What would happen if you committed to improving your health for 40 days?
Is 40 days long enough to see a noticeable impact?
I decided to find out.
About 4 weeks ago, I decided to set up an internal health sprint. I’ve got a few companies headquartered here in Northeast Ohio, with about 40 team members. Of those 40, 25 volunteered to opt into this internal sprint.
The challenge was to commit to taking steps to improve each area of their health over the next 40 days.
Now, this first sprint is internal - it’s just for my team members. In the future we’ll be managing an external health sprint that you can be a part of for free, so you can learn exactly how to improve your physical, mental and environmental health. So make sure we have your contact info so we can send you an invite when we get close. I’ve written about this before, but usually when people think of the word “health” they think of physical health. I’m convinced that true health goes a lot deeper than that.
It has to do with our physical health, sure. But it also has to do with our mental health, and the connective tissue between those two is the health of our environment.
True health is about having a sound, well ordered, motivated mind, a body that lets you do the kinds of things you really want to do, and curating an environment that supports both your mental and physical well-being. So here’s the challenge I laid out for my team.
On day one, we all went to a health and wellness center nearby to do their in-body testing. This is a machine that sends electrical impulses through your body to measure your body composition: how much muscle you have and where it is, how much fat you have etc.
In addition to that, we had some metabolic testing done to see what our basal metabolic rates were. That is, the amount of energy you spend just existing in your body. Without doing exercise, without working out, just the amount of energy your body needs to function properly every day and keep all your organs working.
From there, I set the terms, and I raised the stakes. Whoever loses the most body fat % over the 40 days will win $1000, and whoever demonstrates the most commitment to all 3 domains of health (Physical, Environmental, Mental) will win the other $1000.
In this sprint, we are putting a lot of our ideas to the test, like the importance of establishing a morning routine like ADAM and the effect that can have on mental health. You can read about that HERE.
We aren’t being overly prescriptive, because everyone’s goals are different, but we’ve been meeting every Wednesday as a team to talk about how it’s going and offer strategies for the team to try on their quest for better health. Everything from biohacking and supplements, to improving sleep quality, curating an environment that brings you joy and inspiration and establishing a morning routine.
I’ll end up sharing many of those ideas here on this website, and in our private facebook group. (which you can join - just follow that link and request access).
Join our group and you’ll be able to participate in our future external health sprints.
So far, just 28 days in, many of my team members have lost 10-20 pounds, are getting better sleep, and are enjoying the benefits of a consistent morning routine. It’s awesome.
Here’s what one team member wrote after 2 weeks:
This challenge could not have come at a better time for myself. 2023 was a rough year but also brought a new baby so it's all worth it. But the beginning of 2023 had me in the ER and ICU due to having migraines that caused vomiting! After a couple days in ICU they determined extremely high blood pressure (244/144) was the cause as there were concerns of strokes as they saw spots on my brain but eventually ruled that out thankfully. Now with blood pressure medication that is resolved but the goal is to get off of medication. That was in February 2023, but then on my journey to being healthier I tore my achilles in April. Needless to say, that hampered my journey to getting healthy. Along with my wife being pregnant (and me lol) and not being able to workout or play basketball my weight ballooned to its highest ever.
I am finally now with my achilles able to jog, small jumps and strength training, as I continue strengthening it as I am still unable to do a single leg calf raise on the leg I tore my achilles but strength is building as I am 9 1/2 months removed from surgery and they said it could anywhere from 12-14 months for my recovery.
When this challenge started my wife and I decided to get back on track of being healthier now that she is mostly recovered from giving birth. So when this Health Sprint started I was 251 lbs. My highest ever. I have cut out pop, late night snacks and started doing intermittent fasting where all food consumed is between the hours of 11am to 6pm. The 1st 2 weeks I did the 2 rounds of the 7 minute workout along with walking on the treadmill. This week I started the LIFT 4 program on Beach Body. I have also organized my basement so I have additional space to workout along with having weights, benches, bands, pull up bar and more.
I weigh in each week and I am down 6 lbs to 245 so far. End goal even after the sprint is 210 and maintain that weight while continuing to build muscle. I have changed my diet of only having 1 cheat day but trying to make it a cheat meal though. I also start each day when I wake up with a bottle of water, 20 deep breaths and 5 burpees to get the body jumpstarted. So far things are going good and can't wait to see how things are at the end of this sprint!!
It looks like this could be the beginning of a lifestyle revolution for everyone on my team.
It’s 40 days to better health, but we’re not going to stop after 40 days.
Yeah, somebody will win the money and the competition will be over, but the kinds of changes we are suggesting are lifestyle changes. This isn’t about “diets” that come and go. The goal is to build better habits. To make a holistic lifestyle change across all three areas of your health, because they are all connected, and to make them in a way that is sustainable across time.
This won’t be the only sprint we do. This is just the start.
We are building a community of people who are motivated to achieve greater degrees of freedom in their health, their finances and their relationships, and we’ll be running future sprints through the Facebook group.
Join the group to see what we’re up to and join us on future sprints.
This stuff will change your life. - Greg
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