30-Day Fitness Challenge: 30-Day Fitness Challenge: Day Eighteen

30-Day Fitness Challenge
30-Day Fitness Challenge: Day Eighteen
| Your Active Challenge  | Your Exercise Challenge - Strength  | Your Flexibility Challenge  | Your Nutrition Challenge - Savor your food  | Your Mind/Body Challenge  | Your Day Eighteen Checklist

	from Paige Waehner As the 18th day of the fitness challenge begins, this is a great time ask yourself how you're doing. Do you feel good about the challenges you've tackled or do you feel you could do more? While pondering that question, get started on today's challenges which will help you build some strength, focus on what you're doing and take some time to enjoy the little things in life.
Your Active Challenge
	Your Active Challenge
	Set an alarm to go off every hour. Take at least 2 minutes to stand up and stretch, walk around or take a break. Is this challenge starting to look familiar? This is the third time you've done this one, so it should be getting a little easier. Be sure to do this challenge all day, if you can.
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Your Exercise Challenge - Strength
	Your Exercise Challenge
	Spend 30-60 minutes today doing strength training exercises for the entire body. You can choose any of the previous workouts I've highlighted, such as those listed in the Total Body for Beginners, Special Situations section. But, if you're ready for a challenge, take a look at the following intermediate/advanced total body programs and give one a try, if you think you're ready: Total Body Workout (Intermediate) Total Body Strength, Balance & Stability (Int/Adv) Total Body Challenge - Supersets As always, stay within your fitness level...you don't have to do the harder workouts unless you're ready.
Your Flexibility Challenge
	Your Flexibility Challenge
	Perform the exercises listed in this Total Body Stretch after your strength training workout. Do each stretch at least once (more if you have the time) and hold for 30 seconds.
Your Nutrition Challenge - Savor your food
	Your Nutrition Challenge
	For one meal or snack, take your time by chewing each bite slowly and putting your fork down between each bite. By slowing down, you allow yourself time to savor your food. Eating slowly also helps your body provide appropriate cues for when you're full, which can help cut down on eating too much.
Your Mind/Body Challenge
	Your Mind/Body Challenge
	Choose three strength training exercises and perform them with very slow, controlled movements, concentrating on the muscles you're working. This mind/body challenge is all about paying attention - something we often don't do when we exercise, especially when it comes to strength training. For many of us, lifting weights feels uncomfortable. Our muscles burn, the weight starts to feel even heavier than it is and it becomes harder and harder to complete each rep with good form. But it's just that discomfort, that challenge, that helps us become stronger. To do this challenge, pick any three exercises from the workouts offered above or from your own strength workout. For those three moves, turn off the TV or your MP3 player (or any other distractions), and do the following: Slow each rep down so that you're lifting 4 counts up and 4 counts down. During each part of the move, concentrate on the muscles you're working. Feel it contract and lengthen as you go through each part of the exercise. Don't count your reps, simply keep going until you no longer have good form. After each exercise, take a moment to write about the experience in your journal. What exercises did you focus on and where did you feel it? Did the exercises feel different when you slowed down and concentrated?
Your Day Eighteen Checklist
	Your Day Eighteen Checklist
	How'd you do with your challenges today? Use this checklist to cross off everything you accomplished or make notes on what you didn't accomplish and why. You can also use the checklist to make substitutions for any challenges that didn't work for you or create even more challenges for yourself.
Paige Waehner
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