By Kyra Kumar and Rhea Kapoor
During quarantine, it's been challenging to stay motivated to maintain our fitness levels and keep up our exercise routines. When we came across this challenge, we thought it would be an interesting way to motivate ourselves towards becoming more proactive, while also testing our body's physical limits to understand our capabilities.
P.S. this isn't something we'd recommend if you have minimal experience with body-weight exercises.
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100 Push Ups (Kyra)
Day 1
Prior to the challenge, I'd only been able to do 20 push-ups in one go. On the first day, I planned to divide the 100 push-ups into sets of 10 throughout the day to avoid risking muscle injuries and ensuring that I hadn't completely exhausted myself. Being overly ambitious, I jumped into the challenge without stretching or doing any proper warm-ups. Needless to say, by the time I'd reached 50 push-ups my arms were on the verge of falling apart.
Day 3
After another unsuccessful attempt, I decided to change my tactic by doing 100 knee push-ups in order to build my strength over time. This was fairly easier, and I was able to successfully complete 100 knee push-ups with just two intervals.
Day 5
On the fifth day, I decided to take a break and avoid doing any exercises as my shoulders and back were becoming increasingly sore. I could already make out a slight difference in my muscle definition; however, the injury risk was just as prominent, if not more.
Day 8
As I could feel my strength level increasing, I decided to do 100 half push-ups instead of knee push-ups. These were relatively more challenging in comparison; however, I was able to do them successfully for two consecutive days.
Day 10
By the 10th day, my upper body was sore to the extent that I was unable to do 5 measly push-ups without severe pain. I decided to take rest for the rest of the day to avoid injuring myself, although I was already quite sure there was already significant damage to my back and shoulder muscles. Overall, this challenge made me realize the importance of progression when it comes to intense body-weight exercises, and I would recommend starting slow and building up your strength before diving headfirst into a challenge.
100 Squats (Rhea)
Day 1
I decided to split the squats into two sets of 50. This was to avoid lower back injury. But I don't think I anticipated how tired I would get after one round. Going into it, I didn't start with a warm-up which wasn't the best decision. Even though I did some stretches afterwards, my lower back started to get sore after the first day.
Day 3
I started doing simple stretches to warm up my lower back and hamstrings (back of the thigh) before each set of squats. This helped reduce the soreness of my lower back and prevented my legs from getting stiff. However, I was still finding it difficult to complete 50 squats without getting breathless.
Day 5
By day 5, I felt the soreness in my thighs as well. To help with this, I did a 10-minute stretching routine after my squats were done for the day. Some stretches I did were lunges, holding splits, sitting, trying to touch my chest to my knees etc. This also made me feel lightweight for the rest of the day.
Day 8
I started to feel my legs and glutes getting stronger. Since I was able to get through each set of squats with minimal discomfort for two days (day 6 and 7), I decided to do 100 squats at once to push myself. I only did this because I felt sure that my body could handle it along with an extensive warm-up and cool-down routine.
Day 10
Apart from growing strength in my muscles, I did not see much visual difference during this challenge. Yet it did motivate me to start getting more physical exercise and how to do it in a safe way. While my lower back was still sore, I did not put myself in danger of injuries.
Final Verdict
We dove into this challenge with overenthusiasm and overconfidence, which we've learnt isn't the right mindset to start any extensive physical challenge. We learnt from our mistakes and did our best to modify our routines based on how our bodies reacted. While the squats were doable and eventually did result in a positive impact, the push-ups had the opposite reaction by creating injury and demotivation. Therefore, it is important to understand one's personal capabilities and limitations before diving into challenges such as this one.
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