Why I Did 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 pullups, and ran 2 miles every day for 30 days.
How the hell did I get here?
Usually, when you see a thumbnail that has a shredded guy and some unimaginable workout routine in a bold font you can expect a nice sales pitch on why you need to buy this fitness routine to get rock hard chiseled abs, That's clickbait and it usually works; especially for me. While lurking the depths of youtube fitness videos I ran into the typical click thumbnail I described above and obviously clicked. Except for this time, there was a plot twist. There was no rock hard chiseled abs fitness routine being sold, The guy in the video actually did what he said and shared his experience. He completed 9000 squats, 6000 pushups, 3000 pullups, and ran 60 miles (30 Murphs) in 30 days. I was confused and inspired.
Feeling Stagnant
At the point of watching Matt Zhangs Murph challenge video, I had been at a very comfortable point in my life. Some might see this as a good thing but this state honestly scares the Sh** out of me. Mostly because I feel like there is very little growth personally and professionally that comes out of being comfortable and doing the same thing day in and day out. I'm naturally the type of person that thinks a lot about the future and where I would like myself to be. With the ambitious bucket list of things I would like to achieve simply coasting was not going to cut it. It was time to switch things up and try to “Level up”.
Perfect timing
A few weeks of procrastinating later.
Knock Knock. Whos There? CORONAVIRUS * SCREAM in Cardi B Voice*
Social distancing was now in full effect and that means WFH and no public gyms. I took this as a sign to being a bi*** commit to this challenge and break my mediocrity streak. In hopes to inspire someone similar to how Matt Zhang inspired me I vouched to record each day and share the journey with whoever is interested.
No pain, No gain.
On April 25th I started my challenge and on the 25th of May I wrapped up.
Here's what my experience was like in a few bullets with some tips:
- Daily Format: 20 sets: 1 mile, 15 squats, 10 pushups, 5 pullups then 1 mile seems to be the most popular format
- I opted for 10 sets: 2 miles, 30 squats, 20 pushups, and 10 pullups once my body was conditioned around day 20.
- The first 3–5 days are the hardest cause your body is not used to what you’re going through. Get lots of rest those days, I promise it gets easier on muscles.
- If you cannot make it one day, cut yourself some slack, It’s OKAY! Worst case just do 2 the next day. I did this 2 times after skipping and feeling guilty. (realizing I’m a huge hypocrite)
- Its a race against yourself, remember that.
- In case your curious my best time was 39 min on day 30, I started at 1 hour and 11 min.
Reaching the finish line
In hindsight, this was probably one of the most challenging things I’ve committed to. It was mentally draining some days, to the point where I would ask myself why I'm even doing the challenge. Getting through those days always felt the most satisfying and always led to the best sleep which is a good cause in my books.
30 Days later and I feel energized, accomplished, and motivated like I “Leveled up”. I think there are two main reasons as too why I feel this way. First, is because I was able to envision my goal and execute it as planned. That itself is always exciting and satisfying. Second, doing something that you don't necessarily enjoy every single day takes discipline. Flexing that discipline muscle each day made other tasks I had to complete on a daily basis feel like a walk in the park. I feel like these small challenges and opening your self up to discomfort and familiarizing yourself with doing stuff that is tough always pays off in the long term and will bring me one step closer to where I want to be.
