What Is the 8-Week STRONGER Fitness Challenge and How Do I Join?
Want to lose weight and get fitter in just 8 weeks? Here's how to join our free challenge group for support and motivation.
Get ready! Because starting July 9, the LIVESTRONG.COM team and a few thousand of our readers and friends are doing the 8-Week STRONGER Challenge to start off the year getting fitter and stronger.
So what is the STRONGER Challenge? It's a workout and nutrition program composed of 10 30-minute full-body workout videos you can do in your living room with no equipment needed. You also get a meal plan tailored to you (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or omnivore) and a printable workout calendar (see below) to help you track your workouts.
All of this is FREE and comes with easy-to-use tools and the LIVESTRONG.COM MyPlate Calorie Tracking app to track your progress and instantly calculate your calorie burn during your workouts.
Get a taste of the STRONGER workouts by watching the one-minute trailer:
This year, Nicky will be giving you some tips and advice, and you can even ask him questions live. Join and stay tuned to our LIVESTRONG.COM Challenge Facebook Group to get all the updates.
How to Sign Up for the STRONGER Challenge
1. Download the MyPlate app for iOS and create your account. If you're on Android or don't have a smartphone, you can also use the desktop version. Make sure you set July 9 as your start date so you can be on the same page as the rest of the LIVESTRONG.COM community!
2. On your start date (we're launching our next challenge July 9th), you'll be able to log into your account and click on "Meal Plan" in the bottom navigation bar of the app. There, you'll have access to each day's meals as well as each week's shopping list.
3. For each meal and snack, track your calories by clicking the check mark next to each food or recipe. If you need to deviate from the meal plan, you can also enter foods manually from the "Track" tab on the bottom navigation. Just search for your food and click the "I Ate This" button. Also be sure to track your water intake from the "Track" tab.
4. Print out the STRONGER Challenge workout calendar and and follow along with each day's free workout video.
5. Track the STRONGER workouts in MyPlate. On the app's main page, click Exercise then search STRONGER. All of the workouts will be listed below. Select the one you performed that day.
6. Join our LIVESTRONG.COM Challenge Facebook Group to get daily tips, encouragement and motivation! You can also join the conversation in our community boards in the app ("Community" on the bottom navigation) and on desktop.
7. Do the workouts with us, cross them off the calendar and post about it in the Facebook group. We're cheering for you!
Readers — Are you joining us for the 8-week STRONGER Challenge? What do you think of the STRONGER workouts? What do you think of the meal plan? Are you having any trouble accessing and using either the workouts or the meal plan? Have you ever done a fitness challenge group before? How did it go for you? Have you joined our LIVESTRONG.COM Challenge Group on Facebook? Leave a comment below and let us know!