If you are stumbling across this randomly – At the beginning of Lent I gave myself a challenge….to complete 100 press ups 50 pull ups, every day, until lent was over (from Feb 13th – march 30th).
I’m not religious – I just saw it as a challenge!
Below are my thoughts and feelings along the way……..with some lessons that I learned (or lessons that were re-enforced by my experience).
Day 1 – I did the 1st workout of many! I broke it down into 10 sets:
5 pull ups
10 press ups x 10
It took me just under 10 minutes and you can see it here (It’s not all that exciting! – And I was that overwhelmed I said the wrong exercise name at the end!)
INTRO http://youtu.be/GPmY5W5Bu08
TRAINING http://youtu.be/nMKFYC5G6U4
It was hard, but not the hardest thing I have done. It was both a good muscle and fitness blast.
If day 1 was anything to go by – Day 2 was EVEN WORSE!!!
Day 2 I was SO SORE!
A quick note on soreness = A client recently asked me at Bootcamp that she was really after one workout – was she doing other bootcamps right as she wasn’t sore after 80-90% of them?
My answer: Soreness is not an indicator of a successful training session. Soreness happens when you either haven’t done something before….or for a while.
My chest was SO sore on day 2 – as I haven’t done 100 press ups and 50 pull ups in 10 minutes before.
THE LESSON? You will be sore when doing something new.
Day 2 was hard – it took me 20-25 mins as I read Feb/March Issue of FitPro magazine in between sets. I was actually featured in the Feb/March Issue for helping a female rugby player/client to get into the England squad! You can read her story HERE and if you want to read the FITPRO magazine article
Days 3 and 4 = Felt good. Tired…… but good.
A funny thing happened in the 2nd week.
I actually enjoyed my new training challenge!
I:
– Felt strong
– Felt fit
– Felt more muscular
Training sessions became easy – even though Day 1 and Day 2 had been so tough. Your body adapts similar to any other – it’s just about keeping it up.
Unfortunately…
By 3rd and 4th weeks – this challenge was really starting to ‘grate’ on me. I felt tired more and more – and it was getting in the way of other training, and I was just feeling NO FURTHER BENEFIT.
I thought to myself….is this what people feel like in the gym? IE They train hard, they put in the effort, but they probably do the same thing and don’t balance things out like recovery and neglecting other body parts? Ok, maybe a knew this one already! 😉
I got a bit of a cold, and thought to myself I have to keep going – Even if I felt like crap
The last 2 weeks it just started to feel like a chore.
So from doing 4800 press ups and 2400 pull ups in 48 days (!) – I learned the following:
LESSONS
1. You will be sore when doing something new.
2. The body is highly adaptable. After 2 days I was thinking (and saying to clients!) “I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew….maybe I should’ve halved the number as 40+ days is a long time.” A few days later, I felt great.
3. Following on, Doing the same thing over and over is not going to make your body adapt further. I Think that the sheer volume of upper body work just wore me down in the later weeks too.
4. When it comes to your own training, it doesnt have to be EVERY DAY…..but make sure you structure your training so it fits your schedule. Put your hardest session on a day you are going to have high carb or high fat meals or take-aways. Saturday morning Bootcamps are IDEAL!! …After all, most of us like to eat and drink on a weekend!
5. Don’t neglect other body parts, make sure you work your legs and also the back of your body – back, triceps, hamstrings, glutes as these will help your posture and keep you from injury.
6. It is important to test yourself once in a while. Then re-test yourself. Then do it again. You will be surprised at what you can do.