I Did 50 Push-Ups!

My friend Jennifer posted this 50 Push-Up challenge on Facebook.  She had decided to do it and challenged the rest of us to do it too.  I have never felt that I could do push-ups, even modified 'girly' push-ups.  But, hey - why not?

The plan is simple - start slowly and work up to doing 50 push-ups in 30 days.  Honestly, I was kind of surprised that I could do the 5 push-ups called for on the first couple days.  But, as the number increased, the confidence and knowledge that I indeed could do these push-ups also increased.

In the past, every time I tried to do push-ups, I was trying to lower myself all the way down to the floor and then somehow push back up.  While I realize some people can do that, that wasn't happening for me.  And since my right shoulder occasionally bothers me, I really just can't do that even if I wanted to - not without asking for some serious pain, and not the good kind.  But these push-ups?  These I can do.

I didn't follow the plan exactly, because sometimes I took a rest day when it wasn't scheduled, based on my schedule, and my shoulder started bothering me partway in, so I took some extra rest days letting that improve.  Magnesium oil is pretty great stuff for that.  So, it may have taken me a bit longer than 30 days, but this morning I did 50 push-ups - all in one go.  (on the day I was supposed to do 38, I actually did 30 and stopped because my nose was stuffed up, and I wasn't breathing properly.  So I stopped for about 30 seconds to blow my nose and then went back to do the remaining 8 - and just kept going.  I did 20 more, so I actually did 50 that day - just with a short break.  Let me tell you, my arms and legs were shaking that day!) 

My arms weren't shaking quite so badly this morning, but I could definitely tell I did something.  Though the challenge says that it will "transform your  body in 30 days" I'm not really noticing any big transformation.  All I know is that it feels good, and I plan to continue doing my push-ups.  (I haven't quite decided how many and how often.  Yet.)

What now?  Well, I'm kind of glad Jennifer didn't find the One Hundred Push-up Plan first, because if I thought 50 push-ups sounded intimidating, imagine the sound of 100.  But, since we're up to 50 already, we can start with Week 3 of the 6-week plan, and it should only take another 3 weeks to get to 100.  I'm seriously thinking about it...

How about you?  Are you in?