Doing Hard Things Every Month - A Review of 2023

Welcome to the gritty reality check, fellas.

In a world where comfort is king, it's all too easy to slip into the cozy groove of predictability. But let's face it, modern life has made us a bit too soft around the edges. The Argent Alpha community for Men over 50 isn't about embracing the fluff; it's about becoming Harder To Kill.

Why? Because cruising through life in a comfort bubble is a one-way ticket to a soft and weak existence. And that's not how you want to roll in the second half of the game.

Enter the monthly challenge – our not-so-subtle way of inviting our guys to get slightly uncomfortable. Each challenge required a bit of planning, some dedication and consistency. All of these are within the reach of the average guy if he makes the decision to take the challenge.

Introducing a bit of adversity into your days has a number of benefits.

You see, adversity isn't the enemy; it's the hard-hitting coach you never knew you needed. It teaches you grit, discipline, and mental fortitude – qualities that make you not just survive but thrive.

So, why are we doing this? Because becoming Harder To Kill is not a walk in the park; it's a relentless pursuit of pushing boundaries and embracing discomfort.

In previous issues (issue #042 and issue #043), we've spilled the beans on how the Argent Alpha program is the secret sauce to achieving this objective. Our members are becoming Harder To Kill everyday but they wanted something extra.

They wanted a personal development side hustle so to speak.

Enter the monthly challenge.

These aren't for the faint-hearted, but they are for those who are tired of the soft life and are ready to give up the excuses.

Think you're up for it? Read through the 12 challenges of 2023 and consider doing one of them. The only way to get Harder To Kill is by willingly embracing the uncomfortable.

A Year of Challenges

A bit of clarification before we dive in. Not everyone in our community does the challenges every month. The methodology we follow day to day is comprehensive and the Men who follow it get results. The challenges are optional and for the newer members, we encourage them to focus on the core components before they take on a challenge.

But once guys get some early wins in our core program, their interest in the monthly challenge kicks in. Iron sharpens iron.

Below are the 12 challenges from 2023. I hope you get some inspiration from them and consider trying one on for size. You might amaze yourself.

January 2023: Cold Shower Challenge. By now, you’ve probably heard all about cold showers, cold plunges and cold water immersion. There are a number of health benefits to exposing yourself to cold water (including fat loss) but the reason we did this challenge was to develop grit. When you develop the mindset and breathing techniques to withstand a cold shower (and eventually a cold plunge), you start believing you are capable of doing other hard things. Many of our members progressed to taking a cold shower from start to finish (no hot water at all) and continue taking cold showers to this day. And when you finish your cold shower or plunge, endorphins, which are sometimes called happiness hormones, are also released. How do you feel when you are done? Amazing.

February 2023: Push-up Challenge. One of our members suggested we all attempt the Bring Sally Up Push-up Challenge and the response was incredible. This was the challenge guys loved to hate because it required getting way out of your comfort zone. Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean. Even David Goggins was challenged by Sally. This challenge inspired a Challenge Coin:

March 2023: Longevity Book Challenge. This challenge was a twist from the physical realm to the mental realm. Men chose a book on longevity, read it and wrote a summary on their key takeaways. Many of our guys hadn’t done a book report since Jimmy Carter was in office but they took on the challenge anyway. We compiled the summaries and shared them so we could accelerate learnings in key areas of longevity.

April 2023: Carb Control Challenge. We focus heavily on improving nutrition in our community and this challenge puts a tighter focus on carbohydrates. When you lower carbs (primarily by limiting processed foods and trying to eliminate added sugar) and keep your protein high, you lose fat and preserve muscle. This challenge helped increase awareness of ingredients and all the hidden crap that is in our foods. Key takeaway: when you eat foods with 3 or fewer ingredients, your health improves.

May 2023: Wanda, The 2 Hour Wall Sit Challenge. Inspired by the previously mentioned Sally, we started naming certain challenges and the Wall sit became Wanda. The objective of this challenge was simple: accumulate 2 hours of wall sits over the course of the month. We had guys go from sub 3:00 wall sits to over 10 minutes (and one member hit 14 minutes!). Everyone improved their endurance and learned to rue the name of Wanda.

June 2023: Brenda Burpee Challenge. Our third named challenge was applied to everyone’s favorite body weight movement - the burpee. Everyone had a daily burpee target that was determined based on their performance in the monthly Argent Alpha Athlete (A³) fitness standards. Personally, I grew to love this challenge because it is a total body exercise and the more you do them, the better you get (or should I say the less they suck).

July 2023: The Single Leg Balance Challenge. Our Training program is heavily influenced by Peter Attia’s Four Pillars of Fitness for Longevity and we focused on improving balance and stability with this challenge. A few guys did the sock challenge to improve balance.

August 2023: The Brains & Brawn Challenge (reading, pull-ups, air squats). This combo platter challenge had minimum levels of achievement in reading, pull-ups and air squats. Pearson’s Law  was in full effect…as Men tracked and reported their numbers, progress accelerated well above previous levels. Measuring and reporting = results.

September 2023: The Wim Hof Challenge. This challenge was preparing guys for the live event we held on September 30 in Minneapolis. We followed the Wim Hof breathing method and incorporated daily cold showers. It paid off…every Man who cold plunged at our event easily made it to the 2 minute mark.

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October 2023: 1,000,000 Step Challenge. Achieving 10,000 steps in a day is achievable but can you do it consistently for a quarter (92 days)? This challenge is ongoing and we have over a dozen Men on track to achieve this milestone (and a few who are behind but still are in the running). If you are interested in more details on this challenge, check out this issue. This challenge also inspired a challenge coin:

November 2023: Patti Plank challenge. We just finished this challenge and the objective was to plank regularly and achieve a 10 minute plank at some point in the month. Some guys did static planks and others did dynamic planking (moving from elbows to high plank to side plank). Core strength increased and so did shoulder stability.

December 2023: When Wim Met Sally...and Wanda crashed the party. This is a mashup of 3 challenges that our members have enjoyed. The challenge: perform minimum requirements in cold showers (Wim), push-ups (Sally) and wall sits (Wanda) for 31 days in a row. This challenge is all about consistency > intensity. The time commitment is low…guys already shower (no incremental time required) and the pushup and wall sit requirements take less than 3 minutes per day.

On Deck for 2024

The 1,000,000 Step challenge will continue and expanded to include a challenge for the entire year: the 4,000,000 step challenge:

You’ll need to either apply to Argent Alpha or tune in next year to find out what else is in store for 2024.

Next Steps

Consider doing one of the challenges above or invent your own. Use a shared document (like a google sheet) and invite friends to join you. Seeing others make progress in the challenge creates motivation and incentive to give it your best shot.

Side note: One of our members who achieved the 15% body fat target in September accepted the 1,000,000 step challenge. He changed nothing else in his program in terms of exercise or nutrition. He sent me his InBody scan yesterday and he has lost 8 lbs of fat since we started the step challenge on October 1. We calculated that he was burning an additional 200-300 calories per day from the incremental steps he was taking for the challenge. Over the course of 60 days, this adds up! This was not the intention of the challenge but it was a nice unintended consequence.

We are accepting applications through December 31, 2023 and will reopen them sometime in the first quarter 2024. If you want to close the year on a strong note and go into 2024 with momentum, go to Argent Alpha and apply.