It’s been a very hectic week for me, as many of you know. My dad’s wake and funeral were held at our church, so there were a number of details for which I was responsible. But I was still engaging in my push-up workout. I have a goal of being able to do 100 non-stop push-ups.
Hey, try it sometime. That’s a lot of push-ups. And if you saw me you’d probably say, “That guy? Come on. One hundred push-ups by that guy!?!” But that’s why I like this project. It’s out there just far enough that it’s not technically impossible. But it’s a stretch.
On Monday and Wednesday I did my regular push-up workout and then on Thursday morning, when I awoke, I felt a sharp pain in my back. I thought, “Uh oh, that’s not good.” My medical diagnostic insights are incredible, huh?
Did I sleep in a bad position? Have I not been warming up properly and, therefore, hurt something? (When you get older, the “warm up” portion of a workout gets more and more important. Oh yeah, go ahead and laugh you younger guys. But just wait. The clock is marching on for you punks, too.) I wondered if perhaps what I was experiencing was, somehow, related to stress. I still don’t know the answer to those questions, but I know that my back was hurting.
So, Thursday morning, I was at the church early. I had some work to do and there were several details regarding the wake which needed attention. The wake would start at 2 pm for the family and continue until 9 pm. It was going to be a very long day and I knew I would be on my feet greeting guests at the service for hours. But as the day continued, you know what? My back seemed to feel fine.
Thursday did turn out to be a very long and exhausting day. When my head hit the pillow at close to midnight on Thursday evening I was incredibly tired and ready for a good night’s sleep. But that didn’t happen. At about 4 am on Friday morning, I awoke with the sharp pain in my back again and the pain was so intense I couldn’t fall back to sleep. “What’s going on?” I thought. “What have I done?” I prayed, “Lord, I need your help.”
I took a couple of Aleve tablets and by 7:30 on Friday morning when I was at the church getting ready for the funeral service, I didn’t notice any pain. I would normally do a push up workout on Friday morning but I decided to give my back a rest that day. Friday is the most intense day in the workout schedule and I assumed that whatever was going on with my back could possibly be made worse by doing the workout. So, I gave it a rest.
I won’t go into all the details but take my word for it, Friday was a loooooong day. In fact, I’m going to do an Internet search and see if some strange planetary event happened and Friday actually lasted 28 hours, or so, instead of 24…it was long. But I didn’t notice any back pain.
On Saturday I awoke and did not notice any pain. In fact, on Saturday, I did a few push-ups just to see how it would feel and there were no problems. In fact, I felt good. “Hmm,” I thought, “That’s encouraging.” But I allowed my back to rest again on Saturday.
So, here I am on Sunday night. This is the night where I do as many push-ups as I can to see what kind of progress is happening. Previously, my maximum was 28 push-ups. But despite the pain a couple of days ago, I feel pretty good.
I warm up, and then assume the push-up position….
Thirty-two push-ups! ….And no pain.
I know, I know, it’s a long way from 100 but I’m making progress. When I started this project I could do about 20 push-ups with proper form. Now, I’m at 32. I’m getting there. It might take a while, but I feel a sense of confidence. I feel strong. Earlier today I bent a steel bar in half. I did two back-flips on my way to church this morning. I passed a motorist with a flat tire and he didn’t have a jack. I lifted up the back end of his car while he changed the tire. Someone punched me in the stomach today and he’s in the hospital right now with a broken wrist and several crushed bones in his hand. Several mixed martial arts champions came to my house this afternoon to bully me—they do that from time to time—and I slapped them around and sent them on their way crying like wimpy little babies….
[ Long pause] ….Alright, none of that is true. But Olympic athletes visualize extraordinary achievement, so I was just doing some of my daydreaming in written text.
Oh wait…the 32 push-ups? That part is true. Progress.
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