Time to announce our Vegan Fitness Challenge for August, 2017!

If you want to get and STAY motivated to challenge your body and mind, and you have not joined our Vegan Fitness Challenges Facebook group yet, now’s the time!

Our Vegan Fitness Challenges Facebook group was formed in May, 2017, and so far, we’ve completed challenges for the months of June and July. (If you haven’t read the first blog post introducing the group, you may want to read that post before continuing.)

Hey everyone, Ella here, and we are getting ready for the August Vegan Fitness Challenge!

Fitness Component:

I want to first introduce what we are going to do for the workout component. We will be doing 100 lunges, that’s 50 lunges on each side, every single day. There’s going to be a different type of lunge to perform for each of the five days that we’re doing this vegan fitness challenge. In addition to those 100 lunges you’ve also got 100 plank jacks per day to perform.

Take a look at the video above for a demonstration of each of the five different types of lunges. Keep in mind I’m giving you these options to, number one, add variety to your workouts. Number two, to work your muscles in different ways in order to build functional strength and tone. And the third reason is to increase the difficulty of the challenge for our more advanced participants.

Also remember, if you are a beginner, and a basic lunge is challenging enough, you’re free to stick to one type of lunge during this vegan fitness challenge. I always set the bar high so that you have something to work towards, and so that the more advanced participants will be challenged as well. Last, keep in mind that the other way to step it up is to add weights/dumbbells.

Diet Component:

For the diet part of the vegan fitness challenge we are of course going to eat vegan, but we’re going to step it up a notch this month. I want a minimum of five servings of green vegetables eaten every single day for those five days. For optimal vegan nutrition, we should ideally be doing this anyway, so if you’re not in that habit this is a great opportunity to practice getting in tons of greens every day!

Mindset Component:

Now for the mindset component of the challenge. We’re going to work on turning every negative thought into a positive one. For example I came down with a cold the other night so I’m not feeling my best. I could easily focus on how crappy I feel, how my performance is suffering, and how annoying it is to work out when I can’t breathe well. OR I could turn that around and say, “You know what? This is a perfect opportunity for me to take it easy for a couple days and let my body rest and heal.”

I have a tendency to overtrain, and I’ve got a shoulder injury that I’ve been struggling to heal completely. Spending less time training will not only give my body a helpful break, it will also allow me more time to get tons of work done.

Just like in my example, I want you to work on catching yourself when you have a negative thought. Once you catch yourself, you can then take a step back in order to become the observer of your own mind and the watcher of your own thoughts. Only then can you consciously make the choice to create a new, positive thought to replace the negative thought. We often can’t change our circumstances, but we do have total control over the thoughts that we have about those circumstances. Our thoughts are what cause our feelings, our feelings dictate our actions, and our actions lead to our results. If we start by taking control of our thoughts, we are suddenly empowered to reach our goals through our actions. See how that works?

Sharing

We start the Vegan Fitness Challenge on the first Monday of every month, so this month we begin on August 7th. I’m giving away a copy of my book, The Six Weeks to Sexy Abs Meal Plan, to the person who not only completes the challenge, but also puts effort into sharing their experiences throughout the week with our Facebook group, with their own Facebook friends, and on Instagram (#veganfitnesschallenges @sexyfitvegan).

Let’s Do This!

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Ella Magers, MSW

Founder & CEO at Sexy Fit Vegan®

A passionate vegan for the last 28 years, Ella Magers, MSW is a leading voice for revolutionary transformation in the fitness industry. Ella connects people with the information, tools, support, and guidance they need to develop holistically healthy habits, claim mental and emotional well-being, and live more fulfilling and fiercely compassionate lives. Ella is a professional speaker, published author, and coach. She is the spirited host of the inspiring Rise & Thrive Podcast and the Vegan Life Coach Podcast, founder of Sexy Fit Vegan®, and creator of the 22Reboot total transformation system. As a plant-based athlete and former bodybuilding champion, Ella was recognized as one of the world's top personal trainers by bodybuilding.com and Shape Magazine. Having healed from her own struggles with disordered eating, Ella Magers shows people that there are alternatives to crash diets and excessive workout regimens, and how to align their lifestyle with true health by using compassion as their compass. Ella is on the founding board of Hogs & Kisses Farm Sanctuary, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with the mission of creating the best possible life for farm animals while inspiring compassion for all living beings.

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