100,000 Pushups in 2018

nossmf

Ok, synopsis for those just joining who don't want to scroll through 13 (!!) pages of this thread...

After a decade of lifting weights, I gave up my gym membership to pay for my kids' braces. (First kid just got his off, this sacrifice paid for kids 2 and 3, still have one more to go...sigh.) Since this happened in December 2017, it seemed natural to do something active as a New Year's Resolution, but what? I thought about starting a running regimen with the ultimate goal of doing my first marathon, but beginning to run during the height of a Colorado winter struck me as a bad idea. (Yes, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...)

Fortunately, it didn't take me long to decide on something different. I work at a military base as a contractor (served ten years, then my first civilian job is right back on the same base, go figure). My coworkers are a bunch of 18-25 year olds who have to take an annual fitness test, and they were comparing notes about how many pushups each could do. Pushups were a strength of mine during my own fitness tests, plus I was missing not being able to bench press, so boom, sold, my resolution would have something to do with pushups.

Looking at miscellaneous challenges here on MFP for inspiration, I initially settled on a challenge where over the course of the 365-day year I would have days representing each number, as in a day of 1 rep, a day of 2 reps, working all the way up to a day of 365 reps. This lasted all of about a week before I made two observations: 1) I was already capable of knocking out 365 reps (broken into several smaller sets spread throughout the day) early in the year, no need to wait until December, and 2) I was already getting bored with the idea of limiting myself early on to mini-goals which I could accomplish in under 10 seconds.

Thus I set my sights higher: 1 million pushups during the year! (Who else mentally read that sentence with the voice of Dr. Evil?) Fortunately, the math geek in me (bachelors degree in astrophysics, masters in space systems engineering, work with military satellites for a living) started crunching the numbers: 2,740 pushups per day, every single day without taking a day off. Yeah, that's not gonna happen...

But what if I knocked a zero off the end? I could already do 365 per day, so 274 was a cinch. This also gave me the flexibility to increase some days while taking other days completely off. Another minute playing with the numbers, and I determined, based upon my expected work schedule, I could do 500 per day at the office, and my days off from work would also be "rest days" without pushups, harkening back to my days lifting where rest days are a good thing.

Boom, I now had my challenge for myself: 100,000 pushups by the end of the year. I started this thread for the sole purpose of self accountability, posting progress not only to better keep track of where I'm at, but a constant reminder to myself to not slack off (too much). Considering 80% of New Year's Resolutions are forgotten by February, I figured this thread would stare unforgivingly at me every time I logged in without adding a post (and thus adding to my pushup total).

It worked. While age and injury prevention (and rehab) forced me to take extended periods of up to a week off from time to time, and my motivation surged and ebbed throughout the year (even from the start of a work shift to the end of that same shift), I kept on chugging. Even when the ever-present math voice in my head identified how far behind schedule I was falling, I kept on going.

(I admit, I setup an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of not only what was already done but projecting out the future, re-computing every day how long it would take to reach my goal at current pace, how many days I could get away with not doing any yet still reach my goal, etc.)

Part of this was stubbornness, but to my complete surprise I started to receive external confirmation as well. Random people in this forum started posting encouragement, and my coworkers who had initially snickered at the old man doing reps at his desk were now asking me for advice about their own military regimens, commenting about changes in my appearance or simple admiration.

Three times some young buck half my age challenged me to a contest, whether reps in a minute (standard military test), total reps without stopping and untimed, or doing 1-armed pushups. In each case this 41-year old put the 20-year old in his place, eliciting rounds of friendly ribbing from his peers and disbelieving stares for me. Two other times I had individuals set themselves their own pushup goals and join me (though they both gave up only a week in); once the entire crew I work with, 20 people, all got down to join me for one of my sets.

It got to the point where new kids joining our crew would be introduced to me first by my official position, but almost immediately after by being called "the pushup guy". Always said with a smile and laugh, perhaps a touch of either pride or envy?

Anyways, as I closed in my goal, I started to receive suggestions for what my goal should be for 2019. The obvious was to crank out another 100k next year, and every year after, with the ultimate idea of a million spread over a decade. Or swap out pushups for a different exercise, be it crunches, squats, jumping jacks, etc. My boss, a distance runner with a dozen marathons under his belt, suggested joining him for 1,000 miles for the year (20 miles per week) and my first marathon.

While I thanked the giver of each idea, I'm going to pass on all of them. I have learned the hard way just how much of a toll doing that many repetitions of anything takes on the body. Give me back my sets of 3-10 reps lifting weights, please!

As for running, I may have earned my letterman's jacket in high school by running track and cross country, but that was 25 years and 50 pounds ago, when it was a LOT easier to run. Plus running is something I could not do at work but have to do after work. YOU try working a 12-hour graveyard shift, add in 3 hours of commute (90 minutes each way), try to fit in sleep and meals and still find time (and motivation) to go for a run every day. Yes, some people do it, but at this stage in my life I am going to pass. (The dream of completing a marathon remains in the back of my mind...someday.)

Fortunately, we installed solar panels this summer, which involves a decent tax refund for home improvement this coming January. Should be enough to pay off the braces and get me back in the gym lifting once more. For now, I am just going to enjoy not only a week off from work for Christmas, but the knowledge I have reached my goal and can FINALLY STOP DOING PUSHUPS!!! lol

Some numbers the math geek in me is demanding to share...

Highest monthly total: 10,600 in November
Lowest monthly total: 6,000 in June
Highest daily total: 1,200 on 27 October

Single-set best 1 January: 55
Single-set best 21 December: 105

Pros of completing this challenge:
- Bigger chest and shoulders than when I began the year (yep, even better than after a decade of lifting!)
- Year-long discipline bled over to other areas of my life (finally got around to finishing the edits for my second novel, which I hope to submit to an actual publisher rather than self-publish like my first book)
- Maintained upper body strength so hopefully returning to weight lifting won't be quite as big a shock

Cons:
- No work on legs or back (I was doing pull ups early in the year, but alas that aspect didn't last)
- Overused joints, particularly my shoulders and elbows but also at times my wrists
- Guilt over taking days off, knowing every day not pushing added reps to the remaining days
- Grew SICK of pushups...used to love 'em, but by November I loathed the idea of doing any more, though by then I was close enough to the end that I forced myself through the motions. By December the excitement of closing in on my goal renewed my love of the pushup, but not enough for me to keep doing any more (at least not until after a good several months without first!)

This has been a good experience for me this year, but it is time to turn the page on this chapter of my fitness journey. If you are still reading this far into this post, thank you for a great deal of patience on your part. If I am the only person still reading, well, I started this thread for my own benefit anyway, so kudos to me. I will look to add a current photo later (after I remind myself how to do this).

Happy holidays to you and yours, and may your 2019 New Year's Resolutions prove successful in changing your life for the better. Barring a change in my thinking in the next 10 days, I think I will settle for something smaller this time out, like drinking 4 glasses of water each day. (But knowing me, I'm sure that will prove unsatisfying in short order, so perhaps by mid-January I will begin a new thread doing something semi-absurd yet again...)

nossmf

nossmf

Evidently haven't got this whole selfie thing figured out...I swear I look better in the mirror! lol