The 30-day fitness challenge has been around since the dawn of the Internet age, but there’s still no consensus as to whether or not it’s an effective training tool. This is partly due to the range of different workout plans that fall under the 30-day-challenge umbrella, which range from isolated exercises of specific muscle groups ) to full-body workouts that switch gears daily.
Short-term benefitsHere’s the good news: you may well see some improvements in your overall fitness after participating in a 30 day challenge. This means that a 30-day fitness challenge could help you get a jumpstart on some of your health-related goals. But Lawrence also cautions that the timeframe for achieving different fitness goals can vary—it can take several months of hard work to build up visible muscle, for example. Factors like the type of exercise you're doing, along with the frequency and intensity of workouts, can also have an impact on the timeframe for achieving results.
Long-term benefitsThe big question—and perhaps the most important one—is whether fitness challenges like this can have a positive and lasting impact on your overall health. Could the short-term challenge lead to long-term changes? If you do manage to complete the 30-day challenge without skipping a day, there could still be other environmental factors that make it harder for you to continue your new routine.
Should you try a 30-day fitness challenge?If one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to fitness, does that mean these 30-day challenges are all a wash? Well, no. The bottom line is that anything is better than no movement at all, and adding something onto your existing fitness routine will at best surprise you with effective results, but at worst be harmless.