Workout challenges are nothing new. However, they are a great way for fitness oriented people to stay motivated, create a healthy sense of competitivity with others, and get inspired to be active. And the best part about fitness challenges is that anyone can do them! You don’t need any fancy equipment or a top notch physique in order to tackle one of them. All you need is your body and some determination.
Innovative technologies and the creativity found in the fitness community mean that it is now easier than ever to find en exciting workout challenge and start testing yourself and your abilities. Here at Hypefive we want to help other people like you start their 2022 strong; and for that reason we’ve compiled this list of 5 workout challenges that anyone who wants to test their limits can try.
Are you ready to go? Let’s get started!
But first, what is a fitness challenge?
A fitness challenge is a physical test that has to be completed over a particular timeframe, with clear goals that help participantes maintain their motivation. They can involve almost anything, from doing one single type of exercise every single day for a month, to nailing down a particularly difficult movement before a set date.
Fitness challenges should be fun, but also challenging. In order to truly make sense, workout challenges should have goals, deadlines, and tools to help participants reach those goals. And of course, they should be about getting fit, but also about having fun while doing it!
As with most things, workout challenges don’t provide immediate results. If you want them to truly have an impact on your body, mind and habits, the challenge you choose needs to last at least a week, if not longer.
What makes a good workout challenge?
There are many different types of workout challenges available. Some are more effective than others at different things. However, the ones that work well have certain commonalities. These commonalities make them easy to get engaged with, and help them push your limits in a way that’s actually doable.
For example, a good workout challenge needs goals and deadlines. There should always be an end-goal that has to be achieved before a specific deadline. For example, it’s very common to see 30-day fitness challenges to promote physical activity and help users achieve their fitness goals.
Besides that, good challenges give people all the tools they might need to succeed, like exercise explanations, advice, examples…
Finally, good fitness challenges need to be measurable and realistic. A person entering them needs to be able to see their progress, as well as adapt to their fitness level and daily exercise habits.
List of workout challenges to start 2022 strong
1- Weight loss challenge
Weight loss challenges involve competing with your friends to see who’s the person who’s able to lose the most weight. You can try to win this contest in any way you see fit, as long as it’s healthy: a particular type of exercise, a diet you’ve heard of, daily walks, healthy recipes you’ve always wanted to try…
However, in order to do this correctly you need to set realistic goals and set healthy expectations. The important thing here is to have some kind of progress during the duration of the challenge. That’s why things like before, during, and after pictures are important, as they will help you see your progress and maintain your motivation.
2- Squat challenge
Squats are an excellent exercise for building strength and endurance. A squat challenge is great because you can do them anywhere. You don’t need any equipment or space. Just get down on your knees and push yourself up.
How does this work? The idea is completing an increasing number of squats per day over a predefined period of time. You can start with a number that you feel comfortable with; for example, 20 squats on the first day. Then you’d increase that number each consecutive day, up to a specific finish date.
For example, you could do this challenge for 60 days and increase the number of squats by 1 every day.
3- Flexibility challenge
A flexibility challenge should include beginner, intermediate, or advanced exercises depending on your starting point. With this kind of physical activity the idea is to focus on a form of exercise that ehlps you improve your flexibility. This can include a variety of exercises, like yoga, stretching, or even body weight exercises.
With a flexibility challenge it’s specially important to maintain proper form during they time you’re doing it. You can use any fitness app to find specific exercises to perform, or even join a real life fitness event where you can get a thousand ideas as to how to approach this task.
4- Plank workout challenge
A plank is an exercise where you lie flat on your stomach and hold yourself up by pushing against the floor using just your arms. It strengthens your abdominal muscles and builds up your stamina. For this 30-day abs challenge, you’ll get started with doing a 10 seconds plank, and increase the time you have to maintain this position by an extra 10 seconds everyday.
This means that on Day 12 of the program, you’re supposed to be able to hold an arm balance (plank) for two minutes. After 30 days, the goal would be to hold the plan position for a whooping five minutes. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
Planks are one of the best exercises out there for upper body strenght and core tonification. If you want to rock your abs this summer, don’t miss out on this workout challenge!
5- Distance challenge
Distance challenges can be done by many people, including runners, bikers, swimmers, and even those of you who only like walking. These types of activities require you to move your body and cover a specific distance, which will increase progressively every day.
You can use fitness trackers and smart watches to track your progress. This can help people who tackle these exercise programs train for big event such as marathons.
What’s an appropriate distance to aim for with a distance workout challenge? It obviously depends on how experienced you are with your chosen discipline and the type of challenge you want to aim for. However, it’s usually a good idea to get started way below your comfort zone and gradually increase the distance you tackle every day.
Join our Fitness App to discover more challenge ideas!
One of the core components of the Hypefive community is our commitment to motivating each other and challenging other members. If you’ve liked this post about the best workout challenges to get started in 2022, make sure to stay tuned for our beta launch! Subscribe to our email newsletter and we’ll keep you posted.