A Two-Week Experiment – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

I have a complicated relationship with viral wellness trends. And thanks to my role as the blog’s cofounder and ongoing coordinator,  my social media newsfeeds are full of them. 

I’m deeply suspicious of anything that promises to optimize me before 7 a.m., especially when the optimizing arrives wrapped in hustle-culture packaging. Optimize your life! Morningmaxxing, or something like that.

I’ve written a bit about this before.  See What’s your 5 to 9 before your 9 to 5?

And yet I’m curious by nature, and a bit of a sucker for a good fitness challenge.

There was there burpee challenge,  lots of running streaks back in the day when I ran,  lots of Yoga with Adriene beginning of the year challenges.  Tracy’s done other ypga challenges too. And that’s just the start here on the blog. We seem to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with challenges here on the blog team. Who doesn’t really?

So here’s my plan: for the next two weeks, I’m going to stop scrolling past the daily challenge content the algorithm keeps serving me and actually try some of them.

I’ll report back at the end with a full how-it-went post. Consider this post the before picture.

Here’s what I’ve signed myself up for.

Challenge 1: The 9 enlivening movements. A short sequence of gentle movements done first thing in the morning — the idea being that you coax your body awake with a bit of mobility before the day gets its hands on you. The idea sounds easy, 9 movements in 9 minutes.

Here’s the list:

Hops/Bouncing: Light, bouncing movement to wake up the nervous system.
Body Waves: Rolling the spine to improve flexibility and breathing.
Arm Swings: Loosening the shoulders to restore range of motion.
Trunk Twists: Rotating the core to activate the spine.
Dead Arms: Relaxed torso rotation to release tension.
Golf Swings: Linking hips and torso to improve rotational strength.
March Slaps: Marching while tapping the body to boost rhythm and lymphatic flow.
Windmill or Side Lunge: Opening the hips and upper back.
Plié Squats/Ballet Squats: Strengthening the hips and ankles

Here’s a video with a chair adapred version: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWACMUODNN1/?igsh=MWRtOHlmcG0wNWtqbg==

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DRCjySkDGqK

Challenge 2: The 30-30-30. This one blew up on TikTok thanks to biohacker Gary Brecka, though the idea traces back to Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Body. The method is simple: eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, then do 30 minutes of steady low-intensity cardio with your heart rate below 135 beats per minute. It’s pitched as a fat-loss and blood-sugar strategy, and I have Thoughts about that framing — which I’ll get into. Mostly for me, it’s going to be a way to get Cheddar out for a walk before the summer days heat up too much.

Challenge 3: The after-dinner walk. A short, leisurely stroll within half an hour or so of eating, said to help digestion and blunt the post-meal blood-sugar spike. The term went viral in early 2025 when Toronto cookbook author Mairlyn Smith shared her post-dinner walking routine and coined a rather more flatulent name for it, — a name I will not be using, because I have standards. I prefer just to call it the after-dinner walk, thank you.

Check back soon to see what survived contact with real life.

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Published by Sam B

Philosopher, feminist, parent, and cyclist! Co-founder of Fit Is a Feminist Issue, co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, published by Greystone Books.
View all posts by Sam B