Join the 52 Day Fitness Challenge

7/30/2019

The next one starts on August 7th, 2019!

The 52 Day Challenge is free and open to all men and women who want to participate.  The cool thing is - you get to set your own fitness goals, and you get to report on your progress towards them. You can be just starting out on your fitness journey, or well into it. What you get in return is a friendly, supportive online community of fellow challengers from all over the world who are also reporting their progress and encouraging each other.

A co-worker of mine decided to try it out and was able to lose 3 pounds along with her other goals. She said "Thanks for the amazing challenge. I had a very good time working out and associating online with so many people and receiving lots of encouragement. Since it was my first time, I did not want to aim too high and then struggle. But next time I will increase my goals and be more strict on my clean eating. Thanks!"

For me personally, it has been a great way for me to maintain my weight loss and my overall health, giving that extra bit of accountability that I especially need.

Challenge dates
There are 5 challenges per year. The next challenge starts on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 and runs through September 27th, so you need to act quickly to join!

Future challenges:
If you missed one, just be ready to join us for the next one! The signups for each challenge are posted about a week or two before the challenge starts. The Challenge FAQ has information about how the challenges work and upcoming dates.

Goal setting
You get to set three core goals and however many personal goals as you want. The three core goals are in Clean Eating, Resistance Training and Cardio Training. Everyone sets goals for these, and then you can set your own additional personal goals, but you have to have at least one personal goal. Many people make the personal goal weight loss, but others who perhaps are already at a healthy weight make goals in other areas. I've seen personal goals in reading books, spending time with their kids, cutting out booze or cigarettes, and many others.

Accountability
If you've just made a few personal fitness goals and are plugging away at them, but have no deadlines set and no one to report progress to, it gets a bit easy to become lax. The 52 Day Challenge give you a greater level of accountability, but still the freedom to set your own goals. It has helped me continue to improve my fitness.

Encouragement
And it's not just about creating goals and reporting progress. Every day we have a volunteer host who responds to each progress post, giving a bit of advice and encouragement. The host each day also posts some motivational quotes and poses a question that all of the challenges should answer. Anything from "what's your favorite healthy snack?" to "what strategy will you use to better achieve your goals?" - whatever the host wants to ask. The cool thing is that you'll be able to read what others post, and it gives you an opportunity to learn from them, share your own thoughts, and get to know other challengers better. We're a team, a community. All clean and family-friendly.

Where to find the challenge
The challenges are hosted on a Facebook group called "52 Day Challenge". It is a closed Facebook group, meaning that you can use your own personal Facebook account to participate, but your communications will only be visible to other challengers, not your other Facebook friends.

You can join the 52 Day Challenge group on Facebook by clicking here and clicking on the "join" button. A group moderator will add you, then you can read about upcoming challenges, or join the next challenge if your timing is right.

Click here to read a FAQ put together by my friend and co-challenge coordinator, TNT Man. He has included all of the information you need to know about the challenge. You'll need to sign up for a free login to participate.

Contact me if you have any difficulties joining or have any questions.

If you're wondering where I am, my name on the challenge is Shrinkinguy Fitness. Tell me if you saw this post and decided to join! Good luck!

25 Comments

TNT MAN link

7/31/2014 10:50:16 am

Absolutely - If you are even curious - go for it. I have done every challenge since the summer of 2008. They really help keep you focused - and - they are a lot of fun.

Raphy

3/16/2015 07:53:03 am

I'd love to join. However, for the second consecutive challenge, I can't login during the sign up. I click sign-in and I get redirected to the menshealth site.

Last challenge I emailed tech support and received no response. A few days later, I was able to login. Of course, by then I had missed the start of the challenge.

Shrinkinguy link

3/16/2015 08:40:57 am

Hi Raphy,

That is unfortunate, I agree that the process of registering for an account isn't very clear. Since it has been a long time since I went through the process, I just did it again to verify that it works ok for new users. Here is what I did:

1) go to the site www.menshealth.com
2) click on the login link
3) click on the "Sign Up" button
4) you can use whatever method you want to sign up, but I tend to just use a simple email/password method. Enter all the information it asks for. If you don't want to get newsletters from Men's Health, uncheck all of those boxes.
5) click on the Submit button and it will send a confirmation email
6) find the confirmation email (sometimes it might go to your spam/junk mail folder, so look there if it is missing). Click on the "Activate your Account" link.
7) Go back the Men's Health main page and click the login link again, enter your credentials and tell it you want to remain logged in for 30 days using the checkbox.
8) Go to the forums using the links I provided above, bookmark them and you'll never have to worry about going through the login process again and you can just go right to the 52 Day Challenge every time.

The process might sound a little complicated, but it's a bit similar to other sites - since the challenge is hosted by Men's Health, you need to register for a Men's Health login, but you can choose not to have them spam you.

We'd LOVE to have you participate, and registering should not be a deterrent! Please try again and let me know if you have any issues. I do have some contact with the moderators of the web site, so I can reach out if you need further assistance.

Regards,
Tim (aka Shrinkinguy)

p.s. There is one additional note that I saw in the registration process, I don't know if it might apply to you:

NOTE: Some email providers, including AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, and Postini, may not deliver the confirmation email you'll need to complete the registration process. Please add HLHcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com to your list of preferred senders inside your email preferences. Again, you won't be able to complete the registration process until you're able to access the verification email.

3/16/2015 08:48:39 am

Oh, one more thing - when you go to the forums page, up at the top right there might be an additional "Login" link. If you've already logged in to the Men's Health site, if you click on the login link it should go ahead and make the connection and log you in (and keep you logged in). Yep, a bit convoluted to be sure, but well worth the effort, and once I take 5 minutes to do all that, all I have to do is go to the 52 Day Challenge page each day and I'm all set.

3/16/2015 08:44:15 am

Thanks!
I'm not a new user, though.
I've been trying to login using my gmail account, which I have done many times in the past.

3/16/2015 08:51:29 am

Oh, hmm. Yeah, they did a revamp of the web site a year or so ago, I remember having some difficulty getting it to work again. If you send your email address to shrinkinguy@gmail.com and a description of the problem, I'll forward it to the forum moderators and hopefully they can get you going again!

Harlan

3/16/2015 11:06:24 am

I'm having the same issue. The weird thing is that I was able to log in to my account on my work PC, but at home I keep getting redirected back to the main page. I'm already registered with Men's Health. I was able to access the forums last week, but not so much this week. Any thoughts?

3/16/2015 11:14:09 am

So I was just able to get in if anyone needs help, especially if you've already registered.
- Click on login.
- Click on "I forgot my password."
- An email will be sent to you with a new password.
- Log in with the new password.
- If you log in from the main page, navigate to the forums
- Click on log in in the upper right corner. You should be good.
Give that a whirl.

3/16/2015 01:53:48 pm

Good thought, Harlan.

Perhaps also try to clean up all your internet files, cache and cookies from your Internet browser. The Men's Health administrator also suggested trying to log in using a social media account (like Facebook)...it won't spam your friends.

3/16/2015 07:16:39 pm

Thanks Harlan!
Your idea worked for me,

Lopez link

11/10/2015 04:34:02 am

52 day challenge is long time, even 1 week exercise challenge is best for good health.

11/10/2015 08:00:49 am

Hi Lopez,

You're right, I think if you're just starting out 52 days can really seem intimidating. I would say for beginners smaller goals like you suggest are more appropriate. Drink more water, walk 15 minutes a day, cut down on soda. Small changes. And then once you're into a better routine and are starting to see results, something like this 52 day challenger can really help. The beauty is that you get to set your own goals. So if you want to take it easy, you can commit to just one workout a week - anyone can do one workout a week!

Listen to your body, you want to challenge yourself but not overdo it either.

Thanks for your comment!

Jamie T link

2/3/2016 02:02:52 pm

That 52 days is scaring me but I really want to try. Besides 2 months workout is gonna not that long. thanks for sharing. <a href="http://www.capitalphysiotherapy.com.au/st-kilda-road"></a>

2/3/2016 04:59:59 pm

Hi Jamie,

Yeah, 52 days can be a long commitment if you're not already in a habit of regular exercise and eating well. But you do get to set your own goals, so if you only want to exercise twice a week, that's ok!

Since the next one doesn't start for a few weeks, you can get started right now on your own, then when you join the next one you'll be ready.

Sally Joseph link

11/17/2016 05:36:25 am

Good post ..... 52 days challenge is little bit hard.....with daily routin it's tought

Si J Watson link

8/4/2017 11:41:52 pm

Yep, strongly debating taking the 52 day challenge my friend hhmm. When is the next one after Aug' 9th?

8/5/2017 08:37:37 am

Hi Si,

You can always look up the dates for the challenges by looking at this post:
http://forums.menshealth.com/topic/the-52-day-challenge-faqs

It would be great if you could join us for this round! Honestly, since you make your own goals however hard or easy, it isn't a big deal. The hardest part is checking in and reporting consistently, but that just keeps you on track. Good luck!

http://penessays.com/ link

1/11/2018 04:49:47 am

I can say only that for me, being seated in such marathons is a very good motivation in order to do everything to the end.

Dr Joe link

1/12/2018 07:03:49 am

Hope to catch the next challenge - just missed this one. Good luck to everyone who is taking part.

Healthy Guy link

3/17/2018 11:04:42 am

Great effrt, hope you succeed, when is the netx one?

Ana link

3/17/2018 01:51:33 pm

ahh missed this one, waiting for next challenge xexe:)

sushant link

6/4/2019 01:10:55 pm

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Inspired by you, i have even started a blog and on of the articles is:- <a href="https://www.nilefitness.com/2019/05/proper-pull-up.html">HOW TO DO PULL UPS WITH PROPER FORM </a>

yaki link

8/12/2019 08:54:10 pm

Thanks a lot for you sharing!It helps me a lot !
Absolutely love it and i am expect more from you.

Rick link

10/7/2019 03:24:42 am

Thank you for 52 day challenge.I will be try for sure.

Nowadays everyone wants to look slim and for that, they start to lose weight by exercising, dieting, medication etc. Thousands and thousands of people today all over the world want to lose weight and research for the finest way to burn off fats. They seem for the finest diet plan, work out or the newest pounds loss capsule.
But why not hold it straightforward and organic?

Bozhidar link

10/9/2019 04:00:37 am

Great idea for a challenge but my I ask why it's 52 days and not 60 or 40 for example? Is there anything behind that number? When I do make certain fitness goals I go for 30,60 or 90 days instead. Thanks.

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