September Challenge Complete!!

WOW!! The challenge is over! I know we are a few days into October, but I wanted to take a couple days to get my thoughts together before I posted something. Bear with me, this post is a little long.

I think it’s interesting how we discover things about ourselves when we aren’t necessarily looking for them. At the beginning of the challenge I mentioned I would be using the cross-trainer to complete the 100 miles.  For those of you who don’t know why I chose the cross-trainer feel free to read my posts from the beginning of September. When I started the challenge I had no intention of ever setting foot on a treadmill or running outside. For me, both those options were. . .well, not an option. Somewhere around mid September I decided to take a chance. I got on the treadmill and ran a mile. When I finished that mile I thought, “HOLY SMOKES!”. I had just discovered something new about myself. For several years I hadn’t run any distance, I blocked myself mentally and physically from doing it. But now. . . I CAN RUN! I’m pretty excited about that. Mental block eliminated.

Challenges like this one, in my opinion, are often more mental than physical. We are often considerably more physically capable than we give ourselves credit for. When you’re working out at the gym or exercising at home how often do you tell yourself you can’t do one more rep? You want to do ten reps but you stop at 8 reps. Did you stop because your muscle was truly exhausted, unable to do one more rep? Or did you stop because you let your mind stop you? I realize that’s easier said than done, but here’s a quick example of what I mean. I have a female client who at our first session did 15 regular pushups. She seemed to be able to do them so easily, so I asked her why she didn’t do more. She said she can only do 15, even when she tries as hard as she can she can only do 15. Long story short, our next session I did pushups with her and she did 20 with relative ease and after a few seconds rest in the up position she squeezed out one more for a total of 21. There was only 2 days between our sessions. So what changed? Did she get 6 pushups stronger in 2 days? Not at all. What she did do was eliminate her mental block. All we have to do is recognize what the block is, then decided to push through it. That may sound like an over simplification but essentially that’s what getting over a mental block boils down to.

Here are the stats from the month:

5006 Pushups

5006 Situps

100 miles

Last month’s challenge left me feeling good physically as well as mentally. I feel a sense of accomplishment. Like my friend Matt, the creator of the September Challenge, I will take on periodic fitness challenges.  I encourage you to do the same.  In fact, I have already decided what my next challenge is. I will run in a 5k on Thanksgiving day. I would like to have a Step-By-Step Fitness 5k Team. There will be information to come about the 5k.

Thanks for taking the September Challenge journey with me. I encourage you to join my blog followers list. I will be posting periodically about health and fitness.

Have a Great Day!

Your Friend,

RJ