When you think of crunches, do thoughts of achievable six-pack abs come to mind? Or do you instead think of the 1980’s and mindless repetitions that never seem to move you closer to your dream stomach?

I’ve asked my incredible Dr. Seuss Rhymster Fitness Homie MizFit to break down how to do a perfect crunch for all of us doing the Double Crunch challenge. (Find her, link to her, follow her, be like her.)

One quote that jumped out at me:

Abs, aesthetically (the look you see in magazines), are made in the kitchen through what you eat and through your cardio — burning off any excess fat.

I’m going to start bringing a yoga mat into the kitchen and do my crunches there. I’d never thought of that! Thanks, Miz!

Seriously though, if your office chair gives you a sore back, a stronger core (mid-section) can help chase away the pain. If you’re constantly running around after your kids, a stronger core will make your day a little easier. The main benefit of crunches (and other core-strengthening exercises) is that they help you get from wake to sleep more easily.

You do not need to be lean in order to enjoy the benefits of a strong core. However, you do need to be lean if you want to have perfect six-pack abs.

If you want perfect six-pack abs, life is a bit more complex for you. You’ll have to deal with your genetic propensity to store fat on your stomach, love for saturated fats, and unwillingness to spend hours exercising each week. Getting perfect six-pack abs, for most of us, is a silly short-term goal because it’s going to be awhile before we’re lean enough to see our abdominal muscles!

What can we do in the meantime? We can focus on building core strength and changing our eating habits from scarfing junk to consuming food the body recognizes as fuel. Those of you participating in this week’s Primal Stride Challenge already know another benefit of core exercises — that ache in your abs serves as a satisfying reminder that you are making a real change for the better!

Thanks to MizFit for showing us how to do a perfect crunch and to YOU for inspiring all of us with your ability to change!

Seeing this photo by LoneWolf of what his morning exercise looks like makes me feel like a bit of a baby for complaining about the cold here! (click on the image to view the rest of the Flickr challenge pool)

Proper rest and exercise are very important to a healthy lifestyle.

I read that sentence and internally nod my head and say, “right on!” But when it comes to putting my knowledge into action I turn into the guy with a toothache who is too afraid of needles to go to the dentist. I want the healthy results without all the sweat, aches, and yawns. I want to feel like I do after 5k without having to do the 5k.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

As I learn more about myself and grow to recognize excuses before they’ve had a chance to gather strength, I’m finding it easier to get my butt out of bed and out on the road. The physical actions aren’t easier (I haven’t found a way to levitate for 5k yet), but I’m finding that the less I dwell on the decisions the faster I get to the results.

As Tiger Woods has shown, using Nike’s slogan in every decision-making process can lead to negative results in some areas.

When it comes to getting up early enough to start my day out with exercise, I’m finding the slogan quite applicable.

It also applies to leaving comments below with your challenge check-in or bit of wisdom that you’ve found helpful in creating a healthy lifestyle.

Just Do It

My Report: I need to be better about going to bed earlier. Getting up is still a pain but I’m doing it and getting most of the 5k out of the way before I’ve fully woken up. There’s still hope that I’ll make a habit out of this. I just have to keep doing it!

First, an apology. I’ve been camping in the woods with my family. This is good in that I’ve been able to relive the frozen toes and blinding campfire smoke of my childhood. This has been unfortunate in that I haven’t been able to be around for you guys. That might be a good thing though. You see, if you and I meet up for coffee sometime (which I hope to!), we won’t be interrupted by a ringing cellphone or stream of texts. I’ll be with you completely. That said, camping ends today so I’ll be back near high-speed web access and won’t have to go adventuring to find it.

Second, check out this gorgeous photo! Strider Patricia took it on her first Five At Five challenge jog of 2010.

Sunrise in Playa del Carmen (by Patricia)

What I’d like to do is create a gallery of early morning images from as many of you as possible. All you have to do is snap a quick photo of what some part of your early morning looks like. You can submit your photo by emailing it to me, posting on your blog and sending me the link, using twitpic, or (if you have a Flickr account) click on the image above to view the Flickr pool for this challenge.

I’ll create a photo gallery at the end of the week so we can all get a feel for what it’s like to go for a bit of early morning exercise around the world!

For my update:

Day 2 wasn’t as easy. The 5k wasn’t an issue. Getting up early was. It dropped below freezing last night in Perdido Key, Florida and the breeze had calmed as I lay in my sleeping bag, watching my breath rise in questioning clouds. Would I crawl out of my nest of warm flannel and make a solid go of the day?

Yes, I would. I did. It wasn’t so bad. I’ve found that the trick to getting up early is to commit to doing so the night before. If I wait until the morning to decide when to get up, my fuzzy brain nearly always chooses sleep over action.

I wanted to sleep this morning but I chose action instead.

What did you choose?

Don’t forget to submit your pics!

I’ll be participating in Five At Five — the first Primal Stride Challenge of 2010. Sound like a boat load of misery? It won’t be. Misery would be me making yet another New Year’s resolution that dies by the second week of January because I didn’t set realistic goals or get my friends involved.

This challenge seeks to fix that.

What’s the big deal about Primal Stride challenges?

Each challenge is only seven days long and has two parts:

1. Exercise – Each challenge will include a physical element. A certain distance to cover, number of crunches, plie squats, or possibly sitting still and watching TV (unlikely).
2. Health – From food to friendship, body image to sleep, we’ll be tackling a different side of health each week!

Instead of trying to make a change for an entire year, Primal Stride challenges will give you the opportunity to try something new for a week. If you like it, you can keep doing it! If not, that’s okay. We’re trying to discover what works for us as individuals, not create another rule book.

HUGE NOTE: This is a community thing. If enough of y’all decide you want to take a week for a single challenge, we can give that a try. I really want to avoid challenges that are directly weight-related though.

What are the rules?

Some general rules:

• Each challenge is seven (7) days long.
• Each challenge will include an exercise and general health task to be completed each day.
• You get one free pass each week to use in case the sky falls and you can’t complete one of your tasks. If you don’t use the pass, it cannot be carried forward to the next week.
• Sign up for each challenge is done by leaving a comment on the challenge post on http://primalstride.com.
• Daily check-ins are not mandatory but strongly suggested. If you are blogging about your experience, make sure to leave a link in your comment so we can come fiiiiind you! If you’re not blogging but want to keep up with each challenge, I’ll be publishing a challenge post each day that you can update with your progress.
• You may customize the challenges to work within the limitations of your life. When you leave a comment to sign up for a challenge, just make sure to include your changes so we can hold you to them for the coming week!

Individual challenge rules trump those listed above in the case of a dispute.

Make sense?

Now, for the first challenge!

Primal Stride Challenge I – Five At Five

Begins: 12:01am Friday, January 1st, 2010

Ends: 11:59pm Thursday, January 7th, 2010

THE CHALLENGE:

Exercise: 5 kilometers each and every day – You may walk, jog, run, sprint… whatever gets you to the goal.

Health: Get out of bed at 5am each morning – It’s your chance to start the year off as an early riser! Try it for a week!

Remember: You can customize the distance and waking time to suit your needs. Just make sure to include the changes when you sign up by leaving a comment!

THE RESULT:

It’s possible that by day 7 you will either be grinning or groaning. Perhaps both. No matter how you feel, if you are able to complete this challenge you will have solid proof that you can follow through on things you promise yourself.

Additionally, you’ll meet other cool people, perhaps make a new friend, and have joy in the knowledge that you’ve made a real effort to improve your health.

Does that sound good to you? I hope it does! I want some friends to celebrate with at the end of the week! =)

If you have any questions, thoughts, or just want to sign up for the challenge, leave a comment!

UPDATE: Look for a post on Friday (Jan 1) morning with a list of all “registered” participants with relevant contact information (Twitter & blog). I’ll be updating each day during the challenge so we’ll have a space to discuss our progress.

If you are going to be blogging about your Challenge experience, make sure to send me a link so we can come over and encourage you!

::raises hand::

Well, I was. The only emotions I have about eating these days are joy and exultation. I really like eating. I had a problem though. I was eating whenever I felt stressed, frustrated, or anxious. Get this, I even ate when I was disgusted with myself for losing control over my body and turning into a mega chubster.

Talk about a vicious cycle!

I needed a solution. I found it in exercise. This should make sense to you at a very basic level because most of us, at one point or other, have expressed our feelings about a stressful situation in a physical way. As kids we were pretty good about letting our stress out. We screamed, slammed doors, knocked things over, lay down and pounded the floor with our fists (my favorite), or just sobbed wretchedly.

Then we grew up. We learned that if we wanted to be like Mr. Knightley we’d have to stop knocking things over and screaming when things didn’t go our way. (Okay, that may have just been me?) We learned to internalize everything. Nobody told us that we could let out our frustrations in a productive way. If they did, we were already too deep in the double fudge chunk ice cream to hear them.

You don’t need to be overweight for this to apply to you. I have quite a few slim friends who eat, drink, or smoke when life is jerking them around.

It’s easy to be an emotional eater. Life is stressful, you have to eat anyhow, and the process of eating gives you something to do while you’re thinking about life. Sitting down with a big dish of ice cream to watch Love Actually for the 35th time might sound good at first. Do you really need a high cholesterol catharsis though?

I decided I no longer needed Taco Bell grilled stuffed burritos in order to feel better. I was getting super fat. I needed a change. But what was I to do? How was I supposed to handle stress if not by eating?

I still had three options:

1. Cry – Oh yeah, sob like a big angry, frustrated baby. There is no shame in tears if things are bad and you need a physical release. It’s not socially acceptable for dudes to cry so gentlemen will want to grow lachrymose behind closed doors. Ladies, if you like to cry a lot, please invest in some quality waterproof eye make-up. A beautiful woman shedding a few tears isn’t frightening. A sobbing raccoon is terrifying.

2. Scream – You’ve probably met at least one screamer in your life. Something about the restaurant industry tends to attract screamers in droves. Screaming at people isn’t cool. Screaming in an empty building, at a sports event, or in your bathroom because life sucks–all quite cool.

3. Exercise – This is my favorite solution to pent-up stress. Want to feel better with just a few minutes of effort? Get your heart rate up and keep it there until you start to break a sweat. Emotional exercising has a few benefits:

• It won’t make you fat – To the contrary, you might get quite fit from this if your life is very stressful.
• It gives you control – You’re no longer the victim of uncontrolled eating. You are choosing health. You have the power.
• It makes you smarter – Increasing blood flow to your brain has a way of helping make sense of priorities and difficult questions.
• It makes you sexier – Instead of being angry and snapping at people, you’ll now have a glint in your eye and a glow to your face. Yum!
• It makes food taste better – When you stop using food as a medication, it regains some of the joy that made it so attractive in the first place. Mashed potatoes with tears in them are too salty, man!

It’s working for me. Food tastes better, I’m losing weight, and my general mood has improved. You see, I’m a rather lazy chap and if I know I’ll have to go for a run if I stay grouchy… I choose happiness. =)

I hope you’ll try it. If you struggle with emotional eating (skinny people fess up!) I hope you’ll take a moment to share your thoughts? I’d love you for it!

If you’d like to receive future Primal Stride articles by RSS or email (it’s free) I’d really appreciate your support!