Inspired by revolutionary movement expert Ido Portal, once a year The A Life will do a 30 day community Squat Challenge.

The results and feedback from our community is mind blowing! Improved posture, reduced hip pain, better digestion plus a more comfortable resting deep squat!

Ready to give the challenge a go on your own? Below is everything you need to know!

• For 30 days, commit to sitting in a deep squat for 30 minutes per day. If this is unattainable for you, start where you are at and build up the minutes each day. (It is an accumulation of minutes throughout the day)
• Use the stopwatch on your phone to track your time in a deep squat
• Knee pain? Hip pain? stand up and move around. Resume the squat and work in small short bursts of squatting throughout the day.
• Spine and hips are relaxed in the squat, hips can be at a comfortable distance apart
• No footwear to be worn whilst squatting

Before you start!!

Take a before photo! This is one of the most important things to do, so you can visually see improvement after 30 days..

Beginner Variations…

Can’t get your heels down or fall over when trying to balance in a squat? Here are some great beginner variations we highly recommend.

Head over to THE A LIFE IGTV for weekly bonus challenges/routines to do throughout the 30 days. And here are just a few points to remember:

• Some tingling and discomfort is normal to start with as the body adapts to this position. But don’t push through pain, if you have any knee, hip or lower back pain use the variations above and do small bursts, slowly building up.
• Remember this is meant to be a comfortable resting position. So it is important to keep things natural when in a squat, ie. move around, reach and pick things up, read or eat in this position. This tells the bodys neuromuscular system this is a new normal!
• Stretch things out. During the month I encourage you to maybe give some extra stretches to your calves, hips, adductors and glutes – this will all help you access a deep squat.
• Do this challenge with a friend to help keep you accountable for the entire 30 days. Consistency is key and will give you the biggest results!
  

If you do this challenge at home, please tag us or send us email! We are here to help and would love to see your before and after photo!

Marty’s recipe was inspired by Gnom Gnom with a few adjustments and cater for a vegan option.

I’ve always enjoyed the combination of peanut butter and chocolate so this immediately became my favourite snack.  It’s also VERY filling so you shouldn’t have to worry about eating too much of it.

INGREDIENTS:

– 140 g x Peanut Butter (I prefer smooth)
– 125 g x Grass-Fed Butter. ***Coconut Oil for Vegan Option. The softer the better.
– 2 x Eggs ***For Vegan option use 3 TBSP x Chia Seeds mixed with 5 – 6 TBSP of Nut Milk.  To be  mixed in a cup until they chai seeds absorbs the milk.
– 160 g x Almond Meal
– 3/4 x Baking Powder
– 90 g x Dark Chocolate Chips or Chunks
– 90 g or 7 TBSP x Rice Syrup
– Sea Salt for Garnish (optional)

METHOD

***If you choose the vegan option, prepare your Chia- nut milk first.  This needs a few minutes for the chia to absorb the milk. This is you egg replacement which helps bind the other ingredients together.

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Place peanut butter, Grass Fed – Butter (or Coconut oil for vegan option), Rice Syrup, Eggs (Chia + Nut Milk mix for Vegan option) and mix all together until all the ingredients have combined. You should end up with a thick mixture

3. Add Almond Meal and Baking Powder into the mixture. Give this a good hard whisk through for at least a minute.

4. Begin to add the dark chocolate and give the mixture a good whisk until theres even amounts of chocolate spreads out.

5. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and put it in the oven for 15 minutes.

6. I like to rotate the baking dish from front to back and put it in for another 7 minutes or at least when the mixture starts to get a golden brown colour. Baking should be longer than 25 minutes or so.

7.  Once finished, let it cool down, sprinkle some salt and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour before you cut it up and enjoy.  BUT I like to have it hot straight outta the oven, you’ll just have to serve it on a plate.

ENJOY… Tag us on instagram if you give it a try!