Workouts
Wednesday: Did the following elliptical workout, which had me exhausted by the end.
Yesterday: Completed my 30 Minutes to Speed It Up treadmill run. Once again, I felt exhausted after, which I didn’t even realize until I finished and began walking back to the apartment. I looked like a robot.
Today: I’m about 88.2% better from the sickness, but a little bit still lurks, so I’m thinking I should take today as a rest day to give my body a little break.
Today is the start of something pretty crazy for me: a pushup challenge.
Pushups are one of my least favorite exercises, mainly because I’m horrible at them…and they’re hard (which is why this is one of the cases when I like to make difficult exercises easier). I have decided to stop reverting to “girl pushups” and start being a man doing the proper form. And by proper, I mean no more half-assing it like I usually do. I’m talking about body-like-a-board, chest-almost-to-the-ground form.
My goal: Do 30 pushups at once with AMAZING form.
The number 30 may not sound like much to you (to me it doesn’t even sound that difficult), but factoring in proper form changes everything. I tested myself last night to see how many I can do at once, and I made it to 5. Ya, I said 5 – it was so sad. (For the record, I was still recovering from an exhausting treadmill run and was coming off my free slurpee sugar high.) I never realized how horrible I was at REAL pushups until I had Matt watch me and only count the pushups I did correctly. Therefore, I am starting my challenge with 5 pushups at a time—aka this is a beginner’s challenge. Don’t judge me.
If you’re a half-asser like mwa at pushups (and/or you aren’t fully aware of how to do them properly), then check out my tips below for where each body part should be during the exercise.
The Setup for Pushups
Hands: on the floor, 1 to 2 hand widths past the shoulders
Elbows: point away from body
Arms: fully extended
Body: straight
Feet: 3 inches apart; toes on the floor
During the Pushups
Body: lowered and still straight
Arms: 90 degree angle; upper arms are parallel to the ground
And there you have it. This will be an interesting challenge for me. Feel free to participate! You only have to dedicated a few minutes or less each day. Yes, they won’t be the most enjoyable, but I know I’m going to feel hardcore by the 30th day.
What’s your least favorite exercise(s)? I despise mountain climbers and pushups.
Do you usually do real or “girl” pushups?
Did you get a free slurpee!?
***Check out my thoughts post pushup challenge in my pushup challenge recap post.
I love this! I really want to work on upper body strength and toning my arms. It’s the hardest thing for me to do because I have a lot of neck pain.
I love that your challenge is not crazy-hard, but gradual! I could so do this.
I normally do pushups on my knees because it helps my neck out. But my arms are also super weak…
Do it! Even though it’s gradual, I think it’s going to be killer for me, so we’ll see how it goes. Maybe as you gradually get stronger, you won’t strain you neck as much (assuming that’s the probleM)? Makes sense to me at least.
Good luck with your Push Up challenge. Push ups are hard. Probably my least favourite exercise. Although I would have to agree with you about mountain climbers too. Sometimes I can do them, sometimes I have trouble. Wrist issues that come and go.
Exactly! My wrists always start hurting. Not cool.
I think I can do the 30/30 Pushup Challenge! That seems really MANAGEABLE to me. I had friends do 100 pushups/day and I just can’t commit to something that sounds so daunting, at least right away – starting from basically scratch!
What?! 100 pushups/day sounds crazy! A goal of 30 at once is more than enough for me right now.