200 Pushups a Day For a Month — From a Fairly Fit 43 Year-Old Father
About Me
I’m a Type A personality. I own my own business. I enjoy working and working out. I am big into health, fitness, and optimizing my body. As I age, I’m really trying to keep the wheels on, so to speak. I try to do something physical almost everyday, be it walking, biking, or weightlifting. I don’t get much time in the day for myself as I have two young children that require my below average culinary and entertainment skills. I’m in the stage of life where I try to get the most of my workouts in the least amount of time. Family obligations take priority and self-care is at best, second fiddle.
In spite of all this, I feel that I’m fairly fit. It’s nice to get my backstory, but is it relevant? I don’t think so. I’m saying it because none of it matters. I’m different than you are. You are different from the next guy or girl. And if you were to do 200 pushups a day for a month, you’ll see that the challenge is less about doing it, than it is about telling yourself you are doing it.
The Stress of Quarantine Life
I’m quarantined at home due to coronavirus. It’s not that I don’t have anything to do. I’ve got plenty of random papers to sign on my desk and the workload is ever climbing. But, my motivation has suffered tremendously. Maybe I’m watching too much COVID-19 newscasts. It doesn’t help that the entire family is home working and schooling every day because the distractions are endless until bedtime. I’ve got seven alarms set on my phone so that my kids don’t miss a Zoom call. Seven. So, I’ve been a bit out of sorts.
I’m looking for sanity. I’m looking for consistency. I’m looking for the rainbow, let alone the pot of toilet paper at the end of it. Therefore, I started to do what I normally do when I’m stressed. I starved myself. And to beat the starvation response out, I exercise. It helps to reignite my appetite and channel the stress positively at the same time. Don’t worry, though. I’m human and have many bad habits. Fortunately, the list is too long to write here!
Why Pushups
Pushups. Push-ups. Push ups. I love them. Sort of. I like the simple beauty of them. They’re amazing for a quick “I can’t go to the gym” workout. I can roll out of bed, hit the floor, and start performing them. And, I wouldn’t even need to open my eyes first.
Pushups are perfect during quarantines, commercial breaks, and afternoon cartoons. Do enough of them and they can build your chest, arms, and shoulders; everything a man like me needs to show his partner that he’s still got some mojo! I think the question should be “Why not pushups?”
I’m all for testing my limits. Since I’ve trapped myself inside my home, I am confined by the exercise equipment I have here in my home. But I don’t need another excuse. Pushups don’t need anything other than my body and my man tears. What’s the worst that could happen if I took a pushup challenge? Maybe, I could transform into a shirt-busting, silver-haired Superman. Who knows? Questions need to be answered.
Why 200? I think the body is meant to adapt. I feel that if I started with a lower number, I’d reach peak performance way before the month was up. 10 is too few, and 500 a day may kill me. Using a combination of wishful thinking and random guessing, 200 sounded like a great target number. All I needed was a floor. Plus, if the pushups got easier, I could change my hand placement and make them harder! And if I needed more flair, I could try them one-handed.
The Age Factor
At 43, I feel that I should be varying my workouts. I try not to be a one trick pony for one specific reason. As we get older, our muscles move in patterns that become engrained in both brain and body. This has the benefit of creating efficiency in everyday movements. But, the trade off is reduced flexibility in the joints. I feel that the lack of flexibility over time becomes a huge contributor to chronic pain. I know it to be fundamentally true in myself. So, performing the same exercise every single day for a month had me worried, and rightfully so.
Would I get joint pain, multiple day soreness, or tissue damage from overtraining? I’m no spring chicken. I’m in the latter half to third of my life. I can’t kid myself that I’m 20 again. These are real considerations.
These days I wake up and, already, something hurts. Something needs to be stretched. Something needs to be left alone. I’m doing what we all are doing, which is rolling with the punches of Father Time. I’m doing the best that I can to avoid arthritis, taxes, and death. I may not be winning, but I’m happy to still be in the game.
In any regard, I want to stay fit. It allows me to keep enjoying life. I want to maintain the energy to keep up with my two kids and to be able to dominate everyone at their elementary school playground…without throwing my back out. (I kid, sort of.)
I think I can do it, but I’ll never know if I don’t try. I’m also curious to see how my body holds up to repetitive stress and if I can avoid the syndrome of it in the process. Onward, we go.
The Day of Fools and Beyond
On the first of April, I started my journey. 200 pushups. It took 30 minutes and was so over so fast that I contemplated doing an extra hundred. It’s a good thing I didn’t. 24 hours later, my chest was so sore that I could barely push my morning tea up into my mouth. But, I kept going on day two, powered by hope and enthusiasm. I found a way to get them done by spreading them out over the day.
I didn’t improve every day, if that’s what you’re wondering. Some days were crap. Some days were phenomenal. But every day, pushups got done. Sometimes I finished them before breakfast. At other times, I finished them right before midnight.
I probably could have done better with a more consistent routine, or blocked out a specific time for pushups. But then again, my house is currently a myriad of distractions and interruptions. I did what I could.
Aches and Pains
The pain came. Three days in, I got some weird clicking in my elbows. It wasn’t painful at first, but it reminded me of a seldom used old oak door on a rusty hinge. After a few straight days of elbow creaking, it did begin to hurt. I had to massage my triceps as well as change my positioning to avoid missing a day. That lasted for about a week and then it just went away.
Over the course of the past month I had: popping of my shoulder joint, wrist pain, low back pain, and tingling in my first two fingers on my right hand. In fact, as I type, I feel my index finger tingling with every key press.
It’s muscular pain, which is a good thing. Well, it’s better than soft tissue damage. My muscles are getting overloaded and since daily pushups are not a normal thing in my life, my body needs some maintenance. Lucky for me, I have YouTube to assist me with stretching and massaging techniques. Remember, I can’t really get out of the house right now to go see a professional.
I imagine that if I were offered the pushup challenge 20 years ago, I would be getting that pump, fueling my body with nachos and rum, and hitting the beach to show off my “gains”, my wrinkle-free features, and hairless chest.
Nowadays, I’m reaching for the Battle Balm, soaking in the hot tub, and getting to bed early to enhance my circulation and recover for the next day. The young version of myself is long gone and this is where I’m at. I’ve just got to deal with it.
Things I’ve Learned
The good news about getting older is that I’ve learned a few things about my body and what works for it. I’ve incorporated more upper body yoga postures and made some dietary changes to assist with the strength training, too! I’m starting to actually enjoy the pushups and look forward to them. Do they still wreak havoc on my body? Yes. But, I am finding ways to adapt and make the best of it.
This past month has really been an experience and I attribute it to the entire world being in total flux. So, I’ll give you the brief bullet list of all of the things I’ve learned during this 200 pushups a day challenge.
- My chest is sore every day. There hasn’t been a day where I woke up without soreness since day 1. I’ve got a few days left until April is over and, yeah, I’m still sore.
- I can do about 40 in a row now before my chest completely gives out and I need a break. Not bad!
- My elbow pain from the beginning of the month has gone away. I think it has to do with my improvement in technique and efficiency.
- My dull, low back pain went away. I think my core had previously been unhappy due to weakness. Early on in the month, I had difficulty keeping a straight back during the last few reps of pushups. But now, I don’t even think about my back sagging at all. It’s straight as a board and feels stronger now.
- My chest has gotten bigger. I can tell. I have veins in them and I can see some striations. It’s awesome! See pic.
- My triceps have gotten bigger and more defined. I like this! My arms shrunk after I hit 40. From the side now, it looks like they’ve grown back!
- My shoulders have gotten more rounded. I’ve got shoulders! I like the way they look in a t-shirt again! For some reason, I feel more formidable now!
- There were days when I didn’t think I could do it. But, I did. I got through it. I just sucked it up. Doubt is a strong deterrent to action!
- It was somewhat comforting to know that I had pushups to do every day. In this pandemic, it’s given me some consistency. As soon as I wake up, I know that it’s on my to-do list. I must admit that it feels good to check that box when I’m done!
- It was somewhat daunting to know that I had pushups to do every day. Some days, 200 pushups seemed insurmountable. On these days, I had to do them in bite sized chunks. It was the only way to get through.
- Consistency is hard. I can only speak for myself here, but it is probably one of the top three most difficult things for me to be. I struggle with consistency in work and now it shows up here. Hmm.
Conclusion
I’m almost done with my month of pushups. On April 30th, I will have done exactly 6000 in total. Did it change me? Yes! A pushup challenge is supposed to change you. It’s a challenge to what you think about yourself, your body, and your limitations. If you didn’t get that out of a pushup challenge, than I feel you probably didn’t do enough of them. It’s called a challenge for a reason!
Our brains place these imaginary limits on ourselves to protect us, but in doing so, these limits also prevent us from reaching our potential. Even worse, limits can prevent us from even reaching for our potential. The push up challenge really made me think about my thoughts. I didn’t realize how bounded my thinking actually was!
I now see that I am stronger than I think. I am more durable than I think. I am more capable than I think. I now see that my body is an amazing, resilient tool that can perform on another level. I now see that I can reach that level by not thinking so much. Nike’s slogan comes to mind. Just do it. They’re absolutely right.
The next question is, will I continue the pushup challenge? The resounding answer is yes! I like what I see. I look healthier. I feel stronger. I like it a lot! Also, as I said before, consistency is hard for me. So what else can I do to be more consistent other than more pushups? I wonder if I can include another exercise in the month of May? I guess I have a couple of days to think about it…
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please comment and share!
