We were a little bit nervous on the second go around of the October Challenge.  After all, last year’s Challenge was nearly impossible to beat as the results were fat loss and strength improvements across the board.  We don’t like doing things half way, so we were wondering what part two was going to look like after trying to replicate an enormously successful 2012 campaign.

Well.

It lived up to it and then some.

Average Fat Loss: 5.2 pounds

Average PRs per Person: 4

Most Fat Loss: Kyle Atkinson, 24 pounds

Most Muscle Growth: Brian Gallo, 12 pounds

Most PRs: Chelsea Siefert, 13

Male Winner: Brian Gallo, 156 points

Female Winner: Chelsea Siefert, 172 points

 

Overall Point Leaders

The following are the aggregate leaders when taking into account fat loss (or muscle growth) and performance achievements.

Men

  1. Brian Gallo, 156 points
  2. Kyle Atkinson, 145 points
  3. Peter Humphrey, 120 points
  4. Corey Grad, 78 points
  5. Jon Haines, 66 points
  6. Scott Record, 66 points
  7. Kyle Lindsay, 51 points
  8. Zack Harvey, 51 points
  9. Jeff Rosen, 50 points
  10. Matt Eubank, 41 points

 

Women

  1. Chelsea Siefert, 172 points
  2. Darian Kimball, 120 points
  3. Monica Wolfe, 99 points
  4. Gabby Debenedetti, 80 points
  5. Meryl Green, 76 points
  6. Lyndsey Maiorano, 75 points
  7. Julianne Russsell, 71 points
  8. Maria Alcoke, 65 points
  9. Jacquelyn Schneider, 65 points
  10. Nikki Frye, 65 points

 

Fat Loss Leaders

Men

  1. Kyle Atkinson, 24 pounds
  2. Brian Gallo, 12 pounds (muscle growth)
  3. Pedro Franco, 11 pounds
  4. Josh Thorpe, 7 pounds
  5. 5 tied with 5 pounds

 

Women

  1. Kristi Miller, 15 pounds
  2. Gabby Debenedetti, 10 pounds
  3. Chelsea Siefert, 10 pounds
  4. Meryl Green, 7 pounds
  5. Christina Bowery, 6 pounds

 

While we always make it a point to recognize those who have put in hard work, the real point of this month is buckling down on your own and reaching your own individual goals.

We are incredibly proud of each participant, from those who lost a few pounds, those who maybe hit one or two personal bests and those who attacked it aggressively and made serious advancements for themselves.

Every participant improved in some way and that’s why we love this month.

Here are those who stood out for their hard work and efforts above and beyond the norm.

October Challenge Stand Outs

Brian Gallo, 27 – Math Teacher

  • October Muscle Gain: 12 pounds
  • 465# deadlift
  • 375# squat
  • 250# power clean
  • 235# hang clean
  • 225# split jerk
  • Level I Prison Yard
  • Level IV Barbell Club

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“For the October challenge, I made some adjustments in my diet from the P360 meal plan.  Drank extra glasses of milk (it was gross), added extra portions and carbs until I was sick of eating, and stopped the weekend binges of burritos.  I was all in going into the challenge to see my progress since first joining the gym.  I wanted to get back into the shape I was in before I got my new job and worked an insane amount of hours per week, and yes teachers work past 3.  I’m also running Tough Mudder next week and needed to improve my stamina.  P360 is a great community and other members do a great job of pushing each other, this helped me stay focused and push myself further than I thought I could go.  I also placed a big emphasis on my form with the power lifts.  You guys really helped me out by critiquing my form and helping to improve it, this was a large factor in my improvements.  I’m always looking for ways to challenge myself and the October Challenge definitely did the trick.  I’m already looking forward to the next one, and my next personal challenge of level 2 frog club.  Thanks, guys!”

Kyle Atkinson, 28 – GREAT Kids Snacks

  • October Fat Loss: 24 pounds
  • 415# deadlift
  • 215# jerk
  • Level II Barbell Club

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“For the October challenge I wanted to see how much weight I could lose.  I read Dave and Pritz’s experiences with intermittent fasting and thought I would give it a try.  I also had a friend who had been eating Paleo for a few weeks and would give me things to eat that she couldn’t finish herself.  That evolved into only eating Paleo food for 8 hours a day for the majority of the month.  Of course I cheated and would eat non-Paleo food too, but I stuck to the 8 hour eating window pretty religiously. I reduced alcohol consumption to 3 days for the month, albeit a heavy 3.  I gave into peer pressure for prom night, Jason Aldean, and Zac Brown but all in all it was pretty easy to do after the hunger pains went away 3 days into it.”

Pedro Franco, 27 – PhD student

  • October Fat Loss: 11 pounds (36 since joining P360)

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“After hitting a plateau on my weight loss around 30 pounds, I decided to tweak my fat and carb intake. I payed a lot of attention to what I ate and I tracked it with an app.  I also did IF which gave me a lot of awareness over my body and believe it or not, feeling so much control over it, helped me to get things done.  All this being said I was 95% on point during weekdays but I did indulged myself on weekends.  In other words, I just kept everything much more strict during the month and it helped me lose 11 pounds!”

Kristi Miller, 31 – Marketing Director

  • October Fat Loss: 15 pounds
  • Level II Prison Yard Club (5)

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“During the October Challenge, I started Intermittent Fasting from a 2pm – 10pm time window with evening workouts.  I really enjoy it, because I don’t have to be so strict with my diet, and it led to me really leaning out (two’fer!).  I put the booze down, and didn’t get hammered for the entire month.  A one-drink max prevented my late night Mac & Cheese run-ins, and day-after visits to In-And-Out (judgement free zone). That was huge.  I focused on CONSISTENCY at the gym over PRing, with a “Make Every Rep Count” motto.  I worked out 5 times a week (combo of P360 3 to 4 times a week plus rocking climbing and yoga). I went into workouts with the intent of doing every single rep with perfect form, over racing through the workout or beasting out PRs.  What gave me the most motivation was definitely all of the encouragement from you guys, the trainers, and the awesome members – seriously the best community on the planet!”

Monica Wolfe, 27 – Research Scientist

  • October Fat Loss: 3 pounds (10 since joining)
  • 7 PRs
  • Level II Barbell Club

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“For the past year I have been actively trying to eat healthy and lose weight, but my progress on the scale had pretty much stalled over the last couple months.  The October challenge was just what I needed to motivate me to kick things into a higher gear in order to see some results and finally lose the last of the 10 pounds I had been trying to drop since joining the gym.  I started going to classes 4-5 times a week, and really tried to limit carbs, especially pre-workout. Probably the biggest change was that I decided to focus more on strength, instead of fat loss.  I think the challenge of adding more weight to my lifts really helped me break through the plateau I had been stuck on, and proved to me that I was making progress regardless of what the scale was saying.”

Gabby Debenedetti, 22 – PT Aide

  • October Fat Loss: 10 pounds
  • 10 PRs

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“When I first heard about the October Challenge I was excited and nervous to start. Since joining the gym in July I had never felt so intimidated, motivated, and excited to work out and I knew the October Challenge would give me the extra push I had been wanting. It did exactly that. I think the two things that helped with my success during October were cleaning up what I was doing in the kitchen and not being afraid (and having lots of encouragement) to add the extra 5 or 10 lbs throughout all of the different workouts. Food prepping my gluten/dairy/soy free meals on Sundays really kept me on track. I swear by it and actually look forward to doing it each week (I also REALLY look forward to my cheat meals each week). As fabulous as the weight loss was, I am equally excited that have become so much stronger and can feel it while running and see it in my lifts, which I never thought I would actually get to add weight to!

I think my favorite part of this month was how much better I felt doing the “Forrest Gump” challenge day, which last time I did it felt like it took me forever to finish.  My plan is to use the momentum and motivation from the October challenge to keep moving forward. I might just even pretend that every month is the October challenge!”

Meryl Green, 26 – Accountant

  • October Fat Loss:  7 pounds
  • 4 PRs
  • Level I Barbell Club

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“For the October challenge I decided that I would take a stab at intermittent fasting (IF).  I had read about the great results that Dave and Pritz had and I was curious to try it out myself.  Personally, it is easier for me to fast than to be told what not to eat (I love BREAD).  The first few days were the most difficult but once I got the hang of it my body got used to the feeding/fasting times.  A majority of the time I wasn’t even hungry. I did however cheat on the weekends, like binge drink on Saturday nights or eat at a Vegas buffet etc.  But Mon-Fri I stuck to a pretty strict schedule of 7:30AM-3:30PM (8 hour feeding window, 16 hour fasting window).  I attended the 6:15AM classes 4-5 times a week and my first meal after fasting would start right after my workout.  If I was going to eat carbs I always made sure to eat them in my first meal.  I believe that this way of eating lead me to hit bigger lifts during my workouts because I had more energy and better mental clarity during workouts.  I never felt sluggish.  After a month of doing IF, it has been easier for me to distinguish the difference between actual hunger and mindless cravings.”

Darian Kimball, 24 – Physical Therapy

  • October Fat Loss: 3 pounds
  • 10 PRs
  • 1 full pull-up
  • Level I Barbell Club

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“For me this month was all about finding that happy balance between eating well and feeling satisfied and getting out of my comfort zone on exercises.  I learned during last year’s challenge that severely limiting what I ate (very little carbs) made me absolutely freaking miserable no matter how well it worked.  My golden key to success was after working out in the morning, I ate a piece of toast with my eggs.  I was no longer hungry by 10 a.m. and it curbed most cravings for sugar and carbs for the rest of the day.  For those other pesky sugar cravings, I ate dark chocolate.  I lost just a few pounds this way, but I would rather lose it in this slow more enjoyable manner, than faster and being in a constant bad mood.  As for exercises I wanted to try new lifts and break this ridiculous comfort zone I’ve been in for the past year.  I found out that I love clean and jerks!  I am also competitive to a fault and found myself pushing harder because my workout partner was doing the same.  The biggest lesson that I take away is to find what works best for you, not necessarily what has worked best for others.”

Chelsea Siefert, 31 – Marketing Manager

  • October Fat Loss: 10 pounds
  • 11 PRs
  • Level II Frog Club

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“I made a conscious effort to cut out alcohol, sugar, and starchy carbs like bread and pasta. I wasn’t 100% strict, but if I did “cheat” it was usually on special occasion and in moderation. For me this approach meant doing a lot more cooking and preparing from home. I knew that when I ate out, I was far less likely to avoid the things I was trying to avoid.
I went into the month not really thinking I’d hit as many PRs as I did.  My goal was progression, so each day I went into the workouts with the mentality that I would at least try to do a little more than what I had previously done.  Challenging, yet modest enough that I knew my body could handle it.  This mentality, along with cutting crap out if my diet, led to a surprisingly great month… and it helped me drop 10 lbs!”

Congratulations again to all of the participants.  If you are proud of your results, we want to hear about it.  Please post them on Facebook with #OctoberChallenge.