What Chloe Ting’s 2-Week Abs Challenge Gave Me

I was scrolling through my YouTube feed one day, looking for more cooking videos, when I stumbled upon one of those random recommendations. We have all encountered those videos before, whether it be Gorilla Glue Hair Girl or the “I’m Not a Cat” Zoom guy, but this time it was different. It was a video promising abs in two weeks and it had over 20 million views at the time. “This must be good,” I said, chuckling as I clicked on the video. 

To be honest, I didn’t think it was possible to get abs in two weeks, yet for some odd reason I decided to try it out. I spent the next two weeks covered in sweat, crying in pain (the good kind!), and bombarded with questions from my parents about the 2 a.m. noise. 

You’re probably wondering at this point if I did get abs or not. *Drum Roll, please*

I didn’t, but I got something even better: the beginning of my health and fitness journey along with essential lessons. Below are the lessons I’ve learnt so far, I hope it will help you as much as it has helped me.

Exercise is not a one size fits all: Do What You Enjoy 

I used to think that running on the treadmill was the ideal way to exercise. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’re just trying to get some movement in your life, running may not always be the right answer. In my case, running on the treadmill for 20 minutes wasn’t my cup of tea, even though it was the case for some of my friends. 

Instead, I found doing short, 10 minute HIIT workouts, which I discovered through the 2-Week Abs Challenge, highly effective and fun. Every single person is wired differently, so why should we all do the same workouts? To each his own! Feel free to explore different types of workouts – boxing, yoga, dance, pilates, or maybe even the same workout with a different trainer – and I promise you’ll eventually find what works for you!

No Pain, No Gain

With that being said, you’ll find the start of any type of workout painful at the start. I promise it’ll get easier with time as you’ll get stronger too. Enjoy the pain (and sweat!) as it is a badge of your strength and progress.

I think a question that might come up is, if everything is painful at the start how will I know what type of workouts I enjoy? The answer is you’ll know by trying out different workouts! I found running, yoga and HIIT painful at the start, but with time I discovered that I truly enjoyed HIIT workouts. I always get an unexplainable feeling of empowerment after finishing a HIIT workout.

The Secrets to Consistency

One thing that I particularly struggled with was staying committed to a regular workout routine. Throughout my journey of trying and failing to stick to a workout routine I learnt four things that helped me stay consistent and committed:

Not striving for a body type

I noticed that by striving for a particular body type, I was more likely to fall out of the workout routine. However, when I told myself that I was doing this for my health, overall fitness, or anxiety, I was more likely to stay committed to the workout routine. 

Do what you love

Going back to the first tip, doing your favorite type of exercise will make you more likely to exercise, so why not take working out as an opportunity to do what you love while getting some movement in and sweat out?

Just get started 

Every time I felt lazy to workout I would tell myself to just get started. Even though I would still feel sluggish doing so, I would eventually get in the mood of working out as seconds on the timer passed. And soon enough, I’ve completed a workout. 

It’s okay to reward yourself

I used to feel terrible about having Chick-Fil-A or some good boba during my fitness journey. I soon realized that this mindset was not sustainable. If I wanted to maintain a consistent workout routine and thus have a healthier, more active life, I had to be kinder to myself through cheat days, rest days and rewards. And that’s okay. Besides, what’s life without some boba milk tea? 

Turns out, all it took was a viral workout challenge to kickstart my health and fitness journey. I hope this piece will do the same for you.

Disclaimer: I am not a health/fitness expert, just a girl who tried a Chloe Ting challenge and ended up here!