Well, it’s over. The 2015 Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge officially ended yesterday, and thousands of you successfully crossed the finish line. Needless to say, you guys impressed me. You always impress and astound me during these annual challenges, and this year was no different.
Although I’ve mentioned it before, most people probably don’t know this: I do the Challenge right along with you every year, using your collective energy as motivation. My personal Challenges have little to do with the Primal basics of eating, exercising, and sleeping — most of which I’ve got down pat — so I use these times as an opportunity to tackle new areas of Primal living. I always manage to learn something new about myself and this way of life. So, thanks for that, everyone.
While it’s still fresh in our minds, let’s go over the past three weeks and revisit the highlights (I’d revisit the low points, too, but there weren’t any!).
This year’s Challenge was absolutely filthy with contests. Whether it was a Saturday recipe for sun-dried stuffed chicken breast, a bacon bonanza involving over six pounds of pure, unadulterated bacon (I think I need a cold shower), a post urging you to self-reflect on your journey thus far, a contest where the prize for offering your honest thoughts was a contraption allowing you to squat to poop over any toilet in the world, or one where you got to do your best Jeff Foxworthy impression, almost every post contained a contest giving readers the chance to win awesome prizes.
Every Challenge reminds me of the fact that I’ve got some really creative, really talented readers out there. For the Primal Workout videos, you braved rival hipster tribes to go foraging on bicycle through the concrete jungle of NYC, turned father-son bonding into an effective training stimulus, showed us the value of spending time on the floor, and became tactical cavemen in addition to much more. just to describe a few.
The cooking videos were mouth-watering, of course. We got a winning legit chili from Mama T that I’m going to have to try, a great way to make liver palatable for people who usually avoid it, and I have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for liquid bone, which is very close to how I make bone broth. The most interesting recipe came from Zach, who made jerky out of a kombucha SCOBY. Go check the rest out, too. They’re all great.
The 21-Day Challenges are by design a bit lighter on MDA articles, but I try to make up for that with quality. The tricky part is writing stuff that applies to folks currently knee-deep in the Challenge while standing the test of time. If you can go back and read a Challenge content post months or even years later and still get something from it, I’m happy. And between Alessandra Wall’s two guest posts about the importance of setting goals and how to turn thinking into doing, my posts on how to make your food taste better using the natural spice of hunger and the top 11 ways to assess your own true fitness level, and the several dozen reader questions I answered, I’m happy. Oh, and you learned how to use a simple mantra to change your approach to health, food, life, and everything in between that doesn’t stop working just cause the 21 days are up. You’ll have plenty of reason to go back and revisit this month’s content.
For the first time ever, we partnered with Vimify to bring you a Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge app. One of the favorite parts of my day was hopping on the App just to watch all the progress updates, comments, and interactions unfold along the feed. In (near) real time, I was able to see how each individual person was approaching — and overcoming — the various challenges. I hope you enjoyed it, too.
Luckily, it doesn’t end there. My good friends, longtime PrimalCon presenters, and superstar Olympic lifting/lifestyle coaches Adam and Vanessa Lambert have developed a brand new challenge with Vimify, a sort of continuing education for Primal people who want to keep the train rolling and maintain their momentum.
The Bee The Wellness “Unveil Your Wellness” Challenge was created specifically for folks transitioning off the 2015 Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge, those who missed the boat and want in on the fun, and anyone who’s at all interested in solidifying and furthering their Primal lifestyle. Adam and Vanessa are really talented and extremely warm (a potent but rare combo) coaches who I trust deeply, and they designed this system to make their personal coaching experience accessible to our community. If you’ve hit a bodyweight or performance plateau or need a kickstart or want to kick sugar cravings and you’re ready to give 100%, I wholeheartedly recommend their system as your next step.
You don’t have to go it alone. As with the 21-Day Challenge, you’ll join a community of like-minded Primal participants who support, encourage, inspire, and compete with you throughout the challenge. Plus, you’ll have access to the expertise, guidance, and wisdom of Adam and Vanessa for the duration of the challenge. You will dig deeper into Primal living with new workouts, continuing education, and a program designed to meet you at your current level and help you build from there for the rest of your life. If you are serious about getting leaner, fitter, and healthier, join their challenge!
Good work these past few weeks, everyone. Seriously — I’m proud and I’m excited to see where you go next.
That’s it for today.
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Ⓒ 2023 Mark's Daily Apple
