If anyone tells you a fitness challenge that gives you points for your progress instead of requiring perfect adherence to a rigid ideal will only encourage “cheating,” they’ve never done the Whole Life Challenge.

They’re also missing the point of health and fitness in general.

If a rigid, punitive, black-and-white approach to diet and training were actually achievable and sustainable, then why aren’t more of us “perfect?”

We need to demolish this “one size fits all attitude” – the idea that we have to do everything right to be successful and anything less than that equals failure. A better way to live well is to structure our goals around regular habits that are both realistic and sustainable.

The WLCW is specifically designed to allow some flexibility in your diet to account for the complexities of real life (which is, after all, what puts the “quality” in the phrase “quality of life”). It also allows you to tailor your required daily activity to match where you are right now, what you need and what you – as an unique individual living an unique life – are trying to achieve.

The WLCW specifically does not require participants to be perfect with either nutrition or their workouts because when “perfect” is the target, that means everything else is failure. And there is a lot of value in the range of improvement between all and nothing.

It’s not about becoming PERFECT, it’s about getting BETTER. Because human beings are not robots (thankfully).

That’s why the WLCWW challenge gives you a whole range of credit for your 10 minutes of daily activity, whether active recovery is the best for you or if what you need is closer to intense workouts. Check out this video of Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck explaining how this works in more detail.

You can always choose to flog yourself by committing to a rigid set of guidelines for a finite period of time – all that takes is a little willpower. But then what’s been gained? How do you incorporate what you’ve learned going forward? How has your life improved in the long run? So, you’ve successfully white knuckled your way through a few months, even if it were possible to sustain a lifestyle like that – who would want to?

Anyone out there disagree with this approach? Tell us why in the comments.

The WLC evolves every year to make it increasingly effective for participants, and we want to hear from you what has worked best so we can incorporate your ideas. Sound off below.