1200 days of exercise ten things I learned

A few years ago I completed my first 30-day exercise challenge.  At that stage, just getting to and from the floor was hard, and doing any push ups was surprisingly difficult.  Back then I found sitting at my desk at work to be difficult, and just getting around the house was harder than it ought to be. 

During that challenge I had to complete a minimum of 100 push ups each day, and no less than 25 push ups per set.  No rest days, and no excuses.  I could exceed the minimums if I wanted, but this didn’t reduce the number I had to do the following day.  This was incredibly difficult, and was a great exercise challenge.

While I was unaware of it at the time, this was the start of something big for me.  

At the end of the challenge, I immediately began another 30-day challenge.  When that one finished I started another.  When that finished, another was started, I kept doing this, and I haven't stopped.

Push up handles

I kept notes of all my challenges, a while ago I realised that I reached day 1,200.  Considering that before I completed my first challenge I rarely did 2 consecutive days of exercise, this is momentous for me.  

I wrote the following list of ten things I learned from doing 1,200 consecutive days of exercise.  I considered writing a list of 1,200 things that I learned, but that seemed excessive, so I whittled it down.

Ten things I learned from 1,200 days of exercise:

1. Push ups are hard and boring, they never get easier 
2. Pull ups are hard, they never get easier 
3. Planking is hard and stupid and boring, and so are squats 
4. If I don’t have daily minimums, I will find an excuse not to do any exercise – ever 
5. Most days are too cold, or too hot, or I have a headache, or I am in pain, or I am too busy, or I am too ill, or I am too tired from doing something else, or I don’t have time, or I am simply not in the mood for doing any exercise 
6. Completing any short-term challenge (eg 1,000 push ups a day for two months) is both pointless and highly motivational 
7. I have nothing for number seven 
8. Most people in this country can’t do the minimums that I can do (because they don't train)  
9. Most people could do vastly more than my minimums, and more than my maximum, if they could be bothered to train properly  
10. Since starting these challenges, most days I am in far less pain than I used to be in, so even though the challenges are hard and boring and the exercises are stupid and I don’t want to do them, it is still worth doing them

I have a few injuries from years go that make me not want to do any exercise.  Given the amount of pain I was in every day prior to doing 30 day exercise challenges, and how much less pain I am in now, once I started these 30 day challenges I haven’t stopped.  

Once one challenge ends I immediately begin another.  Not all challenges work the same muscle groups.  Sometimes challenges are exactly the same as the precious challenge, other times they are entirely different.  There are no days when I do no exercise.

Two of my giri

These challenges are very different from Western training.  Western training is ineffective, and you would need rest days.  I am not going to failure, I am not pushing out one more rep, I am not feeling the burn, I am not having rest days, I am not aiming for heterotrophy or any other form of aesthetics.  

This is prochnost' training.  I am training for strength and am getting a lot stronger.  Stronger muscles hold my body in a better position and reduce my pain.  Being in less pain means I push through doing these on the days when I don’t want to.  

I hope the ten things I learned from 1,200 days of exercise is helpful in motivating someone else to give it a try.  

If this is you, start small.  Pick an exercise, decide on daily minimums, then meet and exceed those minimums every day for 30 days.  Don't go to failure, and don't have rest days.  See how you feel at the end, perhaps you will want to do another 30 day challenge, and another, and one day you will look back at all you have achieved.  

May pull up challenge

I am a big fan of 30-day exercise challenges.  They are not so long that you get bored, but they are long enough to notice a result from your hard work.  

My son wanted me to do a minimum of 30 pull ups a day, for 30 days.  I didn’t want to, but I love 30-day challenges and couldn’t say no.  I increased that to 31 days so it could line up smoothly with the calendar month of May.   

These are strict unweighted pull ups.  No swinging, none of that kipping nonsense, from dead hang until my collar bone is level or above the bar.  I have a weighted belt that I sometimes use for pull ups.  I decided not to add any extra weight for this challenge.  

As with any challenge, you have minimums that must be met each day.  No cheating, no rest days.  You can and should exceed your minimums, but that does not count towards the following day, you still have to meet your minimums the following day.  

I recorded the number of pull ups I did each day over the month of May.  As you can see, most days I exceeded my minimums.  Some days I exceeded my minimums by quite a lot.  

Pull ups per day over the month of May

It felt like the longest 30-day challenge ever (and not just because it was 31 days).  Some days the weather was bitterly cold, or windy, or rainy, or frosty, or I left home in the dark and returned home in the dark. 

Doing pull ups in the dark in the rain after a long day of work, or doing pull ups in the dark when the bars are frosty in the morning before going to work, was not heaps of fun.  I didn't enjoy it.  

Completing this challenge felt like drudgery.  I committed to doing them, so I did them, and I did extra.  It really is that simple.  

This is partly why I like 30 day challenges, they are only 30 days so I know I can push through to the end not matter how much I am disliking it at the time.  At the end of the challenge, I am stronger.

Monkey bars under shade cloth are great for pull ups

During this challenge I completed a total of 1,410 pull ups, with an average of just over 45 per day.  Not too shabby for someone of my age.  I did strict pull ups: chest to bar, doesn't count unless my clavicle was above the bar, all the way down to dead hang, no swinging and no nonsense.  

My daily minimum was 30 pull ups.  I did this the first day, and exceeded this minimum every other day.  This was intentional, I wanted to exceed my minimums every day.  The first day I wanted to check and see that I had not chosen minimums that were too high or too low, that's why I didn't exceed my minimums on the first day.  

You will probably notice that I progressively did more daily pull ups as the challenge progressed, but the increase was not linear.  This was deliberate, as well as being convenient.  As I had to go to work, most days I didn't have much spare time to complete many extra, so I only did a few extras.  I also tried to modulate my increase.  As I was not having any rest days, modulating gives my body a chance to rest and repair without having a day off.  It is only 30 days, so there is no time for a rest day.  

Pull ups on a sunny day without a jumper 

Something you can't see from the graph is the number I completed per set, and you can't see how many I can do in a set, but this is important.  I can do over 20 pull ups with good form, but it wears me down.  Doing 20+ feels like "working out", and I don't want to do that.  Never do a 'work out', if you want to get strong you should train.  At most I do 50% to 75% of my maximum in each set, never more than that.  

I want to train efficiently and effectively.  I want to get stronger.  During this challenge I mostly only completed 10 to 15 per set as they are easy for me to complete.  Doing multiple sets of small numbers means that your body doesn't need a rest day.  This meant my technique stayed good, it meant I never felt the burn, it meant I was never in danger of injury, and it meant that I gained strength efficiently.  This is almost the exact opposite of Western training, and it works.  

According to inspire usa foundation the average man will be unable to perform more than a single pull-up once they reach the age of over twenty-five years old.  If you can do more than one pull up, you are above average!?!  Apparently, less than 5% of men can do ten strict pull ups.  This gives some perspective to the results of my little pull up challenge.  

The fact that a skinny person of my age can do ten pull ups without feeling it, demonstrates that prochnost' training is working for me.  I put in a few non-consecutive minutes of training every day and can do more pull ups than over 95% of men.  Western style training is failing these 95% of people, it failed me when I used to do it, and it is failing you.  

If you have read this far through my post, set yourself a 30 day exercise challenge.  Make it something you can do at home, for free.  Something like push ups, or pull ups, or sit ups, or some other body weight exercise is perfect.  Make it something you can do in a few minutes at a time.  Make it something that you can do no matter what the weather and no matter what happens at work.  Do several sets throughout the day, never feel the burn, and never push to your maximum during your challenge.  Aim to only do about 50% to 75% of your maximum each set.  As you get stronger, do more sets across the day, and try to modulate this increase.  

Do you maximum once before your challenge, then do it again the day after your challenge ends.  You will probably be surprised at how much you have improved.  

Give it a go, you have nothing to lose.  Be stronger.