Sorel Mizzi earlier this year issued an ambitious health challenge to the poker community and just a few months later the challenge is already a huge success, Mizzi told Pokernews in a new interview.

The challenge consisted of a call from Mizzi to fellow poker players to turn around their lifestyles and join him in the fight for a healthier living.

Mizzi revealed that he had initially hoped for a handful of signups, but instead he got 70, much to his own surprise.

"I ended up getting 70 people which was super surprising," Mizzi said.

"I was hoping to get maybe three or four, with two of them dropping out. But somehow I got a lot of interest."

The challenge urges people to record their progress as they pursue a better lifestyle through video blogging and diary entries. This too, Mizzi said, has gone far better than expected.

"There are actually five or six guys who have done video montages of their progress, and one guy is doing videos every other day. It's really cool to keep up to date with it like that," he said.

"It's amazing that I somehow sparked this change in people's life, it's a really cool feeling."

Behind the challenge was an idea to get into shape, sparked by years of inactiveness that follows many a poker players' daily routine. In order to turn this around, Mizzi took a stance, changed his habits and issued the challenge.

"I was just tired of not being fit. In high school I was in really good shape, I did a lot of sports and was very activate. Poker made me spiral downwards and I really wanted to change that, so I sort of made a life choice," he said.

"It was a really good decision and the quality of my life has really improved."

The challenge will not only give poker players an opportunity of changing their unhealthy patterns, it will also offer a prize for the ones who show off the biggest or most impressive changes.

A team of professional coaches will help Mizzi decide the winners, which will then receive private coaching sessions and staking from Mizzi himself.