I said in my last post, I’d give a mid month reevaluation of my March push-up goal. I did reevaluate the goal on the 15th but I’m just getting around the to the mid month update now…
With warmer weather, my return to running is gaining momentum. I did have a short setback when I had to stop a run because of some pretty severe pain in my hip. However, after just six days off, I was back at it.
My evolving breathwork, based on the Wim Hof Method, continues to fascinate me. I do have some new observations to share that may help anyone else jumping into this incredible game changer in the world of, well, living…
March Push-Up Challenge
My goal of 6,200 pushups for the month of March, 2021 should be achieved later today. I had a feeling when I started the month that the bar was set too low. What I’m now shooting for is 10,000 by the end of the month. That’s an additional 4,000 over ten days.
Has it made a difference? First, if you didn’t read the original post on the month’s goal, the push ups are in addition to me fairly tense daily workouts and runs. And, yes, it has made a difference.
It’s not just about triceps and pecs. Push ups are an overall exercise that strengthen the core and back, as well. I stick to a system of many sets of 20 pushups. I often follow a set with a 60 second plank and some air squats before the next set. The result is a muscular profile that my body has simply not had in any of the previous 52 years of my life.
What’s next?
The month will ultimately come to an end. The goal will be achieved. Push ups will continue to be an important part of my daily exercise. I just won’t be counting them so closely come April.
April will be the month of the pull up / chin up. I purchased and assembled a pull up rack at the start of the month. I have used it sparingly with the focus on my goal exercise. However, in April, the rack will see a lot of action.
What will the goal be? I can definitely say it won’t be measured in the thousands! This is an exercise that I’ve neglected to do most of my life. I don’t think I’m alone on that one. My goal will most likely to be simple. At the moment, I’d be happy to do ten a day! But, I’m sure I’ll set the bar higher than that. After all, once it becomes a regular habit, the numbers will naturally increase as the difficulty decreases.
Breathwork Observations
I’ve talked quite a bit about breathing over the past few months. I daily practice the Wim Hof Method, doing at least two sessions of a minimum five rounds each day. I now consider it a vital part of my life and I do not feel right until I’ve got some breathing under my belt in the morning.
On breath holds, I’ve noticed that sound is extremely important. If I have music on, I’m more relaxed and time goes by faster. If I have a meditation playlist playing, things get amped up a level or two and time simply melts away. The meditation music easily takes me beyond three minutes on my breath in holds.
As Wim Hof himself says in his book, Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential, breathwork should be performed on an empty stomach. I had the chance yesterday, on what may be my last ‘cheat day’, to experience an attempted session with an uncomfortably full stomach. Even four hours after I last shoveled food in my mouth, my breath holds were at best half of what they normally are.
Running Injury And Quick Recovery
With no intentional effort, my runs through the month got faster and faster. I felt I was keeping the same slow pace but I was shedding, at times, full minutes off previous runs on the same course. I felt like I was in my teens again…
But, on a short run, a started getting a sharp pain in my right hip. Before I was able to finish the run, the pain got so bad that I had to stop and walk the rest of the way. Interestingly, when I walked, it was barely noticeable.
I assumed I’d been down and out for at least a week, if not more. But, that was going by my old healing potential. Within four days, my mind was already telling me a week had gone by and the hip pain was all but gone. I had to remind myself that it was only four days and I should probably wait another day or two. I did just that and all seems to be good again.
With the warmer weather, the prospect of a summer spent running is getting exciting. I do have to curb my enthusiasm just a bit. I have to remind myself to keep my stride short and intentionally slow down. It’s a running paradox that when you do focus on those items, you end up running faster overall.
See how far my running has progressed in a year since this post: May, 2022 Running Stats
Cheat Days
With intermittent fasting and a full vegan diet, I thought it would be great to implement cheat days. This is turning out to be a disaster. Sure, two days later, I feel great after getting back on the system again. But, I simply feel like shit when I do these nasty things to my body. As far as I’m concerned, this experiment is over.
What Have I Learned About Goal Setting?
Back up to the push up challenge for one last thought. What have I learned about my ability to set challenging goals? I obviously set the bar too low on this one. When I look back, I think I have a history of doing that. My internal strategy seems to be to set a ‘reasonable’ goal on paper with a much loftier goal in my mind.
Why would I do this? I don’t want to fail. Doing it this way means I can blast through the goal and make myself feel all warm and fuzzy when I achieve twice as much as a set out to. Is this a healthy strategy?
I’m my overall lifestyle shift that started in October, 2020, my weight loss goal was to drop to 180 lbs. I blew past that with nearly a month left. I’m now 20-25 lbs. below that mark.
If I’d set my weight loss goal for 170 instead of 180, would I have still achieved the goal? I’ll simply never know on that one. But, the best way to test my goal setting and goal achieving ability is to simply set more goals.
I need to set more goals. Long term. Short term. Physical. Mental. I have vision of who I want to be and what I want to achieve overall. Therefore, it would only accelerate my growth to simply set more goals.
What better place to publish those goals than on this site. What better way to be accountable. Stay tuned folks. Big things are coming soon…