The Meh Challenge

That's right, I said meh. The Self Challenge sure does try to build up all this excitement about its program, now doesn't it? I mean, a countdown? emails going out weeks in advance? No sneak previews of what the program entails until the first day??

Well, I must say, it let me down. The day arrived, I looked up the challenge page first thing this morning and read through the requirements and, well, meh.

Alright, I admit, maybe this program is aimed at a different audience than me? Perhaps I'm already more athletic than most of the Self challengees. I don't know but that seems unlikely. I mean, the challenge has been around, as far as I know, since 1998. In these nine years since the first challenge I saw, it really changed very little. I mean, sure, the online log that tracks your workouts instead of the magazine rip out schedule is great! And the ability to do the whole challenge through the website without even having to buy the magazine is nice. And yes, even the nutrition diary online (which I still don't use) is a great addition. But aside from removing the flexibility workouts (as I'd mentioned before), the challenge itself doesn't seem to have changed.

Is that bad? Not necessarily. For example, perhaps every year they hope to attract new challengees to whom this whole thing would be new anyway and so there would be no need for much in the way of changes. I could see that. But what about all their dedicated readers? The Self subscribers who've been reading the magazine for year? Don't we deserve some attention?

And especially since the Challenge claims that the 90 day program is designed so that you're training yourself to adopt a routine that will become part of you life, doesn't that mean that by the time the Challenge rolls around the next year, you'll have been keeping up and you'll need something perhaps a tad more challenging? How about giving intermediate or advanced options?

I know, I know, part of the whole thing I like about this workout regime is that it is so tailorable. I can do whatever cardio or strength workouts I want and have them count towards the end goal. But I have to say, when I logged on today to see what was required of me, I was a bit disappointed. For the first month, I have to do three 30-min cardio workouts a week, and two 25-min. strength workouts. I did three 30-min cardio workouts yesterday, when I went for a 2-hour run!

Maybe this challenge isn't really the one for me? Well, regardless, I'm going to find a way to make it work. So maybe the cardio section for this month will be easy, I'll just keep it up and make sure I get everything done.

So, today, I did this month's strength workout and.... I hated it. It made me angry. It's really funny, I don't really get angry much, but I was steaming. Part of it was that the text parts of the workout did not describe the movements well enough for me. But then, Self has been advertising its "Challenge on the Go!" free downloadable videos. Handy, I thought.

But no, not so much. The videos don't have any audio and only show the incredibly skinny model doing 3 or so reps of the movement so you can see how it goes, not so you can do the workout along with her. So between every move, I had to go back, read the description, find out how many I had to do, then go back, start the video, watch a couple of reps, then pause it. So annoying.

The second thing that annoyed is probably for my own good. The moves were so complicated and elaborate, because:

"[The] multitasking exercises (...) require balance, you'll get a great ab workout without having to do a single crunch. Instead, take a victory lap!"

I have to admit, they were quite difficult (I tend to be a bit of a klutz) and I definitely felt the worked muscles burn, but by the 7th move (out of 8 total), I threw in the towel and decided instead to do a whole bunch of crunches and bicycles. I guess I'm an old dog.

Lastly, the meal plan is not at all catered for people who cook all that much, like I do, so I totally bypassed their meal recommendations and did my own thing:

For breakfast, I had one of the lovely blueberry power muffins that Tamsen and I made yesterday and then a bowl of Maple Nut oatmeal once I got to the office.

Then for lunch, I had some lovely vegetarian Thai food: some tofu and sauteed vegetables with rice, some Pad Se Eu (I love broccoli) and a little bit of vegetarian Tom Ka soup. Perfect for the cold rainy day.

It was dinner that I really focused on, though. Since I was all frustrated from my annoying first workout, I decided to cook something nice. I also had a bunch of CSA box vegetables to finish. So I made us mashed potatoes and turnips with sauteed onions, kale and spinach topping (from Deborah Madison's lovely Vegetarian Suppers cookbook) and the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook's simmered red cabbage with grated apple and onions. It was delicious!