I know. I used the F word…Fall. I hate to do it but unfortunately Fall is coming soon. So why am I being such a buzzkill and rubbing it in? Because September 16th, we will kick off our Fall PROGRAM!
What is THE PROGRAM? It is 4 weeks of:
-No booze
-No refined sugar
-No junk food
-No rest days
While we do ramp up the workouts, this PROGRAM is open to all ability levels. We have systems in place to make sure the workouts are challenging and fun, without overwhelming you, even if you are brand new to fitness. 3 days a week you do a strength and conditioning program that is custom written for your goals and abilities. The other 4 days a week you go on a 60 minute weighted walk, aka a ruck. The rucks allow you to recover from the strength training so that you don’t break down over the 4 weeks even though you aren’t taking any days off.
This will be our sixth time doing the PROGRAM and I am going to break down some of the benefits I’ve observed and seen myself from doing it.
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Increased recovery. By temporarily eliminating alcohol and added sugar, and by getting you focused on nutritious foods with the meal plan, we are reducing inflammation. Alcohol disrupts recovery. By giving your body a break from alcohol, added sugar, and other processed foods, you’ll notice you aren’t as sore or tired even from the increase in workout load that is part of THE PROGRAM. Also, that stomach is going to flatten out. It may be from fat loss during the 4 weeks or it may be from a reduction in gut inflammation. Either way, you’ll be happy.
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Nutrition made simple. By living by some clear black and white rules, life gets a lot more simple. It’s only temporary. You won’t have to do any calorie counting or food logging. The meal plan for THE PROGRAM has 3 simple lists: eat, don’t eat, and measure. You can imagine how the eat/don’t eat lists work. The measure list covers things that are perfectly fine but you do want to make sure you measure, like salad dressing or peanut butter. By taking a break from the foods that are most easily over consumed and by focusing on more nutritious foods, you will naturally be in a healthy calorie deficit without feeling hungry all the time.
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Faster results. This sounds like I am being salesy, but I will break this down. With very simple guidelines, we are in fact getting you firing on all cylinders in a short period of time. We’ve eliminated the foods that were holding you back, we’ve reduced inflammation, and we’ve increased training volume. Without increasing your ability to recovery, increasing training intensity or volume doesn’t do much besides break you down. By doing both at the same time, in the grand game of stimulus and response, we’ve increased your body’s ability to handle more stimulus (working out) while having a more pronounced response (results).
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Lasting improvements in health and fitness. Doing some short term cleanse or whatever is fine but without a plan to transition to something sustainable, you’ll go right back to the way things were before. Part of THE PROGRAM is a transition plan that ensures that it is the START of something big, not just a little blip on the radar. For many participants, once you take the plunge of doing THE PROGRAM, you realize some of the changes are actually pretty easy to sustain. You don’t end up going back to the way things were before after the end of the 4 weeks.
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Confidence. There is something magical that happens about a week into “no days off” when you realize you can do it and that you feel good. I’ve now seen several different groups of PROGRAM participants surprise themselves with what they were capable of. That confidence seems to last quite a long time after the short 4 weeks is over.
If you went a little wild this summer, that’s fine. I have the PERFECT way to get back on track quickly and simply. If you’re already a member, shoot me an email at alec@ontargetfit.com. If you are a non member interested in this challenge, fill out the form at the top or bottom of this page and I will take care of the rest : )
