These days social media is flooded with various fitness challenges ranging from 21-day transformation to 75 days hard challenge to 90 days habit-building challenges. The core idea behind such challenges is to motivate everyone to get fit in a specific period of time. But have you ever wondered why there is a sudden blitz of such finite challenges from fitness influencers and enthusiasts running transformation programs?
Experts suggest it may be owing to human tendency and fondness for “finite goals”. “Especially in today’s society of short attention spans and need for constant variety, we crave focused programs of 30 days or less. It takes about three to four weeks for people to start feeling really good while exercising so if you can get over that first 3-week hump of physical adaptation, things get a lot more fun and pleasant, which increases likelihood of sticking with it,” described fitness expert and clinical dietitian Garima Goyal.
Clinical psychologist Kamna Chhibber said that challenges can be a good way for individuals to motivate themselves. “When these are done collaboratively with others in a targeted fashion, it enables people to persist with following the activity for longer. However, it is important to be wary of overstretching yourself and ensuring that you are mindful of what you can physically and mentally endure. Comparisons with others while motivating can also create a sense of disparity and people can push themselves to a point which could be unhealthy or even detrimental to their physical and mental well-being,” she added.
Who is conducting such challenges?
Most of these challenges have a certified fitness coach or influencer taking the participants through live or recorded sessions (on Zoom or Instagram or their own web portals) for 45 minutes to an hour each day targeting upper, lower, core, or whole-body exercises with yoga, Zumba, animal flow movements, and meditation thrown in. Alongside, the participants are also asked to monitor their sleep, and diet, and do a bit of book reading as well.
Here’s how diet matters (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
Experts suggest such online fitness challenges are often built around “finding a shortcut to skills” that usually take months or even years to master. Big changes in your health begin with taking that first step towards eating healthier and improving your fitness level.
“If a challenge or video on social media helps you make that first step, great! Getting started is the hardest part. However, what you should begin looking for is ways to make sustainable changes to your lifestyle that you can live with for the long run. Use these short-term motivators to move you towards a long-term solution to healthier living,” Goyal said.
Where is the idea coming from?
Fitness pandits suggest that the idea stems from the belief that it takes 21 days to form any habit. “I would rather say 21 days is a very short time frame in which a dietitian just observes how the body is responding to our prescribed diet and body just begins its fitness journey, a journey of a lifetime,” mentioned Goyal.
However, Chhibber said that it is not necessary that a habit forms in 21 days. “Different people can take different durations of time. A lot of factors are involved in the formation of habits. The regularity of pursuing a sought-after objective, commitment to it, and perseverance as well as skills matter,” Chibber said.
How to decipher a fitness challenge?
The challenge should be authentic. “For example, a no-sugar challenge is good but if the challenge is to stop eating cereals and just have fruits and vegetables, then it is not considerable. Limiting an entire food group from the diet is very restrictive,” Goyal expressed.
The challenge should be realistic, and sustainable. “Any challenge which will be done for 90 days or say 90+90 days can be considered to be fine as the results achieved during this time frame are much more sustainable than a challenge done for 21 days or less,” Goyal said.
You should see results from a workout program in four to eight weeks. “So in that regard a 21 day challenge may be a great way to start making progress. But patience is the key. The best-case scenario, with optimal nutrition and consistent exercise, is one pound of real fat loss per week. Building muscle, on the other hand, can take a while and is dependent on your age and genetics. 21 days is certainly long enough to start to see the beginning of some nice changes. But sustainable changes need a longer time span,” Goyal articulated.
Chhibber also mentioned that it is essential to do activities simply for the joy and pleasure they can give you and focus on their recreational aspect instead of making it into a stressful activity that is too stringently goal-oriented for yourself.
What to keep in mind when signing up for such challenges?
*Keep in mind that most of such challenges are for otherwise healthy individuals, with no co-morbidities.
*Those individuals who have some co-morbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc. should definitely consult their healthcare practitioner before blindly following such Instagram and other social media trends.
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Are you committed? (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
*You have to adopt the changes for your lifetime and not just a few days, urged Goyal.
*It is important to be attuned to what and how much works for you and anything that is done should be done keeping in mind your individual self. “Emulating others in this context can be unhelpful and it is important to ensure that while you may choose to not do certain activities or challenges, you don’t judge yourself or become overly critical of your own self and your abilities. Being sensitive to your individual skills and strengths is crucial and it is imperative that you also focus on these,” said Chhibber.
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