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Hello, Gaians! Welcome to the first challenge: CRUNCHES.

Cornsilk and I both made videos to accompany the challenge of the month. You can find them here and here. Crunches are a really simple exercise you can do any time you have a spare minute or so, or while you're watching TV or a movie. If your goal is to burn off some excess fat, it's a good place to start.

How to execute it:

lay down on a flat surface with your knees up, feet flat on the floor.

Sit up only far enough to lift your shoulder blades off the ground, then return.

ONLY put your hands behind your head if your neck needs the support, and be VERY CAREFUL not to use your arms to lift. It's best to keep your hands out in front of you.

Things to consider:

In Cornsilk's video, you'll see she comes up and sustains the position. In mine, I don't do this. From what I know, we're both right; you want sustained contraction. In Cornsilk's case, she rises and maintains the position for a beat before releasing. In my case, I'm coming up and returning to the floor without relaxing my stomach muscles until I've finished my reps. Through your entire set, keep your muscles contracted, even when your back is straight. Your abdominal muscles will ache if you're doing it right.

How many should I do?

As many as you can! On your first day, do crunches until you couldn't possibly do another. Do a second set and try to get through just as many. Based on that number, set a goal for yourself to accomplish by the end of the month. Make it a reasonable goal; if you can only do ten, you probably shouldn't aim for one hundred, but if you can do fifty, one hundred is probably a pretty good target.

You can do crunches every day. The abs are smooth muscle, which recovers fast enough for daily exercise. Every few days, add on a few more crunches than you did the day before. (If you did ten for the first three days, shoot for fifteen. If you did fifty, see if you can do fifty-five.)

Tell us how you're doing! Post your starting number, and keep us updated. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress! biggrin

There will be a prize of 10,000 gold to one, randomly drawn participant.

In order to win, you must post a minimum of twice a week to this thread with details about how you're doing and what sort of progress you're making. Not only are you improving your health, but you could win gold for your efforts!

: D I do 250+ every day!
For some reason, I wanted this to be a walking/jogging/running challenge.
I cant motivate myself to do it!
Maybe next month?

Good luck everyone!

This is exciting!! In season, the team I'm on always has to do 8-minute abs.. which is exactly what it sounds like.
This is good motivation to get back in shape and ready to go ! Good luck everyone!

Ooh. Good suggestion! I'll keep that one in mind for future challenges.

If anyone else has challenges they would like to see, please speak up -- either post it or send a message to one of the mods. We're very happy to take your thoughts into consideration. 3nodding

Well, a lack of reporting anyway... sweatdrop
I'm sure that everyone's just busy, it may be summer but summer jobs take a lot of time. Hopefully, the weekends will bring more activity.

I did 40 today, I'm hoping to beat it tomorrow!

I do about 200+ daily. Unless I have a fight coming up I do 300.