On February 1st I took a challenge to do 100 sit-ups everyday for a month. I posted the idea to my Facebook page to recruit some friends to do it with me, but mostly just to hold myself accountable. By telling the world (my world at least) what I was up to, they could inquire about it at anytime, and I know I would be embarrassed if I didn't keep it up. Many of my friends started out doing it, but I know most of them didn't finish - and that's ok - if I motivated anyone to do it for even a little bit, mission partially accomplished.
I've always been an active guy and have kept myself in fairly decent shape. I definitely should be exercising more, but I don't like going to a gym on a regular basis. I'm a busy guy. It's not an excuse, but it's true. I work hard and when I come home, I'm tired. I'm the kind of guy who will go to a gym on a regular basis for about a month and then I slack off and next thing I know, months have gone by and I haven't been there. By taking a challenge, this forced me to keep at it.
I took the challenge very seriously. There was one night when I had just crawled into bed and realised that I still had 25 more to do so I got up and did them. I printed out a calendar for the month of February with the sets that I planned to do. When I did them, I checked it off the calendar. It was a great way to keep track of what I had done for that day. I even bought a bench especially for sit-ups.
I wrote a pretty detailed blog post about the first week which you can read here. It did get easier as then month went on. I started doing 4 sets of 25 on the 3rd week and kept those repetitions for the rest of the month.
I had to go to Vancouver for 4 days and still never broke the challenge while staying with family and out of my own little world in Calgary.
RESULTS
I never did take before and after pictures, measurements, or weight. It was never about that. It was about trying to strengthen my core and get the ball rolling on exercising more. I wish I could tell you that I lost 2 inches on my waist, dropped 7 pounds and now have a six pack, but I'm sorry. What I can tell you is, that I do see a little more definition of my abs, and feel stronger. During a recent hockey game, I dropped a guy who was bigger than me while battling for the puck behind the net. No big deal, but I felt good about it. However, It didn't feel as good as the satisfaction of completing the challenge.
The sit-ups took up less than 10 minutes of my day and it really wasn't an inconvenience at all. Time was no excuse for me breaking the challenge.
WHAT'S NEXT?
I know myself better than anyone, and I knew I was on to something that would work for me. This challenge that I took was working and I was sticking with it. I decided after the first week that I had to keep it going and that the next month's challenge was going to be push-ups. I started adding a few push-ups towards the end of February to prepare myself for this month's challenge. So today, one week into March, the guy who couldn't do 3 push-ups exactly a month ago, is now doing 50 of them everyday - AND, I'm still doing 100 sit-ups everyday. I kept them up along with the push-ups.
The push-ups aren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. My abs were killing me a month ago while doing them. They sometimes hurt a little bit now, but for the most part it's not too bad. I've been doing 10 sets of 5. It's not much, but it's a start. I've done a few sets of 10 and can do it without any problem. For now, I'm keeping it simple and will increase it as the month goes on.
The idea of doing a challenge really seems to work for me as I have been holding myself accountable. It might not be for everyone, but it's working very well for me. I suggest you try it. Maybe it will work for you too. I'm thinking of ideas for next month's challenge. Any suggestions?
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