One Hundred Thousand Meters To Go
"100k Row Challenge" isn't about another January weight loss challenge. The focus isn't on weight loss or one of those "New year, New me" challenges. The 100k rowing challenge challenged our athletes' mental toughness, discipline, and determination. Sure, weight loss is one of the by-products of this challenge, but it's more than that. It's about setting challenging goals and achieving them. It's about setting up for a successful year.
For most people and even athletes, 100k row seems excessive. Why would anyone commit to rowing one hundred thousand meters in a month? I didn't ask our athletes to drop their workouts and only commit to rowing for a month. I asked these athletes to go beyond the norm. I had them complete at least two gym workouts a week on top of their commitment to this "100k Rowing Challenge."
It is January 21st, as I write this post. We have one athlete who finished their challenge on January 13th. Emin completed the 100k row challenge in fashion. His last workout was 25k row in one hour and fifty-five minutes. Very proud of this man's accomplishment. He rowed before and after his workouts prescribed for the gym. He has grown a gnarly mustache as well as lost some body weight. Even though Emin has completed his task, he has decided to row for the remainder of the month to support his teammates. The rest of the crew is about 90% finished with their challenge.
Over the years, I've realized that fad diets and 30-day challenges don't work. People get sick of eating to a prescribed diet. You can guess, I have done all the diets! I have done keto, macro counting, paleo, and my favorite, the carnivore diet. I pretty much only ate burger patties and steak without any bread and carbs. Anyone can commit to eating a certain way, but very few can push their limits and get uncomfortable.
The objective of this challenge was to set these athletes to rely on their intuition. The training load was significant that took a toll on their body. After the first few sessions, they realized that they couldn't just eat takeout to succeed in a considerable task that they had committed to. So within a few days of rowing and training, they started to eat better. The choice of food became important. I had them log their food on an app to track and visually see what they were eating. The second week on, they understood the quality aspect of fuel. As soon as they changed their food habits, the weight came off their body. At the moment, most have lost close to 10 pounds.
The challenge is still in progress, and I will have another blog post to update you on these four amazing athletes' accomplishments. There will be more opportunities to challenge yourself with your fellow DEFCON athletes. DEFCON Athletics isn't just a gym name. It's a mentality.
DEFCON Athletics Director,
Vaz Dera