I’ve never done these fitness challenges, but as I have started working on Lifdb’s social media, I see the charm and the benefits, so I tried it. The challenge started after Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon, went on the Mel Robbins’ podcast. The doctor said that “everyone should be able to do 11 pushups.” When Robbins asked if “on the knees, OK?” Dr. Wright said, “regular pushups.”
There are articles explaining where the number 11 comes from and questioning the accuracy of the number. I’ll leave that debate for others. But I do believe that pushups offer a way to gauge strength and where you are in your fitness. As Dr. Wright says, it’s about learning “to lift your own body weight.” Most articles conclude that it doesn’t matter how many you do for now, but what matters is that you know how many you can do consecutively, without resting, and work on improving. I did them. I stopped at 12 and it took about 32 seconds.
Why Was I Able to Do 11 Pushups?
I have never incorporated pushups in my fitness routines, but I do think that all the years of chaturanga helped. I know that yoga doesn’t fix every ache in your body and some even argue that it’s not the best routine for strength training. However, after 24 years of yoga, at 49 years old, it does a lot of things right.
As I’ve gotten older, I believe more and more that it’s important to add variety to workouts, for a more balanced approach and to test your full range of motion. I do, but yoga will always stay. The practice might not give me shredded arms, but that’s never really the goal. Yoga continues to give me physical and emotional strength and mind-body connection. But I am glad to know that I currently exceed the number of recommended pushups for fitness. I will continue to do pushups and hope to get to 25. I have realized from doing the challenge is that, I like doing pushups.
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