Challenges and Rewards [Part I]

Exercising is (ideally) an every day occurrence that requires a lot of energy and discipline! But keeping up with such a disciplined practice long-term can be tough. So fitness studios and gyms everywhere started offering regular challenges throughout the year as a motivational tool to help their community stay consistent with their workouts. And these challenges can be fun! They give us a mini-adventure to embark upon, a community of support, and the opportunity to feel proud of how hard we work every day. 

​What a challenge consists of though, can depend on the capabilities of the gym or studio, and what benefits they want to see for their clients... or their business. So here's a peak at what influences our challenges here at freehouse!

When it comes to creating a challenge for my clients and community, besides using them for general motivation and community building, I'm super-focused on always tying them back to the fundamental fitness practices that are integral to getting results.

There's something called the FITT principle. It's an acronym for the fitness components that bring about results, improvements and changes in your body.

[F] FREQUENCY. I.e. working out every day, every other day
[I] INTENSITY I.e. how fast/heavy; the energy you expend.
[T] TIME I.e. 20 minutes, 50 minutes
[T} TYPE I.e. rebound, sculpt, pilates, yoga, cycle

Increasing any/all of these components within healthy reason, will yield results and push your abilities! So across our calendar of freehouse challenges, I try to hit these components as much as possible. For example:

DOUBLE CLASS CHALLENGE. Taking a double dose of classes increases the amount of TIME your muscles are working out.

SWEAT EVERY DAY CHALLENGE. Taking class 8 days in a row pushes your workout FREQUENCY to the max. *And the variety of our classes allows you to do this as we don't want to repeat the same workout 8 days in a row!

FIT WEEK CHALLENGE. Taking 4 different types of classes in 6 days increases the different TYPES of workouts you do.

...and so on! My objective in our studio, is to help my clients and community build long-term, healthy, and sustainable fitness practices that yield results. Results that are not only related to calories-burned or muscles-defined, but results like having endurance and stamina, coordination, adaptability and discipline. Whenever I can utilize our challenges to achieve these goals, that's a double win!! And beyond the challenges, keep this FITT Principle in mind when trying to hit personal goals with your workout routine.

See you at the studio!
​Dana