Physical Witness

    Back in January, I mentioned that I was embarking on an unusual challenge.  I was going to see if I could perform one hundred pushups in a row, following that up with a different bodyweight exercise challenge each month.  I got sidetracked by weeks of comic book related posts to mention how I was going.  Finally, here is what has happened so far.  I did manage to get to that one hundred pushups in January, albeit with a short rest break or two, although I can manage to get to about fifty or so before I needed a break.  Actually got past one hundred.  For February, I focused on back with a modified inverted row.  Yes, I would have chosen pull-ups as the better bodyweight exercise, but I didn't have any door frames I felt were suitable. They were all either too narrow to comfortably hold, too weak to support my weight, or too out-of-the-way to work.  I got past one hundred here as well, although it was a shorter month and I felt a slight cold coming on the last day.  Yes, a break or two here as well.  March meant leg day, er month.  Bodyweight squats, usually sissy squats.  I know, but I needed some support some days.  I believe I got near one hundred fifty with these, with only two short breaks.  My quads have always been an easy target for me.  Not so my glutes and hams, which were the target for April.  I was going for the glute-ham bridge as my go to exercise.  However, I didn't want to get my hair dirty from lying on the floor every day, so I alternated these with rear lunges.  Again, fairly easy.  Almost didn't need a break with these, but I still got to one hundred.  I must admit that I somehow hurt my left elbow about halfway through the month.  Not sure how it happened, except it started on a day I wasn't exercising.  Just carrying groceries.  Awkwardly weighted groceries, but still.  Fortunately, I didn't need to use my arms for these exercises, so I didn't miss a single day.  By the way, my elbow is mostly back to normal.  No pain or swelling.  Still, both of my elbows seem to ache more these past few weeks.  May was calf months, namely calf raises.  I could go well beyond fifty of these at a time, so one hundred reps got achieved fairly fast.  June has been for one of the more neglected exercises, the bench dip targeting triceps.  Because the tris are smaller muscles, I had to have breaks for this exercise.  However, I hit one hundred just yesterday, and I will see how many more I can reach by the end of the month.  However, this is probably the last of the bodyweight challenges I will be doing, as I am left without many good exercises for the remaining body parts.  The shoulders could get by with a variation of a handstand pushup, but I would be nervous about hitting my head against the ground.  The biceps really only have chin-ups, shared with the back.  But, as I have said, I don't really have any places I could use for chin-ups or pull-ups.  I already do at least one hundred abdominal crunches every other day, and I have done those for years.  I'm thinking of just adding various bodyweight exercises into routines on my days off away from my usual weightlifting days, or day most of the time.  I am ashamed to say that I am mostly a 'weekend warrior' when it comes to exercise.  I don't have that much time during the week any more.  I tried to add more bodyweight routines on my off days, but something always seemed to come up, and I just wind up skipping more and more.  Hopefully, July will mark a bid change for me.  I just have to not go overboard.