It’s Sunday afternoon. Your mood is a little low. Maybe you had a few drinks last night, and now you’re scrolling through social media. In a moment of madness, you decide this is the perfect time to commit to (insert popular fitness challenge).
I get it—sometimes we need to shake things up. Challenges push us, teach us important lessons, and reveal strengths we didn’t know we had. Under pressure, we grow.
Here is an example from my own life:
My one and only professional Muay Thai fight, in front of 600 people. I won and retired undefeated. It was one of the toughest physical and mental challenges I’ve faced, but it taught me invaluable lessons.
Now, despite being a health and wellbeing coach—and an advocate for a healthy lifestyle—I want to encourage you to pause for a moment before you dive into a fitness challenge and really think:
What is driving this desire?
Fitness challenges can be exciting and provide a short-term boost in motivation—often fueled by the fear of showing up on the day and being the worst person there. But they can also come with unexpected drawbacks, some of which you might not realise until you’re deep in the process—or even after it’s over.
Burnout: Fitness challenges can consume you—physically and mentally. Once they’re over, you might feel drained, struggling to motivate yourself to work out again. The momentum you’ve built might vanish, and worse, you could find yourself with a fractured relationship with exercise.
Misaligned Expectations: If your goal is to change your body shape or lose weight, fitness challenges might not give you the results you expect. Training for a specific event often means eating to fuel your performance—not to create a calorie deficit. Your body might change, but not in the ways you anticipated. For example, marathon training might build your legs but could cause a loss of upper body muscle.
Pressure Over Pleasure: Turning exercise into something you have to do for an external goal can make it feel like a chore rather than a choice. Once the challenge is over, you may find it hard to rediscover your enjoyment for exercise without that clear goal.
When a Challenge is the Right Choice
Now, don’t get me wrong—these challenges can definitely be worth it, but only if they align with your mindset and circumstances.
If your goal is to test yourself and see what you’re truly capable of, and you’ve got the mental and physical capacity to commit to it, that’s a different story. Have you been consistent with your training, nutrition, and sleep habits? Do you feel ready to push yourself further? If so, go for it—you’ve earned the right to challenge yourself.
After feeling like I’ve been a bit negetive about fitness challenges, they can also have some great upsides, like:
Community: Many events bring people together, creating shared experiences both during the training process and the event itself.
Boosting Confidence: Completing something you once doubted you could achieve can be genuinely life-changing.
Learning Resilience: Challenges force you to face discomfort and push through, teaching you lessons and skills that you can apply to all areas of life.
Alternative Options
If you’re feeling unmotivated or in a rut, you don’t have to sign up for a big, structured event to get motivated.
If you’re feeling unmotivated or stuck in a rut, you don’t have to sign up for a big, structured event to get motivated.
Set a personal goal—whether it’s running a faster 5K, mastering pull-ups, or sticking to a consistent weekly workout routine for a set period of time. Smaller goals can be just as motivating and provide a much-needed sense of accomplishment.
Final Thought
While this might come across as a deterrent, that’s not my intention. I genuinely believe everyone should have a physical ‘Prove It’ moment—a time when you commit to something that challenges you, something you’re unsure you can complete. My own experience taught me that I’m capable of more than I thought, and it instilled a confidence in me that if I set my mind to something, I can achieve it.
But here’s the thing: Once you’ve had that ‘Prove It’ moment, you don’t need to keep jumping into fitness challenges just to prove something. You’ve already shown yourself what you’re capable of—unless, of course, you choose to take on another challenge.
Here’s my advice: Commit fully, or don’t commit at all. There’s no middle ground when it comes to these challenges. Half-assed efforts lead to half-asses results. If you’re not ready or it doesn’t feel right, that’s OK. Recognising that and refraining is far better than pushing through and feeling like you’re not giving your best.
My concern with fitness challenges is that people often feel they have to do these things to be fit and healthy. But the truth is, they’re not essential—sometimes, they actually oppose long-term health.
Whatever you decide, make sure it’s for the right reasons, and remember: health is a lifelong journey, not a one-off event.