Just a quick note for those of you subscribing by RSS or email. I have excluded the daily challenge updates from the main RSS feed so that y’all aren’t swamped with content related to challenges you’re not participating in. Sound good?

If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for daily challenge updates ONLY, do so here. Wondering what that means? Read this.

Thanks much!

Seth

Click below to visit the Double Crunch sign-up page!

Here’s a shortened link to share with your friends: http://bit.ly/doublecrunch

The Finish Line

How’d your 7-day challenge experience turn out? What surprised you, energized you, or gave you reason to stop and think? If you could go back and re-do the challenge, what would you do differently? Has the way you perceive yourself changed in some way over the past week?

My Check-In: It wasn’t as cold as I stepped into the morning darkness. That this is day 7 didn’t seem to matter at all. I’d like to see myself continue with the early rising and, most importantly, sustain the trend of daily exercise. I’m not entirely looking forward to the crunches next week. I hope you’ll join me in making them happen though!

Check-in Time, Striders!

(Five At Five challenge post.)

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 challenge:

Primal Stride Challenge 2 – Double Crunch!

Begins: 12:01am Friday, January 8th, 2010

Ends: 11:59pm Thursday, January 14th, 2010

THE CHALLENGE:

Exercise: 250 crunches per day. Split them up however you like. 250 crunches every 24hrs will do it.

Health: Eat a different green vegetable each day. Suggested modifications include eating a different fruit each day or preparing a green vegetable in a different way each day. It’s up to you! Be creative!

Remember: You can customize the food and amount of crunches to suit your needs. Just make sure to include the changes when you sign up by leaving a comment!

Please remember, Jell-O is NOT a vegetable no matter how green yours might be.

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.

Will you join us?

Update: I misspoke in the video and said the challenge started on January 7th when I should have said the 8th. Sorry about that!

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!