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.