Day 24 – I’m Baaack!

Three things I have never been good at keeping up: dieting, exercising and journaling. So here I am doing all three! I guess I figured that, whether you succeed or fail, do it spectacularly.

My absence over the past few days mostly had to do with my laptop being in the shop. (I hate viruses.) But in the meantime I have kept up my (somewhat) healthy eating and my (moderate) exercise regimen. And what do I have to show for it?

On the downside, I am repeating week three of the 100 Pushup system. I could not keep up with my final reps last week, but on Friday I did manage over 100 pushups over the 5 reps. I am slightly ahead of last week’s pace, so I am optimistic that I will move on. On the upside, I lost another pound, meaning that I am down 5 pounds since I began. All in all, I feel pretty good. A slimmer, stronger version of me is being sculpted every day.

Day 19 – Hitting The Wall?

Today I had a minor setback in my pushup reps. My numbers were 20-25-15-15-20, meaning my last rep was 5 short of the goal. If I can’t reach my goal on Friday, I will probably need to repeat week 3 before progressing.

Athletes (real athletes, not people like me) talk about hitting the wall or plateauing, about coming to that place where progress may still be possible, but is very difficult. Having practiced more spiritual disciplines than physical disciplines, I know that much the same is true there. You can hit a dry spell where, despite your best desire, you seem like you are not progressing.

The secret to both is in pressing on. You may need to do more of the same thing, you may need to vary the routine, but you don’t give up. Progress is seldom made by coming to a halt. So if I have to repeat a week, I will do so. My goal is 100 consecutive pushups, and I am going to make it.