I decided to do push-ups for 100 days in a row. Here’s my story.

I started well and was on a roll, until I made a big mistake.

In early March 2020, life was going well. I was exercising about twice a week; and running at least once a week.  Then the COVID-19 induced 21-day lockdown was announced in India which was soon extended (thrice) completely throwing my life out of gear!

When I write about my story today, I feel astonished how quickly I was sucked into the spiral of binge-watching TV shows and mindlessly watching random videos on YouTube till late in the night. This resulted into zero motivation to wake up early morning for an exercise routine at home. Even the daily Facebook LIVE Strength Training sessions by Pune Running (i.e. the group with which I used to regularly Strength Train and Run) could not help me to get back on track.

I was now complacent and getting back on track became a BIG challenge. It felt like my mind had decided to ‘shut down’, and the positive habits I had gradually built over the past couple of years suddenly went into hibernation (all at the same time!).

Work from home was the new normal, and with no other activity to do, I started to feel like I was losing my ‘edge’.  I knew I needed to act, but there was this big invisible force which prevented me from doing anything productive!!

I was desperately looking for something to motivate me, when the 100 day push up challenge was announced by Nikhil Shah, one of the mentors in Pune Running. The idea was simple. Participants had to do some push ups every day (in addition to their regular workout) for one hundred days in a row. I jumped at this opportunity, since I knew I needed some discipline back in my life. I decided that if I’m not doing any other exercise, let me at least start small and do “only” these push-ups. With sufficient momentum, I can later add other exercises to this regime.

* * * * * * * * * *

Day 1 began in May 2020, and I initially could easily manage 30 pushups (in 3 sets of 10) and I quickly raised it to 50 push-ups per day. But doing push-ups every day made my body a bit sore. I had not exercised for almost two months, and even previously, I only worked out twice a week. As such, after 10 days of daily push-ups, I started losing some steam and the daily count dropped. Also, if I did not work out in the morning, then doing the push-ups in the evening became a serious challenge.

So, I started completing my push up challenge in the morning as soon as I got up. By day 40 I was hitting a total of 120 push-ups in one day with a maximum of 30 push-ups in one set. I could feel getting a handle back on the rudder. Gradually, I also found time to build in some more exercises (squats, planks, abs, etc.) in my daily routine and I was extremely delighted with my progress.  

Eventually, doing pushups every day also improved my muscle shape and size and increased my strength, which fueled my motivation to not skip the routine.

Sometime around day 75, I thought that if I slightly increased the daily count for the rest of the challenge, I can even reach the magical number of 10,000 pushups in 100 days. With this new goal in mind, I increased the daily count to 150 and then to 200 by day 86.

But for each successful story, there must be a kahani mein twist! Mine came on day 90, just when I thought I was on a roll.

When I woke up on day 90, the muscles over the left part of my rib cage (just above my heart) were extremely sore. I could not even move my left arm. With a heavy heart (pun intended), I decided to take rest for that one day and tried all tactics of stretching I knew in a futile effort to make the pain go away!

I was fully aware that every day lost was going to make that number of 10,000 push-ups elusive. To achieve the milestone, the only option left was to make up with extra push-ups over the remaining days.

The pressure I felt was probably similar to how a set batsman (standing at the non-striker’s end) would feel seeing a dot ball in the last few overs of a limited overs cricket match while chasing an ever-increasing required run-rate!

On day 91, I managed 150 push ups with extreme difficulty, and 210 and 220 push-ups over the next couple of days sheerly through my will power. Every additional push up sent a jolt of pain through my left side. But in the madness to reach the 10,000 push-up mark, I continued with my regime for the next four days.

However, even after icing my aching and tender muscles, there was no respite, and I knew that there was no way that I could proceed and I decided to call it quits on day 97.

“Sometimes you need to lose a Battle to win the War”.

In the end, I’m glad that I pulled out. For I had already won the War over my complacency. Also, there was no point in chasing the 10,000 push-up mark only to survive as an injured soldier. No doubt that I would have achieved bragging rights, but the cost of a permanent muscle damage was significantly worse. 

Overall, I completed 9,220 pushups in the 100 days. I prefer to call it 9220 (not out) – retired hurt at Day 97.  Below is my daily push up tracker during the 100 days of the challenge:

Along the way, I gathered a lot of insights, which I’ve tried to summarize below:

1. Starting is Important. Many times, our biggest barrier to success is that we do not begin. However good our intention may be, it is extremely important that we take that first step. Sometimes we don’t start because we feel that we cannot achieve the goal. Sometimes we don’t start because we feel that people will laugh at us. But unless we begin, we will never know if what we thought was true! A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
2. Showing up is the key to progress. I cannot emphasize this enough. Many people are extremely motivated to exercise or to start off with a new venture. As such, starting something is relatively simpler. Keeping up with the practice is hard. A lot of people are unsuccessful in life not because they lack in talent, but because they are not consistent. In this 100-days challenge, I found these three strategies to be extremely helpful:
   • Having an accountability Partner – Nikhil Shah not only started the 100-day challenge, but he also sent an email to all the participants. Every. Single. Day. Involuntarily, he became my accountability partner which helped me to keep going – at least in the initial few days. If Nikhil was spending his time to remind me to work out every day, then I had to reciprocate by working out and doing my bit.  
   • Keeping a Daily Log – In addition to the benefits of having an accountability partner, a daily log of push-ups done for the day helped me immensely. In Nikhil’s emails, he used to also add a footnote with the daily count that we would’ve updated until the previous day. This helped me to keep going. As the comedian Jerry Seinfeld has explained, once we put a big “X” on the date in a calendar after we finish a task, our job is to just keep the chain going. Small things done daily can grow big over time.
   • Working out in the morning. I think this is one of the biggest secrets for me to sticking with the challenge. Once I’m done with the challenge in the morning, I’m free to do everything else that the rest of the day demands. The few days when I skipped my workout altogether were those when I could not complete the challenge in the morning, and then the day simply took over and didn’t leave me with any opportunity to work-out later.
3. You can go longer in a Marathon rather than in a Sprint. Sincethis was essentially a 100-day challenge, participants were not supposed to be taking any breaks in between. In Nikhil’s daily emails, he had suggested a gradual increase in the push up count, which he then reduced for the next few days, to increase it back again. This increase and decrease must’ve helped the other participants to cope with muscle fatigue; and in turn would have allowed them to recover. However, in my excitement to beat a previous personal best, I went on increasing the push up count every few days. This led to muscle fatigue, and eventually a significant muscle strain, leading me to pull out, retired hurt!

In hindsight, had I been consistent with 120 push-ups from day 55 to day 90 only to increase it to 150 push ups for last ten days, I could have achieved the 10,000 push up mark without suffering with that injury, which, by the way, took almost two months to fully recover.

Final Thoughts

Having successfully broken free from my sedentary lifestyle, I was hungry to improve my life in other areas where I was lacking (such as a daily reading practice).

Taking cue from the two big factors (viz. having an accountability partner and keeping a daily log) to achieve consistency, I downloaded an app called “Habitify”. This app now pings me every morning on the tasks set up for the day, and it also asks me to update the task status at night, which automatically then tracks progress made.  The cool thing about the tracker is that it gives me the statistics regarding my winning streak, so it pushes me to become better, one day at a time.

Needless to say, I try to pursue these tasks in the morning itself to improve my chances of success.

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