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I’ve been lax about updating here, but that doesn’t mean I’ve slacked off (as much) in the real world. I’m still pushing forward with my pushups, still rowing, and still using the elliptical. The latter two have been a bit less regular than I’d like, but it is what it is. Soccer season has started. We have three kids playing and are coaching one team (plus helping with another) so the week is much more fragmented than normal.

Anyway, the point of all of this is to simply report that I’ve hit a plateau of sorts when it comes to pushups. I ran headlong into Week 5 and haven’t been able to make it through. I went through it (Column 1) in full the first time and fell short by a few reps on the max round each time. In hopes of rectifying this, I went back and added in my dumbbell routine on my pushup days (in the evenings following all other exercise). I also decided to repeat Day 1 a couple of times. I finally managed to complete it this past Friday, but that was by taking longer than the prescribed breaks, and a whole lot of struggling.

With that (minor) success in the back of my mind, I decided to tackle Week 5 again starting yesterday. Sadly, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I actually made it through, but I cheated by stretching the breaks and I ended up making it through the final thirty by raising my hips and arching my backside up for a brief respite on two different occasions (once at 20 and again at 25 reps). While I didn’t break down and touch the ground with anything other than my hands and my toes, I can’t help but feel as if I cheated.

Anyway, I’m sure I’m being too hard on myself, but it’s not much fun to get stuck in a rut and keep repeating the same thing without any real progress. Kinda reminds me of this…

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

- Benjamin Franklin

Perhaps the days of rapid progress are over with. Maybe I’ve come so far so fast by simply training the muscles that I already had. Assuming that I’ve reached my “natural” limits, perhaps I’ve slowed down because I need to start growing additional muscle to proceed any further. Who knows.

Like I said, it’s not a whole lot of fun. But what’s a guy to do? I think I’ll start by mixing things up a bit to see if I can break through. I’ll probably continue with the prescribed pushup workouts, but get a bit more creative with the dumbbells in hopes of making some progress.

A few weeks back, I wrote about my personal workout rules. Rule #1 was to never skip more than one day in a row without doing some sort of exercise (typically rowing or elliptical), whereas Rule #2 was to always finish what I start (barring injury). Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way and I’m not always able to abide by Rule #1. What with four kids, a full time job, and a side business, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day get everything done.

As much as it bothers me, I occasionally have to throw up my hands and skip my exercise routine on consecutive days. The good news is that I’ve found a workaround of sorts that allows me to do this without getting too down on myself. Whenever I slack off more than I should, I try to double up soon thereafter. This typically means hitting the elliptical in the morning and then adding in a rowing session in the evening.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a fitness-obsessed lunatic. It’s just that exercising makes me feel good, and not giving myself an out helps keep me on track. So… If I know in the back of my mind that I’ll be making up for any missed workouts, I’m less likely to slack off in the first place. And by making up for lost time, I also keep myself (mentally and physically) on a roll.

I have two primary rules when it comes to working out:

1. Never skip more than one day in a row, and

2. Finish any workout that I start (barring injury)

I’ve broken rule #1 exactly twice since re-committing myself to working out (roughly three months ago). Both instances happened when I was traveling, and I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Over the next ten days, I will likely break this rule again (except for the pushups), as we will be taking a 10 day family vacation, and I’ll probably cut myself a bit of slack.

As for rule #2, I haven’t broken it at all since getting back into the swing of things, though I’ve been sorely tempted. For example, this morning… I decided to squeeze in a 30 minute row before I left for work. After setting the monitor and getting started, I quickly realized that I was lacking a bit in the motivation department. But since I had set the workout monitor for 30 minutes, I was committed.

In the end, my performance was actually pretty solid, though I felt like puking at the end. That being said, I’m now looking forward to my next session, as I often pull off a fairly strong workout after I struggle through a rough one.