The "Get Off the Couch While You Still Can" Challenge

They say that if you do something long enough, it will become a habit. So let’s create a good habit! This is an exercise challenge. The goal is to get into the habit of doing at least 4 hours of exercise every week until the end of October. You determine what exercise you want to do. Just make sure that it is a workout for you.

 Here are the rules for this challenge.

1. To join, reply to this thread by copying the sample post below.  See post #2 for an example.
2. You must do at least 20 minutes of exercise for it to count.  You can walk, jog, cycle, mow lawns (no power mowers), vacuum, anything that will keep your heart rate up the whole time you are doing it.  Strength training also counts.  If you still feel what you did the next day, you worked out.  
3. Post on Monday the total number of hours you exercised the previous week (ending Sunday night).  You can follow up with detail, but please make it easy for me and post the total first.
4. Once a week I will post the results in the post following this one.
5. Please use the format below to post your goals. PLEASE edit your ORIGINAL post each week! Do NOT repost each week. This will keep the list easier for everyone to keep up with and read each week.
6. If you wish to add comments, please add them after the exercise information and date your comments.
7. If you want to chat, you may do so after everyone has posted the first time. Let’s wait a week for people to sign up.  Feel free to start new threads in this group too.
8. The person with the most points at the end of the challenge gets the title of “Tough Old Broad” or “Tough Old Fart” as appropriate.  Everyone with at least 14 points gets a gold star. 
9. Points will be awarded as follows:
   1. If you post any exercise for the week, you will get 1 point.
   2. If you post at least 4 hours of exercise for the week, you get 2 points
   3. The person with the highest total for the week gets 4 points, second highest gets 3 points.

Sample Post:

09-22-2008 – 4.5 hours.  2 hours of bootcamp and 2.5 hours on the stationary bicycle.
09-29-2008 –
10-06-2008 –
10-13-2008 –
10-20-2008 –
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

Additional information (i.g. age, name, etc) and comments should go here.

Our Challengers:

 Name        ;     Score  9/22   9/29  10/06  10/13  10/20  10/27  11/03

clharr  ............ 10  ...... 2 .......  1  ....... 1  .......  2 ......... 2  .......  2

mckymseus  ...17 ....... 2 .......  3..... .... 4  .......  3 ......... 2  ........  3

tbolto77  ....... 17 ......  3 .......  2  ....... 3  .......  2 ......... 4  ........  3

agmckenna  ... 14 ...... 4 .......  4  ....... 2 ........  2 ......... 2

 bonton71...... 18 ....... 2 ....... 2 ......... 2 ......... 4 ......... 4  ........  4

jboise .............  2  ....................................... ..............................  2 

epinurse52 .....  6  ...... 2 ............................................. . 2  ........  2

cherlyn52  ......  1 ........ 1 .......  -  .........-

jodiship  .......... 2 ........ 2 .........-...........-

 lillybelle52  ..... 2 ........ 2 .......  -  .........-

txbooklady   .... 2 ........ - ........ 2  .........-

pianoplayer57   2 ........ - ........ 2  .........-

 --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- -------------

9/22  -  So far Micky is in the lead!  charr and jodiship are fighting for second place.  But everyone managed to get some exercise, so good job to all!

9/23  -  The competition is getting rough people!   Tbolto has taken over the lead and now Micky is running second.  Lilly has joined us and managed to put in a solid 4 hours too.  Looks like everyone is doing well.  Lets hear it for the Fit Fifties!!

9/24 - And we have a new leader!  McKenna has zoomed ahead of the pack with a major gardening workout.  We also have a new member since textbooklady has joined us. 

I am closing out this week now.  These are the final scores.  Mckenna is #1, TBolto is #2 but everyone who got some exercise is a winner.

9/30 - Early results are in and once again, McKenna is in the lead!  Who can beat this exercising wonder?  We still need results from a lot of you.  Please post before tomorrow night.

I am closing out week 2.  McKenna is the winner once again with Mckymesus coming in second.  Everyone who is still exercising is doing great though.  But we really need someone to knock McKenna off the top at least once!!  Keep up the good work.

10/8  We have some new and old people entering times from closed weeks.  I am awarding only two points for closed weeks even if you would have gotten more if you had updated on time.  I don't want to be redoing the whole table every week.

McKenna, our previous champion slowed down for this week, so mkymseus has zoomed ahead to claim first place.  tbolto has come back to take second place.  And we have a new contender!  bonton71, the queen of golf and lawnmowing has joined us.  She was sick last week, but she is going to tough competition in the future.

10/15 We have a new leader!  Bonton has zoomed to the lead with Mkymseus taking second.

10/22 We have a tie this week!  Both Bonton and tbolto clocked in at 12.5 hours.  I gave the extra point to tbolto because I figure that walking might be a bit more strenous than golf.  I am open to suggestions as to how else to deal with the tie since I never gave any thought on how to do it.  But that leaves us with 3 people with a total score of 14 and Bonton with a 13.  This is a tight race folks!  The next two weeks will be what determines who will win.

I have added a total score to the first column of the table.  As you can see, we have 4 people who can easily win this.  So keep exercising folks!  You are doing great!

--------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ---------

I will add your name here after you sign up.  Once a week I will update this post with scores and declare the top two exercisers.

Welcome and let's all get busy! Good Luck to each of you!

09-22-2008 – 4 hours.  2 hrs of boot camp 1 dance 1 exercise bike
09-29-2008 –  2 hours.  I feel like such a wimp now....
10-06-2008 –  2 hours.  Still slacking
10-13-2008 –  6 hours.  4 hours heavy duty cleaning, 2 gym
10-20-2008 –  2 hours.  1 hour Wii Fit and 1 walking
10-27-2008 –  2 hours.  Walking...
11-03-2008 –

I will do two hours of bootcamp a week and try to work in some cardio that includes cycling and dance.

09-22-2008 - 5 hours 30 minutes. Mostly walking and jogging.

09-29-2008 - 6 hours. Mostly walking and jogging again.

10-06-2008 - 6 hours 40 minutes. Mostly walking & jogging. 1.5 hrs calisthenics

10-13-2008 - 8.75 hours. Walking and jogging

10-20-2008 - 7.5 hours. Walking and jogging

10-27-2008 - 7.5 hours. Walking and jogging.

11-03-2008 -

I'll give it a try!

09/29/08 - I was able to fit in the walking and jogging this week. But we may be going out of town to visit relatives this week. Not sure if I can keep it up. I'll take my walking shoes and hopefully get out of the house a couple of times.

10/6/08- I did better than I thought. Did some exercising before I left home and then did some walking while visiting as well as calisthenics.

10/13/08-I did great this week and didn't even realize it. I was able to add exercise minutes fairly consistently this week (morning, noon, and evening). Not sure I can keep up the pace. Did a lot of household chores on the weekend and couldn't include those minutes in the time since I didn't get my heart rate up.  But it was great to get the work done.

10/20/08-Better than I thought. Work and chores keep getting in the way, but I was able to fit in some exercise time anyway.

10/28/08-I can't believe I did as well. The weather wasn't very good so I did not get to walk outside as much. Work and chores seem to get in the way of regular exercise. I really work hard to squeeze in 30 minutes of exercise whenever I can. I sometimes can even do 45 minutes or an hour. When my elbow gets better, I will start combining the jogging with arm weight exercise. Doing double duty.

Please sign me up too. I pledge to give it my best shot!

2.5 hours of cardio/toning  from preventions dvd's...for last week. Going to try to add a little more this week!!!

Time to update your posts with last weeks exercise!  Please remember to update the post, don't create a new one if you already have one.

We need more people to join the exercise challenge! Come on, a lot of you claim to exercise regularly.  Join the challenge to help encourage you to keep it up!

09-22-2008 – 4hrs.  18 holes of golf.

09-29-2008 –
10-06-2008 –
10-13-2008 –
10-20-2008 –
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

I'm excited.  I just started my exercise routine this morning after a long interlude of being what I claim was too busy...humbug. 

This sounds like fun!! Count me in!

09-22-2008 – 4 hrs.  3 hr on treadmill  1 hr resistance weights

09-29-2008 –
10-06-2008 –
10-13-2008 –
10-20-2008 –
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

09-22-2008 – 6 hours.  2 hrs of weights, 4 hours walking, some water aerobics too.

09-29-2008 –
10-06-2008 –
10-13-2008 –
10-20-2008 –
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

Sorry to join late.  I hope this is still okay.  I am trying to get my activity level back to 10 hours per week, which is where I was at most of the summer, but I slacked off the last month.

Sample Post:

09-29-2008 –
10-06-2008 –
10-13-2008 –
10-20-2008 –
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

9/23...I'm in!  What a great incentive to get me up and moving. I'll just play catch up for this week and then hit it for the next round.

09-22-2008 – 10 hr  45 min bowling, 3.25 hr biking, 6 hr gardening
09-29-2008 – 6.75 hr -- 2.15 hr biking, 3 hr walking, 1.5 hr gardening
10-06-2008 – 4.25 hr - 2.5 hr biking, 45 min walking, 1 hr bowling
10-13-2008 – 6.5 hr -- 2.5 hr biking, 2 hr walking, 2 hr balance ball/strength training
10-20-2008 – 3.5 hr -- 1 hr stair machine, 1.5 hr walking, .5 hr balance ball, .5 hr bike
10-27-2008 –
11-03-2008 –

i haven't signed up yet -- can I still join?

FYI:  working out has never been my problem -- overeating has!

I am closing the first week of the exercise challenge, but everyone is welcome to join in for next week.  Commit to working out and you will be more likely to do it!  Everyone who gets a healthy amount of exercise is a winner.

I will do 4 hrs. combination kickboxing, weights, and walking.

Time to update your posts with last weeks exercise for the exercise challenge!  Please remember to update the post, don't create a new one if you already have one.

We need more people to join the exercise challenge! Come on, a lot of you claim to exercise regularly.  Join the challenge to help encourage you to keep it up!

I want to join.  I exercise daily.  Week ending Sept. 28,  4 hours of gazelle and outside biking and walking.

4 miles last week! (1 mile per day/4 days).

Goal for this week is to get to 6 days...1 mile each.

Time to update your posts for the exercise challenge!  Some of you have been slacking!  Put in whatever you did.  We have to build those good, healthy habits.

Feel free to sign up as well.

Updated 10/20/2008

09-22-2008 – 6 hours.  2 hrs of weights, 4 hours walking, some water aerobics too.
09-29-2008 – 7 hours, 2 hours weights, 5 hours walking
10-06-2008 – 6 hours, 3 hours circuit training, 3 hours walking

10-13-2008 – 7 1/2 hours.  1 1/2 hrs of weights, 5 hours walking, 1 1/4 aerobics

10-20-2008 –12 1/2 hrs.  2 hrs weights, 1 1/2 eliptical, 9 hrs walking
10-27-2008 –7 1/2 hrs.   1 hr weights, 1 hour aerobic class, 5.5 hrs walking
11-03-2008 –

Am I too late to join in??

09-22-2008 – 8.5 hrs  -golf 6hr, walking 1 hr, mowing grass 1.5 hr
09-29-2008 – 13.5 hrs - golf 8 hr, mowing 2.5, walking 2, weight lifting 1
10-06-2008 – 5.5 hrs  - walk 1 hr, golf 4 hr, elliptical 1/2 hr(Sick this week)
10-13-2008 – 13.5hrs  - golf 12 hours, mowing 1.5 hours
10-20-2008 – 12.5 hours  - mowing 2.5hrs, golf 8 hrs, weight lifting/elliptical 2  
10-27-2008 – 10 hours/ walking 6hr, golf 2hr, elliptical 1 hr, weight lifitng 1 hr
11-03-2008 –

10-27-2008 –7 1/2 hrs.   1 hr weights, 1 hour aerobic class, 5.5 hrs walking

Started out great and then got a bug, which really has slowed me down.

If you haven't updated your hours for the exercise challenge, today is the last day.  It looks like everyone has been really working out this week.  We are hard core!