I Performed Push-Ups Every Day For A Month And So Can You!

5-Minute Read (This was previously posted on December 14, 2020 on the previous website blog)

If you have been following my Instagram page throughout September, you would know that I completed a push-up challenge organized by my certification organization, ISSA (International Sports Sciences Association). At first, I saw this as an opportunity to get myself out there, but when I found out why they were organizing this, I saw it as something bigger than myself.

Ever since COVID came into the States, life has been a struggle, which is pretty much the common feeling around the world. Between the limited travel and human contact, as well as the unrest from racial injustice and the Election, a recipe for a mental health disaster would develop. Such conditions can result in taking one’s own life. So, when I found out that ISSA was holding this challenge to promote Suicide Awareness and Prevention, I knew I was sold on the idea of performing a set number of push-ups throughout the month of September, which happened to be the official month of the cause.

How I Determined My Push-Up Goal

I signed up for the challenge two days before the start of September. I pledged to perform 1,500 push-ups in 30 days, knowing that I could do at least 30 in one sitting and was able to perform the task up to two times a day. Knowing my ability to perform this simple, yet challenging, exercise contributed to this number, and it was a good thing I did not go more than that just to prove that I am strong enough and a competent trainer. More on that later.

Recording The Push-Ups

I created a document with a table to record each attempt. Besides the date, I had four different columns: Morning, Afternoon/Evening, Daily Total, and Running Total. Using my knowledge of adding equations to cells, I was able to calculate how many push-ups I performed each day, as well as a running count of the number of push-ups performed altogether. At the bottom of the chart, I added two rows for “Grand Total” and “To-Go,” signifying the number of push-ups I had left to reach my goal. These equations and numbers became very important in documenting the journey.

Initially, I was just going to record my attempts via Instagram stories and put music throughout the clip. Unfortunately, since I recorded through my business account, music from the app wouldn’t work. So, I went with what skills I had in editing from my other job and created videos to post on social with the goal of producing one story per day. After Day 2, things started to get busy in the filmmaking world, reducing my time to edit each day. I decided to create four videos, one per week, showing every push-up (sped up) and my reactions overall. I used the numbers from each day, as well as the running total, from my chart to place in the video.

As for the music situation, because I don’t think you would want to hear me breathing and struggling throughout the whole video, I found a way. I used a song from one of my film colleagues, who happens to be a very talented singer/songwriter, to use as a theme of the challenge. That is why you hear Spencer Hendricks’ “Losing Touch” on the last three videos, as well as the song, “Horizon,” used in the first full video. (Check out more of Spencer’s music here)

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This attempt was filmed around 10pm after a live stream shoot in the lobby of a synagogue. Just shows you that time and place can be anywhere at any time.

Challenges

It may sound easy to do some push-ups each day, but I had my obstacles. It just so happens that September was the busiest month I had as a filmmaker, as our company was on-set most of the time. This meant being very flexible in finding a time and place to perform these push-ups, especially when work can end around 10 at night and the only place you can perform them is in the lobby of a place of worship where you just finished producing a live stream.

A more physical challenge was fatigue in my right shoulder. Most of it was on me since I refused to ice and rest in-between exercise performances. There was at least one day where I had to change my position, but I decided to power through.

Finally, there were some days where I couldn’t do two sessions of push-ups, whether time-related or not, and that led to performing more and even stopping and starting during those times just because I wanted to add to the tally. It was not just doing 30 at a time. It was performing 30, stopping for a minute, and continuing to push-up until I could not do anymore.

Result

After 30 days, I not only reached my goal, but I surpassed it. It was not by much, and I knew I could have performed more. Throughout September, I completed 1,585 push-ups all to spread suicide awareness and prevention.

Media-wise, I released an Instagram story for day one, a short video for the first week, and three longer videos covering the rest of the way. You can view those on the IG or Facebook page.

What I Learned

If I learned anything from this, it would be that no matter what the situation or obstacles you have to face, remember why you are taking the challenge in the first place. It was the motivation of promoting a cause that I thought was important and can relate to that drove me to the proverbial finish line. It also helped that I had some motivation during some of the attempts. Between posting on social media that I was attempting to do this challenge, as well as telling some of my closest friends about it, it kept me accountable in attaining my goal. Finally, having a way to keep track of my repetitions helped me keep track of my progress, as well as giving me a better idea of where I stand in the challenge.

How You Can Do It

I have attached challenge templates free for anyone to use. Both a printable version with instructions and Word and Pages documents with real-time tallying are included.

Here are some main steps I suggest to take your challenge:

1. Set a month to perform the challenge. Make sure you give yourself enough time to write out your plan of action.

2. It does not have to be push-ups as the exercise. You can choose any exercise to perform. I recommend keeping it simple and not necessarily using any weights. This means anything from jump squats to burpees.

3. Write down why you want to attempt your challenge. Is it to raise money for a cause close to your heart? Is it a bet against your friend to see who can do the most or achieve their goal first? Is it because you want to get fit and you just want a way to start? Having meaning to your challenge will incentivize it, even if money or material goods are not the rewards.

4. Set a rep goal for the month. You can either set it up where you perform minimal reps on the first day and increase as you go, or you can estimate the number of reps you can do in a day and multiply that by the number of days in the month of the challenge. For instance, if you can perform 30 reps in the month of June, your goal would be 900 push-ups in a month (30 reps x 30 days = 900 reps)

5. I recommend recording yourself performing your reps and promoting it on social media. Not only will your friends know what you are up to, but it also keeps you accountable in keeping up with the challenge.

6. Have fun with it! Be yourself and don’t worry about what others might think. Do you!

I hope this helps you perform any challenge at any time. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

You can download the challenge template here.

Good Luck with Your Challenge!

“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.”

— Walt Disney