And The Winner Is…

The idea behind this approach was that we wanted to offer an all-encompassing approach to improving  health and fitness. So often, we focus on just working out, or just improving nutrition. But just like the body doesn’t work in isolation (hence, no “curls for the girls”), it also doesn’t see the greatest return on investment with regards to your overall health and well-being from focusing on just one area. This was a way for them to see it from all sides – from workouts to sleep, and all the things that go on in between. It was a way for them to see what was not just practical for them (can you reliably get 6-8 hours of sleep every night?), but something that was sustainable.

This idea of “practical and sustainable” that I’ve talked about at length with individuals before is a very important concept to understand – putting too much on your plate, setting unrealistic goals, or making your expectations too high is a recipe for failure. The end goal is to live a long, happy, and fulfilling life. The idea of dieting or “just trying it out for a month” misses the goal of the long term.

Having said all of that, I want to offer a HUGE congratulations to those that stuck it out to the very end of the challenge – Jim and Leigh-Ann Lowery, Beth Miller, Dave Bushea, and Jade Timmerman. You guys did great…and I know that you’ve only read this far to see who will be declared the winner.

So here is how this thing breaks down:

There were a total of 290 points up for grabs (10 points per day, 29 total days) from the five categories above. In addition, they also did a baseline workout and retest at the end; namely they did the workout “Jackie.” Its a chipper of: Row 1k, 50 thrusters, and 30 pull-ups. Its a nice combination of basic strength, cardiorespiratory endurance, and moderate skill and coordination with the pull-ups.

From the standpoint of “purely points” from the 5 categories, we had a very tight race across the board. The average point total, of all five finalists, was 232 points…or 8 points per day. That is AWESOME! That means they lost an average of just 2 points, per day, over a full month!

The average improvement in their “Jackie” time was 55-1/2 seconds!!! Think about that – how much would you give to improve on an 8-12 minute workout by 55-1/2 seconds??

Taking all that into account, we have a winner, and it is none other than your “Joy Girl” – Leigh-Ann Lowery!

She saw her “Jackie” time improve to 10:57 (that’s right, sub-11 folks!), and averaged just under 9 points per day throughout the duration of the challenge. And, probably the part she’s most excited about – she will be taking home $100 in COLD HARD CASH!!!

Congratulations again to all of you and keep up the hard work. Who knows…another challenge may be just around the corner!