Everyone who has embarked on the Chloe Ting Two Week Shred Challenge instantly recognizes her video’s opening music as the sound one hears upon entering hell. It’s the upbeat synth-pop tune that lets you know that sh*t’s about to go down, in hopes that at the end of the 14 day period, you will have abs.
Quarantine has become a time of self-reflection for many, and adding a new workout regimen to the list of self-improvement measures has been adopted by many, myself included.
When I first heard about the Chloe Ting Two Week challenge, I was intrigued. Could I really get abs by the end of it? Probably not, but I had all the time in the world to try it and find out.
Please note: What I detail below is just my personal experience with this specific workout program and everyone’s experience can be different!
Now I have never been the type of girl who has had a flat stomach (I am not complaining, I’m just putting that out there) so I was being realistic when starting this challenge. In shelter-in-place I was already working out daily by using an old elliptical my family has in our garage and I was excited to implement the videos into my work out to make it more dynamic.
Boy were my expectations wrong.
The first day started out mellow. Just two ten-ish minute videos, which I later learned are Ting’s staple two videos she uses daily as a part of this program. The second day included an additional third video which was optional, then the third day was when it really hit: the two videos plus a lower body burn and 11-line ab one. Now I was sore.
At this point I had calculated how many days of exercise I would have to do as a part of the challenge. Two weeks is fourteen days, subtract her two rest days, so 11 days of actual physical activity. That didn’t seem so bad. That was manageable, however I was counting down the days until my first rest (day five).
As the program progressed it got increasingly more difficult and targeted more than just my abs, which I really enjoyed. Ting does a great job of adding variety to her challenge and making the participant feel like they are getting a holistic workout.
Shoutout to my mom, who was a trooper throughout all of this and completed it with me at 8 am every morning when she didn’t have to, and to the friends that I conned into doing the challenge with me so we could build a support system where we complained about the challenge together.
While I am not walking away with defined abs (they may be hidden under my layer of fat!) I loved the challenge, nonetheless. It helped me lose weight and got me active in new ways. From here on out, I plan on incorporating a couple of Ting’s workout videos into my daily workout to target different areas of my body.
If anyone is considering taking it on, quarantine has been extended to a few more weeks so I say why not! It truly is enjoyable, gets your blood pumpin’, heart rate going, and endorphins flowing.
And the wise words of Elle Woods: “Endorphins make people happy and happy people just don’t kill their husbands.” So if you’re not going to do the challenge for yourself, do it for your significant other. Not because he deserves to see your abs, but just so you don’t kill him after being locked up with him for weeks.”