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Winter Fitness Challenge Intense and Amazing!

By Mandi Mellen

Posted on January 11, 2017

I just completed another 30 day challenge and this winter fitness challenge was intense and amazing! It was originally a Holiday Challenge, but it’s so much more than that!

This Winter Fitness Challenge is the first 30 day challenge I’ve done that’s actually a full 30 days of exercise. Basically the structure has you start on a Monday with rest days every Sunday, but it doesn’t include those rests in your 30 days. Most other challenges I’ve done count the rest days, but not this one and I loved it! It made this winter fitness challenge a whole week longer and made me feel so much stronger in the end!

Because I’m pregnant, I’ve been searching for challenges that I can still do now that I’m farther along in my pregnancy. This one was just what I needed. It’s three well known exercises: squats, plank, and push-ups. You do all three every day and personally I love these exercises. They compliment each other so well!

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My favorite part of this winter fitness challenge is that the reps of each exercise vary! That’s really what makes it intense and amazing. A challenge that ascends evenly is nice. I have done a lot of those challenges in the past, but there is something freeing about not knowing the amount of each exercise each day. It also made the six days on much nicer, because the reps vary throughout the week. It was intense at times doing so many squats and push-ups!

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One of my favorite exercises is push-ups. I’d been adding more push-ups into my workouts even prior to this challenge. A goal of mine was to make sure that my arms stay nice and toned even while I’m pregnant. This challenge was ideal, because the amount of push-ups is not obscene. The most it gets up to on a given day is 65, but I did not realize just how intense it would be doing all those push-ups. I broke them up into sets of course, but I also had to go down on my knees. This was great because I still got the amazing benefits of push-ups. I was just surprised at how intense the push-ups got. They are normally my favorite part of any challenge! It makes sense that they’d be more intense, since push ups are body weight and I’m carrying more weight than I ever have. That has now fueled me to keep up with my push-ups throughout the rest of this pregnancy.

I also loved doing the squats throughout this winter fitness challenge. They were the exercise that I looked forward to the most. Squats are awesome for women who are pregnant and I felt great and strong doing them. I know my man is not as keen on squats. They are much tougher for him since his knees bother him if he squats too much. It’s funny how different parts of a challenge appeal to one person more than another. That’s why I truly love doing these fitness challenges with a partner. It’s fun to see which part one struggles with, where we improve, and who likes what more than the other.

The final exercise in this challenge, plank, was an excellent change of pace for me. I’ve only been doing plank in yoga class recently, so I was so glad that this challenge added it in! Much like the push-ups, this exercise was much harder than I thought it would be and even though we ended with only 70 seconds, it definitely had me shaking. I loved it though! It added to just how intense and amazing the challenge was!

This Winter Fitness Challenge is perfect to start your new year off with! It’s a perfect challenge for all levels and great with a partner. Even if you haven’t done many 30 day challenges, it’s extremely approachable. It’s a must kids! You’ll feel amazing after finishing this!

Mandi Mellen is Lead Editor, Staff Writer, and Featured Vlogger at BuzzChomp. She’s an actress, writer, and producer. Get lost in her youtube comedy channel PillowTalk TV. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or Instagram