30 Day Squat Challenge

30 Day Squat Challenge

I have been really curious about this 30 day squat challenge for a while ever since I watched this buzzfeed video Click Here to watch said video. If you haven’t heard about this squat challenge, essentially, you do 100 squats a day for 30 days, and compare leg definition/trach progress. My question: does the 30 day squat challenge actually work? I am already on a fitness journey, so why not add another piece in? I don’t really know if I’ll have any notable definition, but hopefully it will keep me moving more than I would have otherwise. Here commences my 30 Day Squat Challenge review!

Graduation and Fitness Struggles

I have been struggling with my fitness since I graduated. The first six months after graduation, I was so focused on job searching, that I convinced myself I didn’t have time or energy to worry about what I was eating. I was still working out, but not as much as I was in school. School was a weird microcosm, where I loved working out because it was a productive way to procrastinate. I could always convince myself to put off studying in lieu of exercise. Out of school, I didn’t have anything to put off by working out. When I was living at home, my Mom made such great food, I had forgotten how much I loved her cooking. I became a stress eater. Everything I ate was comforting. While it tasted great, it did not do great things for my body.

When work started, I did a little better. I got a gym membership, and started going generally consistently. Then I started lifting with my coworkers. Three days a week, I had accountability buddies that would harass me mercilessly if I missed. It was the greatest motivator. And it was just fun! We were going swimming three times a week, running twice a week, and playing volleyball once or twice a week. I was doing great, looking great, building muscle and feeling like a boss. That halted when work picked up. Soon we were working early mornings, late nights and exercise became the very last thing I wanted to do. Once again, I fell off the wagon, and into a pile of food. It’s hilarious that I didn’t become a stress eater in college, but I did when I entered into industry.

So week after week, month after month, I ate, put off exercise and made plenty of excuses. Over Christmas when I went home, I really noticed the toll this lifestyle has done to me. I was finally ready to change. So in the past four or five weeks, I have tried desperately to get back on the wagon. I have orchestrated a running group at work, which has been great. We run four times a week, and we have been training for a 5k at the end of May. I’ve been cleaning up my eating. I’ve added more vegetables, fewer carbs, cut out the snacking at work. Whenever I’m hungry, I try to drink some water, eat some fruit, and then decide if I need more food. I’m not perfect, obviously, but it’s been getting there.

Here is my before picture.

The Plan

If you are interested in joining this challenge with me, here are the steps.

1.      Do 100 squats each day. These squats can be any variation. They can be done in 10 sets of 10 if you want. Feel free to add weight (I’m hoping to add weight, but we’ll see how the first few days go ;) ).
2.     The hard part about this challenge is going to be consistency. The idea is to do your daily squats with no breaks.
3.      I’ll be doing weekly check-ins, so make sure to comment if you are participating and subscribe if you haven't already.
4.      Each week, I’ll take a new progress picture and measure the circumference around my thighs.

I go through this as a caveat before I post any results with before and after pictures. Any progress I do (or don’t) make is mostly going to be a combination of my nutrition habits, and my continued running, weight lifting and now 100 daily squats. I’m hoping to add weight to at least some of those 100 squats, but I’ll keep you posted on how that ends up. 

Check out my first update after week 1 of this challenge which includes tips, tricks, and reflections on how to improve your 30 Day Squat experience Here as well as my 30 Day Squat Challenge results after week 1.

What are your biggest fitness struggles? Have you tried a 30 day squat challenge? Comment below and I’ll answer them on my next weekly check-in!