Week 5 Day 1Â Â Â Â Â 2010-02-08
Max in last set: 20
Notes: 17-19-15-15-20
I think starting in the first column was a good choice. I was becoming disheartened in weeks 3 & 4 because it was such a struggle every day. Today was better. It wasn’t easy, but it was achievable. It’s a good feeling. I also didn’t have to leave any extra time between the sets in order to complete it.
I see that the structure of days 2 and 3 this week changes. More sets of lower repetitions, with chort breaks in between. It would seem that we are going to be working on some endurance. It will be an interesting change of pace.
It was a bit of an internal struggle to move to column 1, I have to admit.
I think most of us when we do something like this want to see ourselves as the high performance exception to the rule. Ok, maybe it’s just me but I kind of doubt it. I think we all want to believe that we are so special we will do it in 5 weeks instead of 6, or we’ll be rocking the high end of the scale while others struggle on bringing up the rear.
I think this mindset has caused me some troubles in the past. I’ve programmed myself in a sense to see average performance as a failure. Lets face it; most of us struggle during our workouts. To go a step further, most of us quite likely don’t work out at all. Maybe I need to adopt the mindset that just making the effort consistently and pushing myself every day in itself makes me above average.
Thinking of it that way, maybe the fact that I am still going at week 5 despite my struggles and setbacks makes me above average. Hm.
What was I saying before all that? Column 1? It really doesn’t seem all that bad afterall.
After doing a trial of Day 1 on column 2 I realized I was setting myself up for failure. I knew at some point I would not be able to complete a day and that chances are I would simply move on to something else. So I decided I would change to knee push ups and hopefully be able to complete the six weeks then at that point redo it all over doing regular push ups.
Great idea.
I’m learning a lot about myself doing this. And knowing my limits is one of them.
A recurring theme that I have come across in my reading about fitness is that a lot of new people start too hard and fast. Perhaps a side affect of the north American fast food, quick fix, instant gratification mindset. They push themselves beyond what is reasonable at the beginning, and set themselves up for failure because they simply cannot keep up the pace. Much like a long distance runner running at a full sprint at the sound of the pistol. He/She may take the lead and feel great for a few moments but will quite likely not finish the race.
Keep it up, I guarantee you will feel awesome as you see yourself improve.