January Challenges To Get Your New Year Health Kick Started

By Admin

Published: January 2, 2020

New Year, New You, right?

Let’s start whilst your motivation is at it’s peak, and there’s nothing like January to start something brand new.

If your list of New Year’s resolutions is topped by one or more that relate to your health and fitness, then one of the best ways to start working on them is to sign yourself up to a January challenge.

Doing so will give you a clear goal to work towards as you start your health kick, which will help you avoid the all-too-common strong start followed by a drop in commitment by mid-January, which results in many resolutions becoming a distant memory well before February.

Here are four great January challenges to help you get 2020 off on the right foot.

RED January

Regular exercise is good for both your physical and mental health, which is what this challenge that raises money for mental health charity MIND aims to demonstrate.

The plan is to be active every single day of January, doing whatever takes your fancy. So you can take up a new sport and stick to it for at least a month to see if you like it, or try as many different types of exercise as possible.

Get me involved

Dry January

After the (probably) alcohol-heavy festive period, the idea of taking a month off the booze becomes attractive for many people, and using January to take stock of your relationship with alcohol can definitely be beneficial for your long-term health too.

You’ll enjoy some of the benefits after just a week or two off the booze, but the key is to use Dry January to make a lasting change to your drinking habits.

Dry January – let’s have it!

A 30-Day Yoga Challenge

Adriene Mishler, also known as Yoga With Adriene on YouTube, has hosted a free 30-day yoga challenge every January for the past few years as a way to inspire novice and expert yogis alike to either start or enrich their at-home practice.

Yoga challenges in general tend to be more relaxed compared to something like a strength-training challenge, which would likely require you to exert a lot of energy and push your body to the limit. Through yoga, though, you’ll learn not only what your body is capable of, but also how powerful a shift in your mindset can be.

Check it out #ywahome

Sign up for your first 5k

If you’ve been itching to literally hit the ground running, there’s no time like the present.

Depending on your experience, consider committing to your marathon goals by signing up for that awesome 5K, half marathon, or full marathon, and begin training as soon as January starts.

If you’re starting from zero, any first steps, no matter how few, are steps to a healthier, happier you. Regular aerobic exercise will not only help you lose weight and improve cardiovascular health, it will also help reduce stress, boost your energy levels and instil a sense of overall well-being.

Couch to 5k

So, no excuses – let’s get going, and let us know which challenge you picked!