A new father who undertook a 100 day fitness challenge, running one mile everyday, has revealed his incredible transformation.
Zack Telander, a singer-songwriter from Texas, set himself the challenge with the aim to shave 10 seconds off with each attempt.
After 100 days, his physique had changed, becoming more toned and defined, his cardiovascular fitness had improved and his recovery time was much faster.
Starting off slow, the influencer set off to run a ‘very slow’ ten minute mile—after having not ran further than 20 metres the month before.
The idea came to Mr Telander on 1 June following the birth of his daughter, when he knew he would have less time for long workouts.
‘I thought, “man, it would be really cool to run a mile in 10 minutes today, and then try a mile in 9 minutes 50 seconds tomorrow, 9 minutes and 40 seconds the following day”
‘Essentially dropping 10 seconds each day until I can’t do anymore. And then within an hour, I was at the track running,’ he told Men’s Health.
Despite his background in heavy lifting, Mr Telander wasn’t sure how this new challenge would affect his physical fitness—previously believing that it would negate his bodybuilding.
The musician has a history of weight lifting, but wanted to start running to see how far he could go in 100 days, after the birth of his daughter
On his first attempt, Mr Telander easily managed a 9 minute and 43 second mile.
‘This was before I had a chance to overthink my programme—before I had a chance to worry about my optimal pace.
‘I just started running and boom,’ he told his 200,000 Instagram followers.
‘The goal was 10 minutes without any strains so we were close,’ he added.
‘What was cool, is that it made me run 22 days in a row, and after that I figured I might as well keep going.’
But, what started out as an easy challenge, soon turned into an uphill feat, as he began to struggle with motivation.
‘There were definitely days where I didn’t want to run,’ he recalled.
‘And the one thing I kept telling myself was “you know you didn’t run”. I could be like “well no one is going to know if I didn’t do one of the days here—I could still say that I did the streak.”
Zack posted his transformation on Instagram after 100 days of running a mile a day
‘But I would know. And I just saying that was really effective—I immediately put my shoes on and was like, alright, let’s go.’
As far as the effects on his weightlifting, Mr Telander noticed that running soon became his priority, meaning he spent less time in the gym because he had no energy to lift at the end of the day.
‘Yesterday, I ran 12 x 400 metre sprints at a pretty fast pace, with only a minute in between, and I didn’t even think about going to the gym later that night, so I think that’s more of what’s affected,’ he said.
‘I come from a background of spending a lot of time in the gym. And I think there’s no way I can be that strong and run the way that I want to.
‘But, I don’t think it’s negating my lifting that much—I just don’t care as much as I once did about lifting.’
After 100 days, the influencer revealed his transformation on Instagram, writing alongside the before and after video: ‘100 days of running in a row.
‘I ate more, slept less (we had a baby) but managed to change my body a little bit. Here’s to 101!’
He now plans to keep running and see how much he can improve his running time, training volume and recovery time alongside his gym routine.
Whilst he said the boost to his mental wellbeing was the biggest reward, after 100 days his physique had changed, his cardiovascular fitness had improve and his running time decreased
After reaching day 100, Zack said he will continue running and honing his new found abilities
‘After 100 days I feel great, and I will keep going because I worked this hard to gain this ability.
‘When I started, I couldn’t run at this pace that I’m running at for longer than a mile and a half or two miles, and now I feel like I can keep going and going.
‘And it would be a shame if I just decided I was done and lost that ability. So I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do this, but I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.’
Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, with little to no cardiovascular exercise, has been linked to a number of health problems including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even some cancers.
However, experts have also repeatedly warned of the dangers of participating in short term intense fitness challenges.
One reason for this is because over-exercising can trigger inflammation in the body, which can result in slower recovery time.
But regular running is considered an effective way to improve the health of your heart and lungs and can also help with weight loss when combined with a healthy diet.
There’s also evidence it can improve bone density in some people, which can help combat problems like osteoporosis, and, like other forms of exercise, boost mental health.
The World Health Organisation (WGO) advises most adults to get 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week. Running is considered a vigorous activity.
Sedentary lifestyles in the UK, where most people spend their work hours deskbound followed by a commute before relaxing in front of the TV, has been estimated to kill thousands each year.
The WHO puts the annual global death toll from physical inactivity at around 2million per year, making it in the running to be among the top 10 leading causes of global death and disability.
