to the beach, walking around the shops, playing with your kids, walking with friends, going out dancing, etc. How could you do more of that?
And remember, the more often you “vote” to be active rather than sedentary when given the choice, the better you get at identifying these opportunities to do so.
Don’t forget to post your Step Challenge journey in the Sleekgeek Health Revolution Facebook group using the hashtag #StepChallenge AND tick off your steps goal on the Challenge Tracker.