My first virtual fitness challenge

 This June I took part in my first ever virtual challenge,

It was a month long challenge from the running and fitness brand ROKMAN. Their aim is to provide the challenges, sportswear, content and community to help you achieve a better level of health, fitness and mental resilience.

I have followed them on Instagram for a while, and have listened to all their podcasts which are well worth a listen in their own right  - Rokman Podcasts. it was after listening to one of the episodes, which really connected with me that i reached out to terry who is the founder of Rokman to tell him how much i enjoyed it, he saw i had my own blog and asked me if i would take on one of the monthly virtual challenges and give it a write up, in return for a free entry and t - shirt, I jumped at the chance.

I've never been a fan of virtual challenges but after a quick scope out online these seemed different and I thought it would be some good content for my blog, so I signed up for the June challenge which was named RELENTLESS.

At the start of each week you can opt for 4 different levels of difficulty, novice, moderate, intermediate, and advanced I chose to go with advanced as I have a good base level of fitness and I wanted to push myself, each week starts with an emailed brief outlining the set requirements for each activity.

there is also a leaderboard which isn't taken too seriously but is a very good daily reminder to stay accountable, and a friendly Facebook group of like minded individuals, no ego's or putting people down just full of people supporting each other and building each other up no matter the individuals ability.

RELENTLESS 

WEEK 1

The Worm Catcher - 4 miles every day for 7 days with added bonus points for getting out before 6am, I was extremely confident about this week as I run a lot and I knew I could cover that distance comfortably but the early mornings started to take their toll and by the 4th day I thought "its ok if  I don't go early every morning" the thought of the leaderboard kicked in and after a quick check to see everyone else smashing it I realised I had to stay disciplined. (the leaderboard isn't taken too seriously but its great to look at and kept me pushing hard). 

Towards the end of the week I had integrated myself well into the Facebook group and it was refreshing to see every member supporting each other whatever level people were on whatever times they got it was just comment after comment of encouragement, congratulations and support a theme I was soon to realise would carry on through the month long challenge.

the week passed by pretty quickly I had managed 5am 4milers all week, I felt confident about the rest of the challenge and excited to get week 2 underway

WEEK 2

Stairway to Hell - The goal here was to achieve 3000ft of elevation in as few runs as possible, I live in a very hilly part of North Devon and I knew this could be achieved on just 2 or 3 runs of around 4 miles, I had set a plan to do it this way as I had other commitments with the running club I'm in, and my time this week was very limited, having to fit everything around work and family life too makes it more of a challenge. The following morning I was looking at everyone's efforts on the group page and I saw someone had done it in one go, it inspired me to do the same,  I juggled a few things around and although I was knackered from a hectic week I chose the penultimate day to get it done, straight after work I donned my running kit and took off along the SW coast path, a hot and muggy 10 miles and 3000ft later I was done. that night I felt a little dejected with myself as I realised that if I hadn't of seen some one else's effort I would have stuck to my original plan instead of smashing it out like I did, if nothing else it made me more determined and more disciplined to finish the challenge as strong as I could. 

WEEK 3

No Remorse - I had dreaded this week coming, BURPEES!!! I hate BURPEES! and I had chose to do hardcore burpees consisting of a traditional burpee with a press up and a jump and clap to finish for 1 rep 120 times a day, for 7 days straight and all to be completed in one workout as well. 

Day 1 came and to be honest I wasn't sure if I would be able to do 120, I got underway and sticking to 10 reps at a time I soon got through them I didn't find it easy but I had actually enjoyed it, things were about to take a bit of a twisted turn as a few of the guys started to do them with a weight vest on and not one to be out done I dug my 10kg vest out of the garage and on it went for day 2, 3, 4 and 5 ! WOW is all I can say that seriously changed the game the legs were already hurting from day 1, and now my shoulders were sore, in fact my whole body ached but the vest just gave me more power more belief in myself that I was going to smash them out every day. I've spoken about the fbook group and this week more so than the rest everyone was so supportive of each other, full of congratulations and encouragement it was a real boost to what was a really tough week. 

Finally day 7 arrived I completed my last 120 this time without the vest as i had a bit of a knee niggle and with my first 100km ultra around the corner I didn't want to aggravate it at all, one more week to go.

WEEK 4

Double or Bust - This was all about discipline, day 1 started at 1km and then double up every days run the next day ….. day 1 1km, day 2 2km, day 3 4km, and so on till the last days 32km and the month long challenge was done, the first few days of this challenge were pretty easy as they were much shorter than my usual runs, the last two runs of 16km and 32km were good I felt strong and pushed fairly hard, I was glad that it was over but only in the sense that I had completed it, it felt good to have stuck to something for the whole month.

TO SUMMARISE

I absolutely loved this challenge series from Rokman, it was extremely well presented and communicated via emailed challenge briefs before each week commenced, it has a very easy platform for uploading evidence of your challenge attempts (although I believe they have just unveiled a better system they have been working on) it has an easy to follow leaderboard to give you that motivation to try and stay disciplined.

The Facebook group is extremely friendly everyone on there is all about being supportive, giving encouragement and congratulations on every individuals achievements and I'm sure many will become friends as they sign up to more challenges along the way, there are people from all around the world and its humbling and pretty powerful to see them all come together via a social media group to help everyone smash their challenges together. 

It was amazing to watch everyone's efforts, naturally some people were very fit and knocked the challenges out the park, the ones who inspired me the most to keep going were the ones who didn't find it easy, the ones who struggled but kept at it everyday, and especially the ones who maybe didn't do it all in one go but still came back and finished whatever challenge they were on.

Overall a great experience, I will definitely be signing up to more from Rokman and I urge anyone to give it a go, especially if you don't like gyms, or working out with other people this a fantastic way to keep motivated and stick to your fitness, I'll finish with a quote from Rokman that I think sums up this challenge and the brand perfectly.

"WELCOME THE PAIN EMBRACE THE SUFFERING"