Fitness February - Here's the Scoop

The resounding result of our non-scientific polling was that folks wanted Option C - the Killer Combo. Y'all are some motivated peeps! (Or crazy...as we repetitively prove, it's a very fine line....) 

So, here is Fitness February's Challenge:

* Move your body a minimum of 13.1 miles of human powered cardio motion PER WEEK (swimming, biking, running, walking, elliptical, unicycling...you human power it, you count it). (Note: if you want us to tweak your spreadsheet so that you're targeting 26.2 per week...we can do that.)

* Do a minimum of 2 of each of these strength-based sessions PER WEEK (so 2 each arms, 2 each legs, 2 each core):
        1.  Arms: 2x30 sec push-ups + 2x30 sec tricep dips + 2x30 sec pull-ups
        2.  Legs: 2x10 each leg lunges + 2x10 each leg step-ups + 2x10 each leg fire hydrants (oh yeah, we went there)
        3.  Core: 30 sec plank + 30 sec back bridge + 30 sec each side plank

For those of you who were curious about "authorized" variations -- here are our pre-approved variations. If you'd like others to be considered, drop us a note and we'll consider it. We'll keep the blog updated so you'll know what counts and what doesn't. 

* Push-Up: standard, close-hand, wide-hand, the one on your knees, and if you are really hurting -- get in a push-up position and push for all you're worth. You can split up the 30s intervals if you need to, but get 1 minute total of work done.
* Tricep dips: you can do it on the gym machine; you can find a sturdy surface in your house and do dips; you can do body-weight only; you can add weight plates to your legs. Same deal - if 30s at a pop crushes you, you can break it up, but get the total work done. 

* Pull-ups: any hand position is fine. Partner assisted is fine. If you can't pull yourself up (it's okay, these take practice), try! Hanging from a bar and tightening all your body muscles will do something for you even if you don't move that much. You can break these up...but do a minute's worth of work. If you don't have a pull-up bar -- a door frame can work (we haven't pulled molding off yet) although it will work your hands a bit more. Or, you could find a playground and use the monkey bars. We like monkey bars. We also have had some good success with the "as seen on tv" $20 gadget that fits in door frame.  

* Lunges: standard; side; with one leg resting on a bench; with weights; body-weight only; walking; stationary.  

* Step-ups: you set the step height, so we don't have any variations for this one. 

* Fire hydrants: if you'd like to substitute the kick-backs...we're okay with it 

* Plank: you may break up the time, but try to hold for the full 30s. 

* Back bridge: some folks like to hold "up" continuously, others prefer the "up, squeeze, down, repeat" cycle. Just don't cheat us out of the 30s! 

* Side planks: feet together, top foot lifted, top arm at side, top arm pointing to sky...lots of options. You may break up time, but give an honest 30s for each side.  

Thanks to everyone who voted -- we like you guys! (Even if we were slackers on email-ing back this past week.) 

Have fun psyching yourself up for Fitness February and keep in mind that March Abness is right around the corner!

Fitness February!

We received some great responses for the "what do you want in a challenge" email request. By far, the themes involved "I want to move every day" "something to challenge me" and "please, no swimming." While we've come to embrace our inner manatee...ok, we hear you. We'll save the swim challenge portion for the warmer months (so, yeah, you've got that to look forward to!).

Three options -- need your votes. Please send an email with your vote or leave a comment here on the blog.

Option A:  "2013.1" (idea stolen but modified significantly):

* It's the 2013.1 challenge. You have to complete 13.1 miles per week for the month of February: walk, run, jog, snow shoe, elliptical, treadmill, your choice.  There will be an option if you want to go all 26.2 on us.

Option B:  "The All-Arounder"

* minimum of 20 minutes of cardio - at least 4 days per week (walk, run, exercise bike, bungee jump...you get the picture).  

* Do each of these workouts twice per week (so 2 each arms, 2 each legs, 2 each core):

        1.  Arms: 2x30 sec push-ups + 2x30 sec tricep dips + 2x30 sec pull-ups

        2.  Legs: 2x10 each leg lunges + 2x10 each leg step-ups + 2x10 each leg fire hydrants (oh yeah, we went there)

        3.  Core: 30 sec plank + 30 sec back bridge + 30 sec each side plank

(oh, and if you're worried about the pull-ups/push-up/planks...we'll have some options)

Option C:  The Killer Combo:  Do both A and B.  Just do it...you know you want to.  Option A satisfies the cardio requirement in Option B.

Ideas will be fleshed out and rules developed...just getting a "head this direction" vote. As a reminder, you are responsible for your participation and for making good decisions. These are supposed to be a fun challenge - not something you use to crush yourself and get injured. These challenges are something you do for FUN. Being injured is definitely NOT FUN.

So, please vote. And if you have something you'd rather see...let us know.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of the Mortal Peeps!

As a quick recap - the Mad Elf Challenge participants racked up well over 10,000 holiday lights in 23 days worth of challenge time. Outstanding job! Toys for Tots was the charity selected by those who voted - so the Mortal Man staff sent a donation of $125 (1 cent per light rounded up a bit, because, well, it seemed the thing to do).

We've had some requests for another MMT Challenge and would like to get feedback. We've done a few different flavors / varieties and want to get some feedback. 

A quick summary to remind you of the different formats:

MMT 1) Complete an iron distance tri over the course of a month (2.4 swim / 112 bike / 26.2 run)

MMT 2) Complete a "session" per day for 31 days and 17 hours

MMT 3) We didn't publicize this one, but to focus on our bike endurance, during last year's Tour de France we matched the pro's ride-for-ride, except we only did 20% of their daily mileage.  In other words, when they rode hills, we rode hills.  When they time-trialed, we time trialed.  We just ratcheted the distances back to "mortal" levels.  

MMT 4 ) The Mad Elf Challenge -- earn lights and decorate your tree

There's some good variety there, but while the challenges certainly assist with *our* goals - we're not sure what your goals are or what types of challenges get you excited. 

So, if you're interested in a February challenge, please send us some feedback. Let us know what interests you -- tri focus, bike focus, run / walk focus, strength focus, "I just want to move every day" focus, general cardio focus, :I am training for a xx event and want something like that" focus, etc. 

Similarly, if you want off the mailing list, please let us know that too. 

Good luck in 2013!

MMT_Mad Elf Update

We're about one week into the Mad Elf Challenge and there are lots of elves out there training like mad -- how awesome is that?!

That's just nuts! And not "nuts" like in the Steve Martin movie "Mixed Nuts" - the good kind of "nuts!"

Back to the Challenge - a number of folks have already achieved their individual 500 points - very well done! We're slightly falling behind the Team Challenge pace, so please either keep pushing (in a smart and not a "bad nuts" sort of way) and make sure you're logging your lights...or recruit more peeps!

As always, thanks for playing!

Mad Elf Challenge!

It's December - Winter is Coming - AND it's time for a new challenge.

The MMT staffers realize that lots of folks (to include us) will spend part of their time this month being "Santa's Helpers" (aka elves) in preparation for the holiday festivities. There's lots to be done: decorating, cooking, baking, shopping, honoring religious traditions, dealing with the company office party.

It's important to take care of our own health during the craziness of the holidays - hence the Mad Elf Challenge. The rules are going to be crazy easy because no one needs more stress. The goal is simply to do something healthy in the middle of all the chaos to help maintain sanity. And, since everyone knows that there's a whole bunch of elves needed to make Santa's Workshop function - let's collectively  get Santa across the finish line.

So - two levels of goals here - individual and collective. The INDIVIDUAL challenge is to collect enough "lights" to decorate your own Mad Elf Tree. A going standard is 100 lights per foot of tree; the MMT Mad Elf Tree shall be 5 feet tall - hence, you need 500 "lights" to light up your individual tree. The MMT TEAM Challenge is to get enough "lights" to light up the National Christmas Tree. Different places list different numbers of lights, typically in the 25,000-50,000 range. Let's split the difference and call it 37,500 lights for the MMT TEAM goal.

The fine print...

When: the Challenge runs from 01 Dec to Festivus (23 Dec). Why Festivus - well, wrapping this up on the 23d means the MMT staffers can have a "peaceful" Christmas without checking in to keep tabs on things! Plus, Festivus just sounds like an event you'd want the Mad Elves to crash.

What: Post your "lights" to the tracking spreadsheet (link at right). Let us know if you want "in" and we'll set up a tab for you and the spreadsheet will do the math for you. You'll just have to go in and log your lights on your tab. You can add notes if you like.

Why: It's the holiday season; exercising reduces stress; everyone likes a challenge; why not. Oh, and to sweeten the deal -- if we achieve the MMT Mad Elf Challenge -- MMT will make a donation of 1 cent per "light" to either the Toys for Tots program or the American Red Cross. We'll take a poll later (and yes, we're willing to consider other charities that do good for folks struggling).

Lights: You light a light by doing an exercise. This is the holiday season and you've got enough stress, so the rules will be absurdly easy. 1 minute of cardio is 1 light. 1 rep of an exercise is 1 light. 5 second of a "hold" type exercise (like a plank) is 1 point. That's it - that's all. For the record, a "rep" should be a right-left pair (so if you're doing fire hydrants, you don't get to count 10 right + 10 left as 20 -- it's 10 pairs so 10 lights...) Oh yeah, 12 ounce curls don't count. Other than that -- be a good Mad Elf and count the legitimate stuff. No, you don't have to get all your "lights" in the same setting. You can walk in the morning, do something at lunch, do lunges while watching tv and you get to count all your "lights."

Example: A 20 minute walk with the dog, plus a 30 second plank, plus 10 push-ups  = 20+6+10 = 36 lights you can log.

How hard is this going to be: Individually, to hit 500 lights, you need to do 22 "lights" per day for the 23 days of the challenge or 44 "lights" every other day. That's pretty darn reasonable. The TEAM goal is going to be a bit harder - and yes, that's intentional.

So, yeah - get yourself some sanity - light up your tree - and let's get to the TEAM goal so that a charity gets a boost.

Too easy! We got this. Be a MAD ELF!

It's March! That means...

...it's time for March Abness.

The challenge is all yours this time. Think about your core and your posture and set a goal.

For example, last year, we challenged ourselves to hold a front plank for 3 minutes by the end of March Abness. We wanted to get a jump start on strengthening our core to help maintain an aero position on the bike. This is an old photo (position has changed to go lower in the front), but it'll give you a rough idea. Note: the cell phone is not recommended for outside rides!

To practice holding that position for 112 miles, we started with challenging ourselves to hold a plank for 3 minutes. Good stuff.

So, pick a challenge that is appropriate for you and your training buddies...and have at it. Lots of different possibilities with this one and we'd love to hear about your March Abness Challenge in the comments. We're still debating our version - so we'd love to steal a good idea or two!

We're trying to figure out the next version of MMT -- look for more info toward the end of March Abness. In the meantime, we wish you safe training with lots of endorphins.

Congratulations! You Survived!

This challenge was a bit different, and the results seem to show that it was a tougher challenge than the first one. We still had an absolutely great success rate - both in terms of people finishing the full challenge, as well as in terms of getting folks up and moving and starting out 2012 strongly.

It's interesting that more people found it harder to achieve the "sessions" part of the challenge than the "hours" portion. Consistency is a very tough thing to accomplish - any can do something a few times, but it is tough to stick with things, like exercise, that are hard. Take a few moments to pat yourselves on the back.

Now for the amazing stat the email hinted at: collectively, we accomplished over 28 days of continuous exercise/movement. Over 675 hours of exercise. Think about that for a moment -- you were part of a challenge that resulted in the equivalent of one person exercising every hour of every day for the entire month of February. Holy cow that's impressive!

If you accomplished the full MMT2 challenge - congrats. If you didn't make the milestones, but still participated and moved more than you otherwise would have - congrats.

We hope you've enjoyed the challenge. We hope that the MMT2 challenge helped you kick off the calendar year (and possibly your training year) in a positive way. We've heard from several folks who have 5k's, tri's, and even
longer distance events planned - best of luck as you continue your training path.

And yes, there will be an MMT3. We're still pondering events and distances (have to have something to do while staring at the black lap lane marker at the bottom of the pool...), but expect an update soon. If you have any crazy
ideas, we'd love to hear about them. In the meantime, work on finding a "battle buddy" to do the next challenge with - it's always fun to share the madness with others!