OK, so I’m not a big fan of 8 week Challenges!* Let me explain why…
1️⃣They promote an ‘all or nothing’ mentality- Sure, going all in for a defined period of time can lead to quick results. But unfortunately these results are often not sustainable. IIt also doesn’t help with building self compassion or resilience, important for long term results.
2️⃣ There is no room for sh*t hitting the fan (and no contingency plan for when it inevitably does) – When life throws us a curve ball, sticking to the challenge may not be achievable. And if we don’t have a ‘plan B’, we end up beating ourselves up for not achieving it and/or throw the towel in completely
3️⃣ There is no game plan for what to do when the challenge ends – We’re on a high because we’ve achieved a goal, but then what? How do we maintain the results? There is just no game plan. And because the Challenge has usually involved a rigid set of rules, we haven’t developed the tools to trust in ourselves to continue.
4️⃣ They can contribute to yoyo dieting & exercising – it’s common to fall in a heap at the end of a challenge, doubling down on all of the things we couldn’t do during the challenge. This is the very definition of yoyo-ing, and we know that yo-yoing might actually be WORSE for our health than remaining steadily overweight for an extended period of time.
5️⃣They are almost ALWAYS promoted using ‘Before & After’ shots. There is nothing wrong with having an aesthetic goal. But before and after shots are a moment in time and not relfective of the whole picture. What I’d LOVE to see is the after-after shots. The ones in another 8 weeks time. Or better again – some written reflections, strength and functional measures. Lets see some of those!
Make no mistake:
✅ Goals are great.
✅ Tracking is amazing.
✅ Phase-based exercise programming is wonderful.
But 8 week challenges are probably messing with you…
*PS not all 8 week challenges are created equal. There are some considered, well programmed challenges with great support out there. You might just have to sift through to find them 😉
I wanted to share my personal experience with them with you too.
If this is new to you, I’m talking about those challenges that are usually run by a gym or fitness studio, where you’re meant to work out harder / more frequently than normal and eat a diet dictated by a trainer/’healthy recipe guide’ (with a focus on calories or macros). They might take before & after shots, or do one of those body composition scans at the start and end.
Have you ever done one, or something similar?
Well, I have….
I signed up to one at a strength training gym I joined a few years back. I mostly did it out of curiosity, because I’ve seen so many women over the years who have done them. But I also thought it might be nice to have a goal to work towards.
And I’m really glad I did it. Not because I lost weight and felt fantastic.
But because it gave me such valuable insight, both into what the inside of these challenges look like, but also into how quickly our mindset can be shifted.
This is what I learned:
- It is humiliating to have a PT take ‘before and after’ photos of me in my underwear
- Tracking everything I eat, calorie restricting and doing more workouts will almost certainly cause me to lose weight.
- When I lose weight, people seem to comment on ‘how great I look’, making me question whether I didn’t look so great before
- In 8 weeks of calorie / food tracking, I can become obsessed with needing to know the nutritional data of everything going into my mouth, which isn’t a very sociable trait
- After 8 weeks of focusing hard on diet & exercise and getting ‘results’, I can become fearful of not maintaining them (which of course, I need to because everyone keeps saying ‘how great I look’)
- The other people doing these challenges are often doing it for the second, fourth / tenth time
So, this was my own personal experience with an 8 week challenge, which cemented the reasons why I’m generally just not a big fan.