5,000 Squats and 1,000 Push-Ups in 30 days. These Are My Results:

To start off, this article is strictly anecdotal and solely based off of my own personal experience. By no means am I recommending (for or against) the idea of performing this many squats and push-ups in a short period of time. Now on to my experience.

This 30-day journey was initiated via an Instagram challenge by my girlfriend (original post by sixpackexercises: HERE). The challenge consists of daily squat and push-ups, increasing in repetitions from day to day. The first day started at a total of 40 squats and 8 push-ups, while the last day ended with 300 squats and 60 push-ups, equating to a cumulative total of 5,000 squats and 1,000 push-ups in 30 days. I approached this journey with three simple rules:

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Rule #1: Must perform all the repetitions prescribed in the post (bodyweight) every day regardless of whether it is a normal training day or not.

Rule #2: The repetitions cannot be counted for in other exercises for the day (ex: if I have a lower body training day and I happen to be performing barbell squats, those barbell squats do not count towards the number of bodyweight squats I have to perform for the day).

Rule #3: I will perform all the repetitions WITHOUT breaks/rests, so long as I can perform with proper form. (ex: if the day called for 30 push-ups, I will perform all 30 in a row without stopping).

What I experienced from this journey is truly incredible! Here is the breakdown of the good, and the bad:

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The Good:

1.) The challenge helped me develop a tremendous amount of endurance in my legs and chest: When I started, I was a little unsure of what number of body squats and push-ups would become too much for me to bare at once. I started with the initial goal of reaching 100 continuous squats (I wasn’t too concerned with the push-ups as I didn’t think the numbers per day were too daunting in this area). Not only was I able to reach my goal of a continuous 100 squats, I surpassed it and reached the number of 180 continuous squats with proper form! It felt almost as if every day was a build up to the next day, and knowing that I successfully accomplished the day before- pushed me to continue on. After the 180 squats, I started to break up the squats in sets of 50 reps, in order to focus on the proper form of the movement. As for the push-ups, I felt like every day was feasible to accomplish, although I will admit, the last 3 days of the challenge forced me to break up the numbers in the push-ups (if a day required 58 push-ups I would perform a set of 30 and then a set of 28).

2.) It felt like every day (even my “off” days from the gym) was an active day for me. Admittedly, I am a rather sedentary person outside of the gym, so being able to do some squats and push-ups on a day that I didn’t go to the gym made me feel much more active, and cut down on the whole “lazy” mentality.

3.) The challenge built character. I personally feel that any “actual” challenge (something that pushes people outside of their comfort zone with some level of difficulty higher than “easy”), builds character. Reason being, you are forced to go into an unknown situation and adapt as you go along. I would consider myself to be fairly dedicated to working out, and even still- the challenge had days where I would question in my head “do I have to do the squats and push-ups today? Maybe I can just take a day off and resume tomorrow.”. But instead of listening to my thoughts, I decided to fulfill my commitment to the challenge and no matter what the circumstance for that day, still completed the prescribed reps. The journey from start to finish molded me in its own little way, providing lessons of commitment (not missing a session) and reflection to understand that only the successful in life go through challenges that will indeed push them to the next level. Continue to think back to the age old saying “if it was easy everyone would be doing it.”

4.) Changes in my actual performance in sports: I enjoy playing pick-up basketball games on my time off and I noticed after about two weeks of performing the challenge, that I was becoming slightly more explosive on the court. Generally speaking, squats will help improve the strength and power driven from the glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings, while also contributing to the development of your core stabilization, and flexibility/mobility of the knee, ankle, and foot complex. By performing these squats everyday (although bodyweight), I was able to receive the previously mentioned benefits on a day-to-day basis, and saw the transformation via explosive jumps and better control in an actual sport (basketball).

The Not So Good:

1.) Proper form became sacrificed: When I tried following my three rules (listed above), I ran into an issue on the day that required 185 squats. On this particular day, I performed all the squats without a rest and noticed (largely in part due to me video recording the journey for my Instagram followers) that my form was not consistent throughout all repetitions. At this point in time, it become more important for me to perform the repetitions in a consistent manner as opposed to trying to run through all the reps as quick as possible. This is where I revised my plan to complete the squats as- perform the squats in sets of 50.

2.) My actual workouts seemed to subtly suffer: I would like to say that throughout the entire course of this challenge, all of my actual lifting workouts were performed with maximal intensity and no thought was given towards the challenge, but in all honesty, I don’t think that was the case. I tried very hard to treat every lifting day as its own day, but, for example- the idea of having to perform 100+ bodyweight squats after already squatting, deadlifting, lunging, etc… weighed on my mind throughout each lifting session and I think that my intensity was effected (not by much) but enough to “reserve some gas in the tank” for the upcoming challenge numbers. Unfortunately, we are all human and the mind can play tricky games on you.

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Overall, this challenge is something I would recommend others to try! In my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons and the challenge will build mental fortitude on top of physical gains.

Author:

Ivan Varela – NASM CPT