Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Stagnation

I'm a couple days into week 4 of 100 continuous reps of every strength exercise. That means that, every day, I'm exceeding maximum push up and sit up standards for my age group according to Navy PRT requirements. Even if I were just joining at age 17, I'd still be scoring an "excellent high" for sit ups and maxing out push ups. Compared to a year or two ago, I've come a very long way, and I'm easily in the top 20% of men in my age group that exercise regularly; I'd wager I'm in the top 5% of men overall.

So is that it? Do I stop here? Do I just crank out 100 a day for the rest of my life? Unless I die pretty young, those numbers are going to go down. But until they do, do I push to get them higher? 110? 120? To what purpose? 100 is keeping me reasonably fit. I could probably do it 3 days a week instead of 6 and maintain myself where I am just as effectively. I might even see an improvement, based on having rest days, the way the folks over at r/bodyweightfitness suggest.

Or consider my body fat percentage. Do I want to do what it takes to keep it around 11 or 12? Am I really happier weighing myself every day and restricting what I eat and drink to try to stay this lean? Is happiness even the right thing to consider as a metric for success or worth? I'm going to keep exercising; I managed the equivalent of a half iron man set of distances last week, and I want to attain that again this week. But I need a goal. I'm getting fitter, but why? At what cost? To what end? Is 100 reps a day and a half ironman a week the apex of what I will achieve? Should it be? Should I go farther? Or broader?

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