The week, well, it just went. I got sick, and I was still recovering from a chest injury from playing basketball. I didn’t even attempt any pushups this week.
I could end the post there and just move on to the next week, but I think it’s important to pause and consider what this actually means. Situations like this occur far too frequently to brush off as one-off occurrences.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I can take from this is simply to prepare for this. Sometimes in an experiment, situations change unexpectedly. When that happens, it’s easy to drop the experiment altogether. So what can I do to avoid that?
In this case, I’m hoping to just push the whole thing out a week, maybe even repeat a week’s regimen twice if I need to, and continue ahead. I think it was good that I made a hard break from the plan for a week instead of continuing halfheartedly or fizzling out altogether. It makes it feel more planned in my mind, like it’s still under control, manageable.
Another lesson, one that’s more specific to this experiment, is to know it’s okay to rest for injuries. Working out is tough because if I miss even a few days in a row, it means extra work just to get back to where I was. This makes it hard to get back into it, to find that motivation. Still, I think there comes a point when it’s good to listen to my body when it’s saying I’m in pain. Knowing where that point is, differentiating it from the everyday moans and groans it makes anytime I try to do any work, that’s the hard part.
