The basic premise is that each participant gets assigned an elf buddy. Every day, there is a new challenge for all us elves to complete/work into our day. My elf buddy and I are supposed to hold each other accountable to the challenges and just be someone to chat with about each one and give each other ideas.
My elf buddy is Shianna, who eagerly emailed me right away with so many great ideas for the whole week! Shianna and I have been emailing for the past few days and I am so glad I have such a wonderful Elf 4 Health to chat with about this week's challenges and how we have been doing!
Here are this week's challenges so far and how we have been doing:
Monday - Do a circuit workout.
I went to the work gym at lunchtime and did my usual weight circuit. Here's what I've been doing:
3 minutes rowing machine as a warm-up
stretching/foam rolling
2 x arm weight circuit of 3 exercises
Core circuit
2 x arm weight circuit of 3 exercises
stretching
That night after work, I went back down to the gym so I could get in an extra circuit to make sure I was fully doing the challenge and not just doing what I would've done anyways if I wasn't involved in Elf 4 Health. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and then did the whole core circuit again plus a few 45 second - one minute planks (regular and side). I knew the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was on Tuesday night so that was my core workout motivation for the night.
And as an added note on the weight training, I just did it again at lunchtime today and increased my weights! I was doing my 3 exercises at 5, 8, and 12 pound weights, but just increased them today to 8, 10, and 12 pound weights. However, I was doing 10 reps of each, and with the increase in weight I brought it down to 8 reps and will eventually feel strong enough to get up to 10 at these weights hopefully.
Tuesday - Pay it forward.
I think Shianna and I both had a little trouble with this one. Maybe because we are such naturally kind people that doing nice things doesn't seem out of the ordinary? I thought my giveaway would be a good idea to "pay it forward." If you haven't entered yet, see my last post here to win a sample of ENERGYbits! All you have to do for an entry is comment on that post (by 11:59pm tonight!). But then you can get a few bonus entries as well! We thought buying coffee for the person in line behind us at a coffee shop would be a good idea, but I didn't have the chance to get coffee and Shianna is in college and she said everyone uses their meal plan to get all their food/drinks!
Wednesday - Pack a healthy snack.
I didn't exactly pack a healthy snack, but I ate one...so hopefully that counts. My office always has fruit, pretzels, and string cheese available for the taking, so take some I did today. But in the interest of full disclosure, I had some unhealthy snacks too. There is a surplus of candy in the office because of the holidays, and sometimes I just can't say no.
Have you done any of these challenges this week?
What do you usually pack as snacks?
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