I am not a fitness blogger or anything. This is simply what I am planning to do over the next three months, and I thought maybe you'd want to do something similar.
Here it is.
Instead of having designated workouts (such as Bench Press on MWF) you instead have one big number of reps that you're constantly working towards over the course of three months.
I am writing this on April 7th, and by June 30th I will have accomplished the following three bodyweight workouts. I'm also putting down how many reps this averages out to per day and also roughly how much time it would take per day.
- 1000 plank to pushups (about 12 a day) 90 seconds tops
- 500 wallsits (I will consider thirty seconds to be 1 wall sit. About 6 a day) 3 minutes tops
- 5000 jumping jacks (an average of 55 a day) 2 minutes tops
Isn't this cool? I think it's cool. We are talking about an absolute max of 7 minutes each day if you wanted to be super granilar and do the same number of reps each day. The 5000 jumping jacks felt like a lot until I remembered that it takes literally one second to do a 'jack. But I also want to keep the system light, which I should get into.
And if you think that these daily numbers seem small, ask yourself whether you have personally done this amount of exercise over these past three months. If you have, great. If not...welp, me neither.
Okay, so here are some notes on how to not implement this the wrong way.
Keep it Simple (Simple means 3)
I've heard that humans remember things in pieces of threes and fours pretty well, which is why phone numbers in america are divided in thi-sma-nner. So anyways, I am keeping it to three workouts, that one workout where you go from a plank to a pushup (what are these called?!?), wall sits, and jumping jacks. Pick your own three, or copy mine, then run with it.
Progession Over Time (Most important)
The key concept here, I think, is that the difficulty of this challenge comes not from each individual workout, "the daily grind" that people glorify, but rather from remembering and doing the work consistently over time.
Just a Stretch
Maybe this goes without saying, but the number should be just enough to where you feel like you're doing something healthy for your body, but not so much to where it is a grueling challenge. I think 100-a-day challenges aren't great for people because there is no space to rest. Most days should not feel like a strain. This system should become a source of progress and confidence rather than a source of dread for you.
I don't have an exact formula for picking these numbers. But something big and whole like 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, etc. would be good - we've been conditioned to see these numbers as big and important, so take advantage of that. Doing 7,204 jumping jacks by the end of June doesn't have the same ring to it.
Get out a calculator, them play around and see how much X,xxx reps divides out across 90 days to see what your daily average would be. If you need to, pick out a number that you know would be too small, and then pick another number that you know will be too big, then choose something in between.
Make it Pretty
Keep track of this in such a way that you can: a) easily record the work you've done, and b) clearly see your progress.
This is key, you must make progress visual. Maybe by drawing one of those bar graphs that you fill up whenever you get 50 reps closer to your goal or something. You know the graphs that organizations have for when they are trying to reach their sales or donation goals? Draw something like that, but maybe make it sideways. Or use an excel sheet, whatever you want.
I'm going to be using a gridded notebook, and fill in a square everytime I do 5 wall-sits, 10 plank-ups(?), or 50 J Jacks
Take Days Off
This system also has the benefit of allowing you to listen to your body and take days off. This is where having a manageable small number comes into play.p once again. If you plan to do the equivalent of 100 a day and you miss a day for any reason, you now have 100 to make up the next day, which can be overwhelming. Whereas if you are averaging out to 15 a day, maybe you'll settle on a plan where you do 45 pushups once every three days, or maybe you'll do 60 twice a week. Who knows. But having a low number gives you this flexibility to experiment.
I plan to do other active things too like rec sports and other bodyweight exercises when I feel like it. But this provides a solid foundation so that even on a busy week I know I'm doing something.
In a world where it feels like we are always playing catchup, make this workout plan easy and clear enough to where it becomes the one habit in your life where you are always right on schedule or just slightly ahead.
Tldr: "100 pushups a day" plans make for good Buzzfeed videos, but they are not the best workout plan. Aim to do a total of 500, 1,000, 2,500 or 5,000 reps of one-to-three bodyweight exercises over the course of three months for optimal motivation, progress, health, happiness, and glory.
Submitted April 07, 2019 at 03:27PM by SixMangos http://bit.ly/2FZb1wI
