Back to Basics Challenge
Tuesday, September 5th – Sunday, October 1st
Back to school, back to life, Back to Basics!
Much like the beginning of a new year, September can signal a time of new beginnings – a time to start fresh by creating some new habits (or perhaps changing or stopping some old ones that aren’t serving you well).
Let’s focus on same basic fundamentals of a healthy diet! If you have been a member for a while, you may recognize the daily goals listed below. Do you wonder why we continue to focus on this same list? Because these are the key to long term health, if we nail these consistently for not just these four weeks, but for the rest of our lives, we would optimize our current and future health.
Back to Basics will focus on 5 daily goals:
1) Complete a WOD
2) Consume 6 cups fruits and veggies
3) Consume a target quantity of protein (determined by your body weight)
4) No alcohol
5) No added sugar (sweets, candy, sweetened beverages, etc.)
1 point is awarded each day for each of the daily goals you complete (tracked on the Wodify Rise app).
You DO NOT need to do all 5 every day to participate or be successful. Even one point is adding to your health bank.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Follow this link to register.
HOW TO TRACK YOUR DAILY PROGRESS
You will track your daily progress in the Wodify Rise app. You must REGISTER for the challenge to have your profile available in the Wodify Rise app.
If you have not used the Wodify Rise app for a previous challenge then you can download it from the Apple Store or Google Play. Once you open the app, and have registered for the challenge, the Back to Basics challenge will appear in your profile.
If you participated in the “Summer Step Challenge” then you have used the Wodify Rise app previously. Follow these instructions after you have registered to locate Back to Basics challenge in the App.
1. Select the Profile icon in the bottom right corner.
2. Select the Left/Right arrows icon top right.
3. Select “Back to Basics” from the list.
*If you want to get an InBody scan ($25) before or after the challenge (also available for those not participating) Email Coach Rose ()
Still have questions? Send Coach Rose an email.
Summer 2023 – Step Challenge
June 1st – August 31st
Last October we did a team walking challenge as our monthly wellness initiative. Since that time, I have continued to walk 3 miles most days of the week. I find it relaxing, I enjoy the fresh air and keeping up on some of my favorite podcasts. Occasionally I also have the privilege of one my daughters, a friend or my husband joining me. Not only is walking a great opportunity to catch up with the people in your life, there are also significant health benefits.
Membership attendance typically falls off a bit in the summer months with vacations and child care changes. In an effort to keep a focus on long term health and fitness, we are kicking off a 3-month Summer Step Challenge. Participants can rack up those steps anytime, anywhere!
We will be using the Wodify Rise app to track progress, earn points and view the leaderboard. Each day you can earn 5-10 points for walking 5,000+ steps per day (5) and 10,000+ steps per day (5).
Last fall the Morning Chalk Up featured an article from CNN about the benefits of walking.
Here are some highlights from the article:
- “People can reduce their risk of obesity by walking more”
- “Diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, diabetes, depression, and GERD showed benefit with higher steps”
- “The relationship with hypertension and diabetes plateaued after about 8,000 to 9,000 steps but the others were linear, meaning higher steps continued to reduce risk”
- “If you get up and move for 21.43 minutes each day of the week, you cut your risk of dying from all causes by one-third”
- “Walking 10,000 steps a day lowered the risk for dementia by 50%; the risk decreased by 25% with as few as 3,800 steps a day”
In addition to the health benefits noted above, the article also talked about the impact of walking or overall daily step count on keeping weight off. The article stated that “Studies show the average person gains between 1 and 2 pounds each year from young adulthood through middle age, slowly leading to an unhealthy weight and even obesity over time.” This is obviously not a great trend and one worth correcting.
So, let’s go CFM! Let’s get walking! If you have any questions, please reach out to any of our CFM coaches.
March 2023 – Eat the Rainbow
On Monday, February 27th, we are kicking off our March wellness initiative, “Eat the Rainbow”. This five-week challenge encourages members to not only keep up with their daily dose of fruit and vegetables, but to also include a wide variety of colors in their selections.
Eating vegetables and fruit is imperative to your long-term health. Focusing on eating a variety of colors will also increase your intake of different nutrients. Each color offers different phytonutrients with distinct benefits such as delaying cellular aging, helping the heart block the formation of blood clots and protection against prostate cancer as well as heart and lung disease. In the coming weeks we will break down what each specific color has to offer.
Avoid peeling foods like apples, peaches and eggplant so you don’t lose their most concentrated source of beneficial chemicals. To get the most phytonutrients offered eat the colorful skins where the richest source is located.
Grab a tracking sheet located in the yellow envelope on the front white board to get started! They are also available to download via the link on this page in the “Monthly Wellness Tracking Sheets” section.
2023 Team Challenge
Kicking off Monday, January 2nd members are invited to participate in a four-week team-based wellness challenge. Participants will be assigned to a team which will be led by one of our fabulous CFM coaches.
As the calendar turns to a new year many people make all kinds of unrealistic declarations typically focused around weight loss and improving fitness. Generally, their goals are on things they vow to stop or remove from their lives which are usually extreme and unsustainable. Often these goals are cast aside within days in frustration. Instead, the CFM 2023 Team Challenge will focus on a potential for earning 6 daily points targeting things that are attainable in the short term and are key factors to long term health and wellness with the added bonus of support from your teammates and a coach leading the way.
You will recognize most of the daily goals below from similar programs earlier this year. Why are we continuing to drill on these specifically? Because we believe strongly that if you are consistent with these standards, you are creating the foundation for long term health and wellness. Ignore all the confusion created by the $60 billion diet industry and put your efforts on the key things that really move the needle.
- “No alcohol” and “No added sugar”: Thanksgiving through December can be a period of extreme indulgence. Removing or cutting back on these two items will help you feel better each day, sleep better, improve your athletic performance, reduce your daily caloric intake and, if you stick with it, there are long term health benefits.
- Attend a CFM class: If you want to become fitter and stronger, consistency is required. Get into the gym 3-5 days per week. However, avoid coming in every day as your body requires rest to recover.
- 6 cups of fruits/veggies: Aside from the fact that fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients, eating an abundance of plant-based foods can provide you with a sense of fullness for a fraction of the calories of other foods and block out room and desire for less nutrient dense choices.
- Protein (0.7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight a day): Including an adequate amount of protein with each meal not only helps your body repair your muscles, it also helps you build lean muscle tissue and feel satiated for longer periods of time.
- Improved competence: Up to 3 days per week you have the potential to earn a 6th bonus point for working on a skill or increasing your competency in an area of your choice. This can be gym related like strict pull-ups or handstand walking or non-gym related (discuss any questions or ideas with your coach). To earn the point, you must work on or practice your chosen skill for 15 minutes.
To sign up add your name to the sheet above the cubbies or email Coach Rose
25 Days of BINGO – December 2022
Thanksgiving is the official kick off to the holiday season. The festive spirit is everywhere from the Starbucks red cups, to Mariah Carey’s voice on repeat belting out “All I want for Christmas” to the bright lights on display as you drive around town. Despite all of this, some find it the most stressful time of the year. To combat members slipping into a state of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, we are rolling out “25 Days of BINGO”. For those that participate, it will provide a daily potential dose of fun, relaxation or simple distraction from this time of year becoming a grind.
You have 25 days to complete as many BINGO combinations as possible (limit 1 square per day). Call out each BINGO by posting a picture of your sheet on the FB closed group and tagging Coach Rose to be entered in a raffle. You have 12 potential combinations to increase your odds of winning (5 across, 5 down and 2 diagonal). We will draw the winner December 24th. The winner will receive a 6 week nutrition package valued at $200.
2022 Fresh Start
4-week “Fresh Start” program beginning Monday, January 3rd.
Team or Individual Competition*
*Determined by member participation – If we have enough members sign up, we will create teams.
5 points per day can be counted – 1 point each for the following:
- Attend a CFM class
- No alcohol
- No added sugar (naturally occurring is allowed)
- 6 cups of fruits/veggies
- Protein (7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight a day)
Participants will track their daily points on a shared Google spreadsheet.
At the end of 4 weeks bragging rights and a prize will be awarded to the individual or team with the most points.
OPTIONAL: Body scan appointments will be available before and after for $25. Initial appointments will be available January 2nd 8-10AM in 15-minute increments.
November 2021
30 Days of Thankfulness
The beginning of November marks a shift into not just the holiday season, but the season of gratitude and thankfulness. Many families sit around their Thanksgiving Day tables and share something they are thankful for with all the guests. Did you know this tradition, and the act of being grateful in general, is also good for your health? According to research published by the American Psychological Association, recognizing and giving thanks for the positive aspects of your life can result in improved sleep, mental and physical health.
As part of the research, Professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, Paul J. Mills, PhD, asked some of the patients to write down three things for which they were thankful most days of the week for eight weeks. “We found that those patients who kept gratitude journals for those eight weeks showed reductions in circulating levels of several important inflammatory biomarkers, as well as an increase in heart rate variability while they wrote. Improved heart rate variability is considered a measure of reduced cardiac risk,” said Mills. “It seems that a more grateful heart is indeed a more healthy heart, and that gratitude journaling is an easy way to support cardiac health.”
If you want to kick off a little journaling in your life, “The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 minutes a Day” (available on Amazon), is a popular way to get started. It has a daily guided format for both morning and evening entries. If you would like to take a smaller step with a ‘one minute’ version of daily gratitude, try committing to just 30 days of jotting down one thing you are grateful for each day with this template.
September 2021
Introducing our first monthly CFM gym-wide Wellness Challenge – “Add 6”
Back to school, back to life, back to our new reality! Much like the beginning of a new year, September can signal a time of new beginnings – a time to start fresh by creating some new habits or perhaps changing or stopping some old ones that aren’t serving you well. Often people put all their focus on the things they should stop or remove from their lives. Instead, let’s take a more positive approach that’s not focused on a deprivation mind set.
Let’s flip the script! Rather than eliminating foods or behaviors, lets focus on ADDING instead! Aside from the fact that fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients, I have also found that eating an abundance of plant-based foods can provide me with the kind of satiety I enjoy for a fraction of the calories of other foods. It’s a win-win!
If weight loss is a goal, guess what? If your stomach is full of high volume, high fiber, low calorie foods like fruits and veggies, there is less room for other less nutrient dense foods that will add to your weight and potentially have other negative impacts on your overall health. If you are someone who has a difficult time with portion size, congratulations! You can feel free to over-eat your vegetables!
Aside from any potential impact to your waist line, consider your long-term health and family health history. Eating approximately 6 cups of fruits and veggies each day can reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke, as well as overall mortality (see this study). You may have a family member with a history of disease or other health related issues, but your path doesn’t need to mirror that of your relatives. Individuals from the same genetic background experience different health outcomes based on differences in their diets and habits. Genes function only when being activated; and nutrition plays a role in determining which genes, good and bad, are expressed. Fruit and vegetables are loaded with disease fighting nutrients.
OK – Now that you are on board to give this a go, how should you approach meeting this daily goal? A sustainable strategy is 2 cups at each main meal. If you don’t care to measure, 1 cup is visually similar to the size of your fist.
When you are selecting your fruits and vegetables consume them as nature intended in their whole, unprocessed forms. Cooking, roasting, air frying, grilling, etc., is fine.
What doesn’t count:
- Processed bottled smoothies
- Dried fruits
- Fried vegetables
- Juices
A good rule of thumb is if you are thinking “does this count”, trust your instincts. Don’t look for short cuts. Stick to the intent of the challenge.
Keep track of your progress with the tracking sheet AND show off your dedication and commitment by adding your name to the list on the board at CFM. There will be a column for each of the four weeks. Add your name to the column for each week that you check off all 7 days.
Monthly Wellness Tracking Sheets
March 2023
December 2022
Previous Wellness Challenges
Questions about our Monthly Wellness Challenges?
Contact Coach Rose Colleran at