30-day fitness challenge plans are magical in their own, special way. They can deliver visible results in a short amount of time, and they ease you back into shape without feeling you have to make long-term plans. For me that’s important because I’ve learned that my follow-through rate with exercise is greater when I take it step-by-step.
If you’re just starting out with exercise, or even if you’re experienced, also check out my article “Prevent Injury During Exercise Class By Doing These 10 Things.” I’ve found that the injuries I’ve gotten in the past were mainly caused by me being over-zealous when I started to get in shape again. You can injure yourself even doing activities that seem injury-free, like Yoga.
So how do you choose a 30-day fitness challenge? A quick Google search reveals so many! Here are five of the best free (yes, free!) ones I found on the Web, plus one mobile app. Please leave a comment below if you try any of them — I’d love to hear what you think of it.
1. My Fitness Pal’s 30-Day Strength-Building Challenge for Beginners
Why I like it:
They hold your hand (figuratively speaking) by walking through not only what you need to do, but why — just in case your motivation starts to lag. Expect things like squats, planks, shoulder presses, and cardio.
Where to find it:
2. Programs by “The 30-day Fitness Challenges”
I mean the website by this name, which specializes in this topic.
Why I like it:
There are lots of different programs tailored to different areas of the body (like the 30-day plank challenge); videos demonstrating how to do exercises properly; and “challenge charts” that make it easy to understand at a glance what you need to do. There’s also a mobile app version of it.
Where to find it:
3. Fitness Magazine’s 30-Day Squat Challenge: One Month to a Better Butt
Why I like it:
This challenge incorporates lots of types of squats, from isometric and oblique squats, to reaching sumo and curtsey squats. I didn’t know there were so many types!
Where to find it:
4. The Darebee 30-day Fitness Guides
Why I like it:
Darebee is a non-profit global fitness resource. On this part of their site they have a bunch of infographics showing 30-day challenges of all types, from upper body and the kick master challenge, to the 10,000 squats challenge.
Where to find it:
5. The 30-day Abs Challenge from Women’s Health Magazine
Why I like it:
They switch things up a lot, which makes it interesting. Workouts include things like standing ab moves, yoga poses, and twisting windmills, balanced with regular plank tests to gauge your progress.
