Yesterday I said I wasn’t that sore. But today, today I am. My shoulders, arms, chest and abs are all feeling it to various (intense) degrees.
I’m not sure people get it when I tell them. But it’s still worth it. I did way more than I thought I could, and for that feeling, being sore is okay. My mind won. And that is thrilling.
My arms and shoulders aren’t as sore today as I expected. Sure, they’re sore, but mostly they feel heavy. I think tomorrow will be the day the real pain sets in.
Last night I did 204 pushups as part of the #ICanDo20x challenge by Ramit Sethi, author of the blog I Will Teach You to be Rich (and a book of the same title) and retired Navy SEAL Commander Mark Devine, Founder of the SEALFIT site and author of The Way of the SEAL. They’re doing a 5-day challenge called Hell Week, and when I read the Day 1 challenge, I believed it.
My goal was 1,000. I did not succeed. Apparently my body is not as strong as my mind. I wished I’d started earlier in the day so I could have gotten through more. It took me an hour and forty minutes to do 204 pushups, most of them on my knees.
But. That’s TWO HUNDRED AND FOUR more pushups than I would have done otherwise. I’m willing to bet that’s more pushups than the average person got through yesterday. And WOW. I did a hardcore workout for almost two hours. I pushed myself after my muscles literally gave out and I fell on my face. I waited a few minutes and tried again. And again. And again.
By the end of the 1 hour 40 minutes, I couldn’t even do 5 pushups in a row (I mostly worked in sets of five, and gave myself a tick on a piece of paper to keep track.) I would struggle really hard on the first one, do okay on the next two, and then fail on number 4. I got to 199 pushups and I couldn’t get the last one. I fell three times in a row, and had to wait a few minutes before doing another set of 5 to make it 204 in total.
Today, looking back on the madness, I’m proud of what I achieved. Sure, my arms are filling with lactic acid and tomorrow’s gonna suck. But I pushed myself beyond what I thought I could do. Your mind really is where the battle is at. Every time I didn’t think I could do it, I told myself, just five more, and I did them.
Whatever you tackle today, don’t let your mind give out before your body does. When you’re in doubt, just do five more. Just do one more. And then, do one after that. You can do it.
jennasday