The 28-Day Exercise Challenge

The 28-Day Exercise Challenge is my personal challenge to you to do cardio exercise three days a week for 4 weeks. I want you to carefully observe how your brain and body are affected by the exercise. Just follow the 30-minute protocol I detailed in the previous article in this series for three days each week, making sure to stay near your target heart rate - not too far above and not too far below. This is key. If you're too far below, the effects of the exercise won't be significant and if you're too far above you'll burn all of your blood sugar and be dead tired for the next three hours. If it's been a long time since you've done any exercise, I'd recommend cutting the sessions down to 20 minutes to start because it's hard to be smart when you're having a heart attack. You need to allow time for your body to adjust to the added strain you're putting on it because your body doesn't have a strong cardiovascular system yet. That's why this is the 28 Day Exercise Challenge and not the Step Out Your Front Door And See If You Can Run Down Your Neighbor's Greyhound After Not Exercising In 17 Years Challenge. A sumo wrestler couldn't go out and run a marathon and you shouldn't try to either and I won't take responsibility for your chest pain when you try to keep up with that hot jogger at the park. Just take a nice walk at a faster than normal pace. By the way, taking a walk through the mall and stopping at the pretzel stand to reward yourself doesn't count.

If you accept this challenge, you MUST work out three days each week for the four weeks - five days one week and one day the next week doesn't count. Just work out every other day and take an extra day off here or there. All I'm asking for is 90 minutes each week. You probably spend more than 90 minutes each DAY watching tv. That adds up to 630 minutes each week. 630-90=540 minutes left to watch tv. Just ask yourself "If I miss tonight's episode of (Insert your TV show here), what impact will it have on my life?" Then ask "If I go out and exercise for 30 minutes, and what this guy says about cardio making me smarter and healthier is true, what impact could that have on my life?"

In a short while you will begin to notice differences in how clearly and quickly you think, and how powerful your memory is. And then others will begin noticing too. They might not mention anything to you right away, but believe me when you're not around they'll be quipping "Maria seems more alert and sharper these days, what's the deal?"

To help you stay focused and notice the effects that will begin subtly taking place I have created an exercise planner and observation sheet for you. It is a 28-Day guide that will allow you to write down when you exercised and what kind of exercise you performed. The planner doesn't have the specific days of the week written on it (i.e. Monday, Tuesday...) so you can start ANY TIME, including TODAY. On the days you didn't exercise just write "none". I have also included spaces where you rank your energy and brainpower on a scale of 0-100 every day. The number you write down is completely subjective and up to you. If you feel like you have more energy and brainpower than the day before, then add a few points to your previous number. For example, a year ago I would say my energy was about 47, and my brainpower was about 68. Today I would say my energy is 83, and my brainpower is 86. That's how I feel and nobody can tell me differently. Take a moment right now to think about what your numbers are most days. Have your numbers been slowly going down over the years or have they been slowly rising? Do you think there is any way you can bring your numbers up? I KNOW there is.

Here is the planner:

The 28-Day Exercise Challenge (PDF)

The 28-Day Exercise Challenge (MS Excel)

Now print it out and get started! Good luck and let me know how it goes by visiting my contact page. If it's okay for me to post your comments on The Science Of Performance as an inspiration for others be sure to tell me your first name, the city and state you live in, and a short summary of your experience.