The 30 Day Black Goat Challenge.
A 30 day challenge to get your improve your health, and work towards your dream.
I don’t know about you, but having 30 day challenges really works for me.
Back in December 2022, I got my first real taste of discipline. I did a 30 day no sugar challenge. And before that, I never did a challenge. Yet—it was the first time I actually stuck to some challenge and got my first bit of discipline.
So in spirit of that, I will create my own challenge for everyone to improve your life. I call it, the 30 Day Black Goat Challenge. I know, super original right? Right?… Ok maybe just the name.
Anyways, this challenge is meant to jump start or help you stay disciplined with yourself. And I’ll be doing this along with you guys. After all, the person creating the challenges needs to represent as well right?
So anyways, let’s get on with the challenge.
The Black Goat Challenge
1. Work Towards Your Purpose 1 Hour A Day
I don’t know what your purpose is. It could be helping others with achieving their fitness goals. It could be writing a novel. Or helping out some senior citizens. What ever it is, you will work towards it 1 hour a day.
So for me, I’ll be writing 1 hour everyday for the next 30 days. As helping people with my writing is part of my purpose.
And if you have no clue what your purpose is in life, either work on a project you’ve been wanting to start or started. Or—find your purpose by literally sitting with yourself, and just your thoughts for hours on end until you find your purpose.
Then after you’ve got your purpose, you can continue the challenge.
2. Cut Down Or Bulk Up
Now let’s take a shift. We’re going to do something health related this time.
What’s your goals with your weight? Do you want to bulk? Cut? Maintain? Main Gain? What ever it is, write it down or keep it in mind. Then clearly set the goal.
What’s the weight you want to cut down or bulk up on? Do you want to loose 10 pounds in 30 days? Or maybe you want to bulk up by 5lbs.
And to figure out how to either cut or bulk, we’re going to calculate our maintenance calories. Or BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate).
The results might not be set in stone for your genetics because metabolism can vary. So this is just a baseline. If you want to figure out your BMR for your genetic code, I consider consulting a medical professional.
To find our BMR, we will be using the Harris-Benedict Equation.
For Men:
BMR=88.362+(13.397×weight in kg)+(4.799×height in cm)−(5.677×age in years)
For Women:
BMR=447.593+(9.247×weight in kg)+(3.098×height in cm)−(4.330×age in years)
And now after calculating your BMR, we need to calculate your BMR by how much exercise you do. And it goes as follows:
Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR ×× 1.2
Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR ×× 1.375
Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR ×× 1.55
Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR ×× 1.725
Extremely active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): BMR ×× 1.9
And I’ll do this with you. My goal is to cut down is 140lbs in 30 days from 153lbs. So here would be my equation:
88.362+(13.397x69.39)+(4.799x167.64)-(5.677x17)=1725.96
And I exercise pretty hard, so I would say I’m “Very active.”
1725.96 x 1725.96=2978.02
So 2978 is my maintenance calories. So if I want to reach my weight loss goals, I will probably have to cut down by about 500-1000 calories and maybe even a bit further down.
And I know if you’re also cutting down you probably have a concern on your mind: “What about going out with friends?” I get it, it’s a legitimate concern. You got a few options.
1. Going out and eating whatever the hell you want(doing it smartly.)
If you want to minimize damage on this one, depending on your goals, consider fasting or skipping a meal so you can take the extra calories. Or, don’t worry too much and have fun.
If you’re confident you can take the extra calories and reach your goals, then do this. If not, consider the second option.
2. Bring meal prep with you.
I know, this is the boring option. Why would you want to eat ground beef and rice while everyone is eating steak and sweet potatoes?
Personally, I’m not doing this one. I’m doing #1 cuz I like good food. However, if you aren’t confident that you can’t reach your goals without doing this, by all means, do this one.
However, make sure you aren’t fooling yourself by justifying not having a good time with friends. Remember: Happiness and satisfaction is more important than shit mental health.
P.S—Make sure you check your weight everyday so you know if you’re progressing or not.
Anyways, whether it’s bulking, or cutting, or main gaining, I hope you can reach your goals. In fact, tell me your goals in the comments(or reply to this email). And I’ll keep you accountable.
Lil Mindset Shift
I know, this challenge ain’t fucking easy. You gotta work towards your purpose. You gotta bulk or cut. And now you got to workout?!
Alright, let’s take a step back. This challenge is meant to be fun and hard at the same time. It doesn’t sound fun, I know, but bare with me here.
The goal of this challenge is to create healthy habits that could literally change your life. It is a challenge because it’s hard. This is what hard feels like. Change is hard. And so is challenge.
Now, to working out.
3. Workout Everyday For At Least 30 Minutes
What ever kind of workout you have in mind, make it fun. Whether it’s running, weightlifting, dancing, or whatever, make sure it’s fun.
I know you will probably dread the workouts at the start. But what’s important is to enjoy the training. Enjoy training hard or light.
And adjust this to your training level. However, just walking will not be a workout. It’s good for recovery, but not full workouts. So if you’re completely new to training, train really really light. Don’t go so crazy with this.
However, if you’ve been training for a while. It’s time to go fucking crazy and do some hard shit.
This will be the most flexible bit of the challenge because you have the most freedom to choose. Do some of your own research on this and find workouts for the whatever it is you want to do.
If you want to dance but don’t want to dance for 30 days straight, then maybe dance 3x a week with weight training 4x a week specifically for dancers. Apply that for any sport or what ever you want to do, and you’re golden.
P.S—If you don’t have the ability to block out at least 30 minutes a day, what I recommend doing is something called micro workouts. Where you take 5-10 minute breaks from what ever you’re doing, to just exercise. A bit weird, ik. But if you don’t have the time, this helps just as much. This tip is for you Aiden ;) (Aiden is one of my friends IRL)
4. 3 Minute Cold Plunge Everyday.
I can already hear you dreading this one. But don’t worry. I got the tools you’ll need for this one. But before that, let’s get a quick rundown on why the cold is good for you:
It releases anti-depressants in the brain. Thus improving mood.
Keeps very high levels of dopamine sustained for a long time—thus improving long term mood.
Burns A SHIT ton of fat. This is why I’m confident I can loose 13 pounds in 30 days in a healthy way.
Improves cardiovascular system—aka, better blood flow.
Builds mental toughness.
Improves resting heart rate.
There are many more to the benefits of the cold. But those are the main ones.
Now, 3 minutes in a cold plunge is no easy task. So for this one I give you permission to build up if you’ve never done cold plunges. You could do 1 minute, or 2 minutes, to start out.
And this doesn’t just have to be a cold plunge with ice. Hell, I don’t do that. Simply turning the water in the bath as cold as possible, then filling it with cold water will do just fine.
However, if you don’t have a bathtub, then I encourage you to do cold showers instead for 2-3 minutes everyday. Cold showers are just as effective and have the same benefits as cold plunges, just to a smaller degree.
Build up for about a week, and I promise after 7 days, doing 3 min cold showers or cold plunges will be childs play.
Now let’s get onto another tool you can use. Breathwork. When you get in the cold, you will hyperventilate most likely. Calm it down, be very intentional about your breath. Try to calm down as much as possible.
The next form of breathwork is the Wim Hof Method. With this, it is intentional hyperventilation, then breath retentions. HOWEVER, if you do this, DO NOT, do this in a pool, car, or any place where you aren’t safe. It is possible that you will pass out, so keep that in mind.
Basically, this method helps store oxygen in your body. In other words, reserve fuel. So when you’re in the cold, it is much easier to heat up quicker than someone who didn’t do this. You can find more on the method, here on this tutorial. And here for the guided breathing.
5. No Fapping/Masturbating or Porn.
And before you ask. Yes, sex is allowed for this challenge. It’s just masturbating/fapping, and porn that we want to stop.
Now, masturbating is not inherently bad. However, it can be very addictive. And there are countless cases of people getting addicted to masturbating, porn. Hell—I was even one of those people.
And if you know this will be a struggle for you, then I recommend checking out the EasyPeasyMethod’s way of quitting pornography, to overcome a masturbating + porn addiction.
This will be the hardest part of the challenge. However, it will save you a shit load of time for the other things we will be doing later. It’s worth it. I promise you that.
P.S—Something that’s really helped me overcome this was building an immense amount of self-love(healthy dose ofc). If you say this “Am I doing this because I love myself or hate myself?” Most of the time you aren’t watching porn because you love yourself. It’s a weird and unconventional tactic, but if you’re noticing that you might slip up, give it a shot.
Conclusion
Annnnnnnnnnd we’re done with the challenge. To sum it up real quick, the challenge is:
Work on purpose for 1 hour a day.
Cut Down Or Bulk Up.
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Cold Plunge 3 mins a day.
No fapping or watching porn.
Write down what you will do for each step, then take action accordingly. This will set you up for the most success, and keep you accountable.
For this challenge, since it is a low, set realistic goals on what you can do. I know a lot of it is very direct on what you have to do. But don’t be afraid to take this a bit lighter than usual.
Anyways, I hope this guide has helped you, and if you have any questions, leave a comment, or reply to this email if you’re reading it in the email.
I hope you enjoyed. Cya in the next one :)