What I learned from doing 2000 Pushups

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up to do 2000 pushups in February for the Canadian Mental Health Association, but I did it!

Here's how I got through it:

1. The owner at my gym is the one that invited me to participate, so every time we saw each other, we'd make sure we had done all our pushups for the day. Right away this gave me some immediate motivation and accountability, and it made it a bit more fun.  

2. The challenge runs through an app, and every day it would send me a notification letting me know what the target was, and it would also include a tip, fact or resource about mental health. This kept me focused on the end goal and engaged in the challenge, even when I felt like my mind was doing a million things at once!

3. I announced the challenge on my insta stories, so this made it real! This is honestly a great way to keep you accountable to something! Sure, a lot of folks might not notice, but your close network will and they'll cheer you on and ask about it when you see them. And you can't let them down, can you?

Here's what I learned:

1. Even if I can't fit in a workout, I can fit in effective and challenging exercise in small breaks throughout the day. Even though this is stuff I help my clients with all the time, for some reason it wasn't clicking that I could apply this to myself. A little bit goes a long way. DUH!

2. You can get stronger and achieve physiological changes in your body with quick movement breaks if you're consistent and create progressions. Throughout the challenge, I did a mix of incline and floor pushups. Whenever a certain incline started to feel easy to hit 20 reps in a row, I'd lower it and go from there. So even though I was only doing exercise in small bursts, I was still making sure it was challenging me and I was finding ways to make progress. Because of this, my floor pushups started to feel stronger and I definitely noticed some growth in my triceps over the month which was really exciting!

What you can do with this info:

1. Choose a specific fitness goal over a reasonable amount of time like 30-60 days 

2. Create your plan of attack: break it down into its smallest component, then figure out how you are going to execute it

3. Tell someone or enlist a buddy or a coach

4. Track it - I use the Evertfit App for my clients and myself and this makes it feel like a fun game when you accomplish a task

5. Stay the course, then once you hit your end date, reassess and progress!

Achieving goals isn't easy, but there are definitely things we can do to simplify the process so the path to success is clearer and smoother. If you're not sure where to start with your goals, contact me and I'll help you make a plan to get on track!

Sending you good vibes, strength and confidence ALWAYS. 

Coach Dee

@deefitdot

coachdeefitdot@gmail.com 

coachdeefit.com

*This is a fitness and personal training blog for information purposes only and shouldn’t be seen as health, nutritional, or medical advice. This site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis or treatment. Any information you use from this site is at your own risk. Never disregard professional advice or delay seeking it because of something you read on this site.