Health | Fitness | Goals
I Did 20 Push-Ups Daily for 42 Days — Here’s What Happened
You can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you. — Jim Rohn
Fitness to me isn’t about a crunch or push-up, it’s about taking your power back. — Jillian Michaels
This year is jam-packed with 30-day challenges. I’ve put up a list of 50 different 30-day challenges for living a healthy and productive life.
I’m taking advantage of the flexibility that comes with working from home. After completing or failing each challenge, I will share my experience from a learning perspective.
Exercise: How much do you need every day?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an adult between 18–64 years old needs at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of strenuous exercise every week to live a healthy life.
That’s roughly 21 minutes of moderate and 11 minutes of vigorous activity each day.
However, only 22.9% of American adults meet this recommended criteria weekly.
Pick any successful individual, and you will see they make the exercise a necessary part of their daily life.
Why it’s so challenging to stick with the workout?
It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great. — Tom Hanks
Most people believe that exercise is like an algorithm that means executing steps 1,2,3, and n to produce results.
In my opinion, it’s more like an art. It’s challenging to master the art, let alone stay motivated to pursue it regularly.
It makes no difference how big or small your goals are; studies show that 80 percent of people quit their New Year’s plans by February.
My $0.02 to build a habit is to start tiny and embrace change. I have successfully completed six 30-day challenges in less than two months by making small changes.
Why am I doing 30-day challenges?
Naturally, I am a super active guy, and I don’t think I ever missed walking/running/hiking for the past decade. My activity mostly depends on weather conditions. I prefer to do hikes, tho.
I am also a voracious reader, which taught me that my job style (8+ hours on a chair each) could develop heart disease, joint issues, and diabetes type 2 issues later in life if I don’t stay active. I always work hard to be in the top 1% in almost all stages of my life.
I believe that health is the most crucial factor to make a happy and wealthy future.
If you are not doing 150+ minutes of moderate exercise each week, consider yourself in the 70.1% population.
Don’t be a victim of the majority; prioritize your health; if you cannot be in the 1%, try to be in the top 22.9% to live a healthy life.
Why 20 push-ups a day?
I read an article, Push for Better Mental Health; doing 3 compound exercises for 45-minute workouts at least three times a week will help to reduce depression and boost mental health.
I wanted to improve my core. I thought about trying compound exercises that targeted multiple muscles rather than just one part of the body.
I started with drinking 3–4 liters of water and a 30-day plank for 2 minutes to strengthen my core.
It’s difficult to accomplish even one push-up when you're inactive. I started with five in the morning, five before lunch, and ten before supper.
It was difficult for the first 4 to 8 days, but I gradually gained the strength to accomplish 20 in one set.
You’ll be shocked to know that by starting with 1–5 push-ups every day, I can now accomplish 30+ in one set, and in week 4, I completed 100 in a day. Of course, in multiple sets.
Top 7 reasons you should do push-ups every day
- Push-up is a compound exercise that targets multiple muscles like the chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and biceps.
- You can customize the push-up according to your fitness level. My partner started with one push-up a day by putting her knees on the ground.
- Push-ups help to strengthen your joints and bones.
- It's one of the best exercises to support your cardiovascular health
- Push-ups can help to improve your posture.
- Push-ups will make your daily life easy. You won’t even feel by picking heavy stuff.
- Push-ups will help you to improve your sex life.
- Push-ups will help you to reduce anxiety attacks. In fact, it’s one of the top exercises to combat anxiety attacks. Push-ups require entirely physical and mental attention, giving instant relief from anxiety.
The bottom line
In a nutshell, I did not get abs; frankly, I am not a fan of abs; I don’t consider it a healthy way of living for the long term.
These 30-day challenges are the first step to building tiny healthy habits to be more productive.
It’s your turn to do the challenge. Here is a quote to increase your motivation!
As soon as you start seeing the benefits, it will become a habit.
My previous 30-day challenges
- 30-day Water challenge
- Reading Challenge
- No Caffeine challenge
- No sugar challenge
- 60-day water challenge
- Plank challenge
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