Push-up Challenge: First 12 days

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After a long time of procrastination, I finally decided to make the attempt of working out. I always would say I would workout but for some stupid reason, I kept putting it off.

I searched the net for easy things and would try them, but never really stuck with it until now. I chose the 'Push-up Challenge'. I figured I have done push-ups before as punishment while growing up. So how hard could it be I thought.

On the first day, I started with just 5, easy right? Then the second day was 10, I was thinking I got this. By the third day, 15. On this day I began to realize that I am not young anymore.

I woke up the fourth day ready to do my 20 push-ups, I then noticed that I have immense pain shooting through my shoulders, elbows, wrists, and chest. I thought to myself "Damn! What the hell?" Through the pain though, I drop and do my 20.

It is now the fifth day and I used it as a stretch cardio day. I perform side straddle hops (jumping jacks), flutter kicks, and burpees. All the while doing these exercises I thought again, "What the fuck am I doing?" I just focused on the end result and pushed on.

By the sixth day, 25, I woke up with a feeling that I haven't felt in years. This feeling went through my biceps, triceps, forearms and upper back. I actually felt growth, either that or I was tripping. Either way, the feeling was good.

On the seventh day, 35, I decided to try a different approach to the push-ups. Instead of doing the wide arm kind, I placed my arms shoulder-width apart. Completely different feeling, as in my eyes were widened in shock and ahh (ahh like ouch).

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The eighth day, 40, I woke to a holy shit pain. You know, the kind of pain that makes you say holy shit with each movement. I had to get rid of this pain or at least lessen it. I was reaching up over my head to the opposite side for each arm, even grabbing the doorway to drop my body for a full stretch.

When the ninth day came, I used it as another stretch cardio day but this time I added 15 seconds for planks. I would go to work after every day's work out and feel the pain, but I would also keep telling myself, "You can do it!"

As the tenth day came I knew that I had to do 45, so I dropped. This time I started doing elevated push-ups, I used the sofa to have my legs up. Going down in a push-up is as for everyone in the world, easy. It's the actual push to force the body up is was makes me have flashbacks to my childhood punishments.

I began to remember having my dad standing over and yelling down at me while I was performing my punishing push-ups. I used that memory as a motivative kick to keep going.

The eleventh day came up and now it's 50. So I wanted to complete the count at the same time as other forms of push-ups. I did 10 wide press, 10 shoulder-width, 10 elevated, 10 inclined, and 10 switching (alternating wide to shoulder). I was so exhausted but worth it.

The twelfth day has come and that is today (10-25-17), I feel the pain and the gain. I feel great, I feel this way because I finally pushed myself. I am nearly 2 weeks into the push-up challenge, and I realize that the push-ups are not the challenge. The challenge is my mind, how much am I willing to push myself. We all have those points in our lives that we just talk about, but from my experience so far, talk is just not getting things done.

Actions most definitely speak louder than words. I always remember to tell myself the words that have been drilled into my head from my childhood plus its tattooed on my arm, "Pain is weakness leaving the body."