The October strength training challenge

Let's lift/stretch/train towards a goal together, starting today

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Good morning/afternoon/evening, friends! ☀️

It’s the second day of October, a month with 31 days, which means it’s the perfect time for another of the challenges we’ve been doing this year — like in May and July — which have been a blast for me (and I hope for you, too).

This time, I’d like to try something a little different: strength training. You may remember, back in June we had a big Friday thread discussion about it, prompted by my realization that I needed to incorporate it into my fitness routine, except for one teeny-tiny obstacle: I hated doing it, and would do anything to avoid it.

Since then, I’ve had a few personal experiences that have brought home for me that I need to try anyway: I’m fifty-two years old, old enough to see what my parents and their peers and friends in their seventies and eighties are going through, and that I can’t wait until I’m seventy-five to start. Whatever strength I’m going to build in my body, I need to start building now.

So, what will that look like? For me, someone who is starting from scratch with strength training, I plan on starting with exercises I can do using my own body weight, in doses that don’t challenge me too much, too quickly.

That means I’m going to start with a series of daily push-ups and daily planks. I want to establish a consistent routine first before I add too much to it — basically, I need to prove to myself that I will do this, that I will stick to it. So I need to show myself I can.

And starting small (for me, anyway) is going to mean starting small — twenty to twenty-five push-ups a day, and one minute-long plank per day. I may add to this as the month goes on; in fact, I probably will. But I want to start in a place where I can experience some success and get some traction — and not overwhelm myself with a huge workout right out of the gate.

So, what do you think? Interested in being a part of this too? Especially if you’re as new to strength training as I am?

Here’s how we’ll go about it: I’ll be posting daily check-ins in our subscriber chat, which will look like this one I posted back during our May running challenge:

These will appear each morning in the Chat area of our Substack app — I’ll also experiment with sending them out to our Strava group too (if I can figure that out!).

If you’ve never visited our Chat before, just click/tap here and you’ll be taken directly to it:

That’s really it — I’m excited to get this month’s challenge started alongside you, and to see where it takes us. During the month, I plan on exploring and learning more about strength training, and sharing it with you here in the newsletter, and each day in our chats.

What might your goal be when it comes to strength training? Keep in mind, it doesn’t have to be something you do every single day of October; it can be something you do two or three times a week, as long as you’re consistent with it.

Keep in mind, any goal you set is arbitrary; there’s no right or wrong answer; just what’s right for you. What — once you complete it by October 31st — would give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction? Let that be your guide.

I’d love to hear, in the comments or in reply. As always, keep in touch and let me know how your running/life is going — and feel free to reach out with any questions!

Your friend,

— Terrell