Last week as I spelled out my goals, I found that I had the easiest time coming up with goals for my Body. When we think about physical things such as our weight, or our strength, they can be relatively easy to measure. I know that last week at this time I weighed 200.2 pounds and could do 10 push-ups. They were simple facts. I set some simple goals based upon this. I wanted to lose 10% of my weight, and be able to do five times as many push-ups. While this is all well and good, there are several facets that I haven't addressed. First off, just thinking about the push-ups, is it better to be able to do fifty push-ups, or better to be able to do five sets of ten? Is it better if I can do those push-ups in two minutes, or if I do slow push-ups that take me a full five minutes? Should I have my hands facing forward, or pointing in or out? Should my hands be close to my body, or further out? On the way up should I be breathing in, out, or whatever feels natural? What am I thinking about when I do my push-ups? What is my mood?
My challenge for you is to look at your plans for your goals this month, and see how you might adjust your activities. You don't have to change the plan, but think about how you could, and consider playing with some of your ideas. Does these changes make the activity harder or easier? Do you feel like the results are the same, reduced, or amplified? Is the activity more or less enjoyable? If you feel you have some interesting results, I would love to hear about them in the comments!
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My advice to you, my dear friend, would be to start by doing 10 sets of push ups, five push ups per set. You want to breathe out on the way up, and perform at a deliberate pace. Rest about 30 seconds after each set, then hit 'em again.
ReplyDeleteOver time, try to work your way to five sets of ten, three sets of seventeen (one extra push up there) and two sets of twenty five.
I believe in you.
I need to set my hope challenge goals. So far, 09 has been a roller coaster for me. When things calm down, I need to focus on the challenge.
Great body challenge Gerb. I wonder what body elements and exercises, aside from pushups themselves, would benefit your 50 pushup goal. I've noticed many strength gains lately but on the days we do lots of pushups, I still seem to get tired at about the same rate. Maybe I should up my numbers during my warmup as well.
ReplyDeleteFor your body challenge I am going to do the following. This week I will pay extra attention to finishing hard. The workouts I've been doing are tough but I am certainly in a survival mode...often just hoping to finish. This week I will push harder to finish the final 1/3 of my workouts hard. Next week I will do the opposite. I will start my workouts like a bat out of hell. This will be much harder, I fear but may add some value. Best of Luck
Ahh...the wall of green. I deal with it every single day of my life and it never gets any lower.
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