Shawn Johnson NTC Challenge

It's April 1st today and that means many different things for many different people. For some, it is a day where they prank their friends mercilessly. For others, the mark of the beginning of the second quarter of the year. For me, the beginning of April means the end of my March Shawn Johnson stretch challenge. As promised I will share my results from stretching faithfully for an entire month. 

Surprisingly enough, I was able to complete my challenge right where I wanted to. I only missed 3 days of stretching the entire month of march, leaving for 28 days of intense, 15 minute Nike Training Club stretching. I missed two days while away on vacation and at a tennis tournament in which my schedule was switched around and I was unable to fit the stretching in and the third day was due to taking an extreme rest day and not doing any exercise, even stretching. 

I am sure you are wondering how it went, did I gain any physical benefits or am I still where I left off? The truth is that about the second week in I began to feel like I could more easily reach my toes and extend my body farther than before. Week 3 I hit a bit of a stagnant spot of just going though the motions. The final week I really noticed my work paying off. I felt like my muscles were longer and more flexible and noticed a difference in my runs. 

I don't get as tight as I used to, and when I do get tight I immediately do some stretches to loosen my muscles. I have learned some great ones and now have a stockpile in my memory bank to pull out when I am feeling stiff. I have begun to make stretching a significant part of my daily workout routine and know that I will be feeling the benefits far into the future. 

I also treated myself to a professional massage during my final week as a reward for my hard work. I usually foam roll my muscles twice a week, but having a professional massage was a real treat. It's always good to have a reward planned for putting in the hard work and a massage was just the thing that I needed. 

This is my 100th blog post, as well as the completion of my first challenge, so today is a huge day for me. I am excited to be sharing my fitness journey with you and hope you are learning some valuable information. I have a new challenge for April and hope you will join me in pushing yourself and seeing how far you can go and how many goals you can reach.

April Challenge

Run 80 Miles 

Complete 1000 minutes of  NTC drills 

Share your fitness goals with me or join me in my monthly challenges. Remember that you are the only one with the power to change. Make something happen today and remember to Make Every Move Count!