Week 1 will be-July 14th - 20th (Monday - Sunday).

First things first - if you are participating, please make a note of your weight/waist/hips measurements so that at the end of the challenge you will be able to calculate percentage loss.  At the end of the challenge you will submit your percentage loss to me.  I will rank and award points accordingly.   

Here are the guidelines for the week:

1. Start getting into the workout habit - look at your week and make time for exercise. You will be awarded points for each 20 minute bracket of exercise you do, so try to squeeze in at least 20 minutes a day! If you do more, good for you. Don't overdo it and burn yourself out, but do try to push yourself! (max 30 points a week).

2. Track your calories every day this week. I know it's a pain, but you might be surprised by how much you are eating! If you go to www.myfitnesspal.com (or any calorie tracker website) you can find out how many calories you should be eating. If you work out, you can eat more. You get one point for each day you stay under your calorie goal, up to 7 points total this week.

3. Bonus points - there are 17 points available this week! Be sure to take advantage of bonus points. Some take several days to get one point, and some you can get in just a few minutes.  Please note that you cannot count bonus point activities as part of your 20 minutes daily exercise.  See below for bonus points this week:

• Run/walk/bike/jog/skate a 5K (1 point)

• Do a plank the first day of the week and hold for as long as possible, on your hands or forearms to your feet. Try to increase by at least 30 seconds by the end of the week. That's just 6 seconds a day for five days - very possible! (1 point)

• 1 min wall sit at least 5 days of the week (1 point)

• Arm workout sequence - do 3 sets of 12-15 reps of the following exercises with weights - bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, shoulder press, and side lateral raise (youtube videos help if you don't know the proper form). The weight you choose should seem doable at first, but then almost impossible to finish the last few reps. Side lateral raise is the lightest weight, biceps and triceps should be medium, and then use your heaviest ones for shoulder press. You can do this sequence up to three times for up to three points.

• Leg workout sequence - do 3 sets of 20 reps of each of the following exercises - squats, forward lunges, plie squats (regular squat with legs wide and toes pointed out), and calf raises. You can hold weights in your hands by your sides if you want to increase the intensity. Check out youtube for proper form. You can do this sequence up to three times for up to three points.

• Ab workout sequence - do 3 sets of 20 reps of your favorite ab workout.  Up to 3 bonus points.

• 100 pushups over the course of the week. Keep track of how many you can do at one time - we are going to try to increase this number later. (2 point)

• 20 burpees without stopping (2 point)

• Tabeta Sprints - Alternate 20 seconds of sprinting with 1 minute of walking for five sets.  (1 point)