Last week, I shared some disheartening statistics surrounding New Year’s resolutions and offered a few tips on how not to become one of them. Today I want to talk about another potential mistake many people make when undertaking a new health and fitness program:
The 12-Week Challenge.
The 12-Week Fitness Challenge has become a staple in the fitness industry. There are so many on offer, in fact, that there are countless web pages devoted to reviewing/ranking them. In addition to every other fitness personality offering a challenge, Will Smith (yes, that Will Smith) has one. Sylvester Stallone used to. Currently, P90X is probably the most well-known.
I failed to find much on the history of 12-week challenges, but the first one I remember is Body for Life by Bill Phillips in the late 90’s. His book by the same title was a best-seller, and the guy was everywhere – TV, radio, you name it. Whether BFL was first or not, I’m pretty sure it’s the one that kicked off the trend.
I’m not knocking Bill Phillips. BFL was arguably the first nutrition/exercise program that introduced HIIT and resistance training to a broad audience. In addition, Phillips told people they actually had to work hard to achieve results. All in all, the basic principles of his program were sound. Last but not least, Phillips’ supplement company at the time, EAS, was the first to bring creatine to the market. Thanks, Bill!
But back to 12-week challenges in general…
PROS
The better challenges at least provide a sound training regimen and solid nutritional advice. If you’ve never undertaken either before, you’ll learn a few things.
Twelve weeks is at least a goal. One reason many people fail to get results is that they don’t set specific goals.
Most challenges these days offer some sort of online community and support.
CONS
A solid resistance training program isn’t rocket science, but a lot of these challenges try to make it so – mostly to distinguish themselves from all the others. Ditto with the nutritional advice and meal plans. Some even offer specific menus and page after page of recipes. Wait, is this a nutrition plan or a cooking class?
But the biggest and most obvious con is the 12-week limit. Most challenges will mention that a healthy diet and lifestyle should be for life, but that’s often way down in the fine print. The underlying message is that you can “go from flab to fab” in three months. Well, maybe, depending on how much flab you’re starting with, but consider this: The safe, natural upper limit for fat loss – for most people – is about 2 pounds per week. Muscle gain, without “enhancements,” is about half a pound a week.
These can vary depending on age, metabolism, etc., but not much. So, if all goes as well as it can, at the end of 12 weeks you may be down 24 pounds of fat and up 6 pounds of lean tissue. Let me be clear: that’s fantastic. But unless you’re in the ballpark to begin with, you’re probably not going to look like the “after” pictures the challenge advertises.
Oh, a word about those…bodybuilders and physique competitors enter these challenges (I know an IFBB pro who did). After all, many of them offer significant cash prizes. The “before” pictures are taken at the end of the off-season, just before these competitors begin contest-prep. The muscular physique is already there – they’re just dropping fat, and they often have years of experience doing this. There are ordinary Joes and Janes in the mix, too, of course, but be aware that you are, essentially, entering a physique competition against professionals.
The takeaway: If it’s a choice between entering a 12-week challenge and sitting on your couch eating potato chips for another three months, enter the challenge. But don’t worry about the assigned due date. If you look at real, lasting transformations, you’ll find that most people need 6 months to a year of consistent effort to get to “fab.” As I’ve mentioned before, if it’s taken your whole adult life to get however fat you’ve gotten, what’s a year?
Thanks for reading,
Dan
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