Recently, during a holiday get-together, I was asked why I do so many push-ups. “What’s the point?” she asked. “Is there some health benefit to doing so many?”
Let me back up a beat …
About a month ago I decided to challenge myself to complete 1000 push-ups in a single day. The idea didn’t come out of thin air. I’d finished listening to a book whose author had accomplished this in a single month of training with a former Navy Seal. I’d become bored with my workout routine and needed a new challenge. This seemed perfect!
But then it wasn’t.
I was being pretty lazy about increasing my daily count. Why? I have no idea. Letting it slide just felt okay. After all, no one was holding me accountable for reaching my goal — not even me apparently! My daily minimum was set at 25 pushups even though I’d been doing 100 regularly for months and in as fast a time as possible no less! Hmmm. What’s going on? Why wasn’t I committed to my new goal?
Have you ever forgotten to actually create a plan for accomplishing your goals? Me, too. And that’s what happened here. A plan guides our thoughts and actions. The idea of doing 1000 pushups in a single day was overwhelming. I needed to break it down into bite-size chunks. So, that’s what I did. My minimum every day is 100 pushups and I add 25 to that each day. But here’s the kicker — okay, there’s two — if I can’t increase by 25 on a given day, then I don’t worry about it, the next day, I just pick up where I left off. I also set a top goal. This is the number I can’t EXCEED each day. Here’s how this played out the day after Thanksgiving: On the holiday, I completed 375 pushups. That was my top target. Even though I reached it by early afternoon and could have done more, I didn’t. This meant that the day after my top target was 400. I finished those by around 5 p.m. Could I have done more? Yes. Did I? Nope.
Burnout is a real thing. How many times have you announced you’re going to start a new exercise habit, attacked it with gusto, and then petered out a month or two later? Me, too. Setting boundaries for new goals help reduce the risk of giving up entirely.
I should mention that I did a calculation to figure out how long it might take me to complete 1000 pushups in a day. It turns out, I can realistically hit my target by mid-Decemberish. We shall see …
Lesson #1: PLAN
Next time we’ll talk about “the why” of persisting. It ain’t always easy, but it sure is worth the effort! (Which is what I explained to my family friend who’d asked all those questions about my crazy pushup challenge!)
