Intentional Movement 100 – The First 30

A while ago I saw someone on Instagram (an influencer/author/comedian/random account, I honestly can’t remember what they were 😀 ) doing 100 days of working out. I liked the idea of it but I decided I wanted to focus on intentional movement rather than just workouts. So I’ve created my own little challenge. I’m very much a challenge motivated kind of person or as I like to call it ‘carrot and stick’ motivated.

So I had a little think about what it was I wanted to get out of this and there are a few things. What I want most is the same as what I wanted to achieve last year, I want to be strong and I want to be fit. Since we started hiking again it’s something I want even more. I love feeling myself getting stronger and stronger each week with the hiking and I would love to speed that along. I also want to create a habit of showing up for myself each day. As in time I use to focus on just moving my body with no other distractions and it being something that I automatically do every day.

The plan is actually pretty simple. Intentional movement every day for 100 days. The movement can be absolutely anything and for whatever duration as long as I make the conscious effort to move each day. 100 days is a lot and I’m more than a little afraid to commit to it so I’m starting out with 30 days. Actually I started with 7, then 14 and then decided on 30 and now here we are! I’m not including my walks every day or my hikes at the weekends because they are something I just do anyway and I wanted to focus on creating a new good habit. Why is it that falling into a good habit is hard but a bad habit is super easy?

The thing I’ve found the most helpful is making a plan and I did that by using my Apple notes, 8fit app and YouTube. I mapped out my first 30 days and checked them off each day. I love a tick box exercise but it was mostly helpful to not have to think about what I was going to do each day.

The beauty of this is that I’ve created something tailored to me specifically and I’ve added the things I enjoy like my boxing on Monday and dancing on Wednesday. It also means it’s easy to change things up. There were a few days where I wasn’t really feeling what I had planned and it was easy to change to something that suited my mood for that day. Like day 24 where I decided that I wanted to do my second day in a row of dance! Dancing workouts are a lot of fun and I was feeling unmotivated on day 24 and decided to do something I knew would be fun. It’s also important to note that rest days are VERY important and I add those in by doing yoga, barre, Pilates or stretching specific exercises. I have a yoga for hips routine I adore that is still a challenge but I always feel like a new woman after doing it.

I am in no doubt that this is going to be a real challenge for me and if I can’t complete it I can’t complete it. I would love to get to the 100 days though and if I do I’ll hit that while on the island of Crete and I can’t think of a better finish line. I also hope that once I hit 100 days getting up and moving on day 101 will be second nature.

So how have I found the first 30 days?

Well, kind of amazing actually. It has been a challenge some days but the challenge was about the showing up and not the actual doing of the thing. That seems to be my biggest downfall with at home movement/training. It’s so easy to put it off until tomorrow and just continue reading my book or not getting out of bed before it’s time to get up for work. This is another reason I like the idea of doing something/anything every single day. I can’t put off today’s workout until tomorrow.

I actually started this challenge off with a big test, I was off work from day 11 to day 21 and I showed up each day. I’m great while I’m in my routine but once I go off script I abandon ship altogether. By moving each day I felt like doing more each day and I actually did. Went out for hikes and sightseeing and everything. We also had a heatwave and I still did my daily movement, that was very difficult. By completing my first 30 days while being out of my routine it makes me feel optimistic about completing this. *fingers crossed* Either way, I’m moving and I’m so far enjoying it so I won’t be losing anything!