My goal is to do 50 pushups in a single set. I am doing 50 pushups a day for August 2023. I reached a new record of 36 pushups in a single set.
In this video, I also delve into more of the preparation I am doing to be able to continuously do 50 pushups a day without taking a day off for repair.
Please Donate if You Can
I’m Doing 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
My goal is to do 50 pushups in a single set. I am doing 50 pushups a day for August 2023. I reached a new record of 32 pushups in a single set.
In this video, I also delve into more of the preparation I am doing to be able to continuously do 50 pushups a day without taking a day off for repair.
Ice Baths
I have been taking ice baths every day after my pushups. Today I added all of the ice I had prepared. I hope it got down close to 10 degrees Celsius but I didn’t take a temperature. Previously I have only stayed in the ice bath for 4 minutes, but today I did the full 15 minutes of the cold plunge
Breathwork
In the video, I share that in between sets I have been doing some simple breathwork.
Breathe in for 4 counts. Hold for 4 counts and exhale for 4 counts. Normally you would hold for 4 after you exhale but I am finding that skipping that is beneficial to load more oxygen into my system. In the video I call this a “very calm hyperventilating,” and it has helped me do more pushups in my second set.
Please Donate to the Children
I’m Doing 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music
I have a goal to do 50 pushups in one set by the end of August. Today is the first day I have done 50 pushups in only 2 sets. You can see in the video that I am pretty excited about this.
How Am I Preparing?
I have had trouble doing the 50 pushups a day in less than 3 sets this first week. Before today, I had been eating a ketogenic diet focused on cutting out carbohydrates. I have been focused on using ketones (energy from fats) as my fuel source, or in other words burning fat instead of carbs. That has helped me shed extra weight and I can feel that I have a more consistent energy source.
I have noticed that now that I am working out more I am having trouble performing. I ate a small bowl of oatmeal this morning with ground flax seed in it and then I was able to do 30 pushups in my first set and also 50 pushups in 2 sets. Moving forward I plan to eat carbohydrates 1 or 2 hours before a workout.
I have also had benefits from intermittent fasting, or not eating for 16 to 20 hours a day. I will have to find a way to maybe eat dinner earlier because I like working out first thing in the morning. Previously I was skipping breakfast but that was also not supporting this additional exercise.
I’m Doing 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
I did these pushups yesterday but am not printing the video until today. It is day 6 of my challenge where I do 50 pushups a day for 30 days. My goal is to get down to a single set of 50 pushups, but I am stuck at 3 sets right now with the first at 23 reps being the largest set.
At the end of this session, I did some yoga. I mostly did a backward handstand to stretch out my back. I also did some downward dog and child pose and then rolled up to the mountain pose.
The night before I stayed out late to see WEEN while they were in St. Louis. The show was amazing and I am glad I stayed out late to see it. I am putting together some video I captured on my phone and can post that next. I decided to spend time with my family yesterday, Sunday. I worked a lot in the yard and placed some large sandstone rocks in the garden. I couldn’t pick two of them up and had to roll them around. They were very heavy so I ate some extra protein yesterday. I can post some pictures of the final project.
Then the family watched the new Super Mario Brothers movie with Jack Black as Bowser. We all really enjoyed it and it was a perfect family movie night with slow-fried salmon and fresh veggies.
I’m Doing 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!
My yearlong quest to be consistently something is continuing. Having a word for the year is really working out for me. I have resolved to be consistently growing or improving at something. It has also worked to do one thing consistently for a month. So, 30 days with no alcohol basically led to me not drinking anymore. A month of sugar-free led to not eating sugar, but now I just focus on eating more fiber than sugar and only eat processed sugar on cheat days (Saturday).
Last month I was consistently in Thailand for July. That experience could fill 100 blog posts, but here I will just share that the mindset of Thailand is that of accepting things as they are, not always improving. Even though that does not directly align with my word of the year, I found this mindset to still be beneficial to me; even when you want to improve you still need to be happy and accept where you are today. (*I moved to Thailand right after my bachelor’s degree and lived there for 7 lucky years.) But by Thai methods, it would have been 9 years to be lucky…
This month I am doing 50 push-ups a day. It was a total struggle but I made it through day 1.
In my last two posts, Consistency and What Does Consistency Mean to You? I delved into who I am and what I am doing to improve myself. It was rather lavishly selfish and self-serving. I apologize for that. I will take ownership of both of those posts and admit they were not serving my readers in ways I am super proud of. At the same time, I will not delete them. That’s where I was at that time, I needed that, and I also need to own them. I was working on personal improvements that maybe don’t belong on a professional Learning and Development blog, or maybe they do. I guess that’s the good thing about blogs, it kind of doesn’t matter.
I was thinking about this last week as I sat watching my son dig through his swim lesson at the local YMCA. I saw him working on lifting his head gracefully to take a breath in a way that was anything but graceful. He was lifting his mouth far above the water and taking giant gulps of air through his mouth open wide. It was cartoonish. Anyone else watching would have seen a child who doesn’t know how to take a breath during freestyle.
However, that was my child, and I talk to him frequently. When we ride in the van to school, as I tuck him in at night, when we sit in the backyard breaking sticks. I know he is working hard on taking a good breath during the freestyle. I know how long it has been since he could not take a breath to the side instead of raising his head in the front. I know this is a challenge for him. I know this is a big goal of his. I know about the personal work he has done alone and with me at the pool to improve his swimming strokes. I know his work on diving to the bottom, practicing holding his breath, and getting his goggles just right. I see the personal work that he has had to do to be able to swim as well as he can now. We have discussed the excitement and fear he has related to deep diving.
When I shared my last two posts I was sharing my personal work. The things I was doing for me to make my overall performance more effective. Nobody really cared, I didn’t get comments on Linked In, and sadly enough I noticed that, and it meant something to me. Then I stopped posting. The truth is maybe somebody did read that and got something out of it. I was making it about me, about people responding to me. It shouldn’t matter if nobody responds. Ideally, I shouldn’t care how many people read.
Better Writing
During the summer months, I mow my own lawn. I normally listen to Music and Podcasts but I have pockets when I choose Audiobooks. Back in February of 2021, I listened to a condensed version of This book will teach you how to write better by Neville Medhora and it answered questions I didn’t know I had.
I can summarize this in two sentences:
People care about themselves, people do not care about you.
People respond to what his new novel or helpful.
As an Instructional Designer, or in this case a writer of learning content, these statements hit home for me. I stopped the lawnmower, pulled out my phone, and typed these nuggets into my notes app. After some consideration and revising this post before publishing, I realized that I am pulling from that moment subconsciously, so I should share why I feel the way I do here. These statements aren’t groundbreaking, and in a way they are a bit obvious, but having them as a guide as a learning content writer who does not consider himself a naturally gifted writer, was very helpful.
Internal Wins
Stephen Covey first published the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in August of 1989, and I first read it nearly 29 years later in 2018. I am basing this observation off of the 7 Habits. The first half of the list is internal wins or “Private Habits”:
Sharpen the Saw, find a balance between work and relaxation
Be Proactive, take charge, and assume responsibility for your life
Begin with the end in mind, Have a vision for the future to make your ideas reality
These three internal wins get you ready for the transition to external wins #4 to Put things first and focus on what’s important. After that is when the internal wins start to support your external wins, wins that others can observe. Once you have implemented the first 4 into your life then you are ready to move on to:
Think Win-Win, find a solution that is profitable for everyone.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood, first really listen, then make recommendations.
Synergize, together you are stronger than alone.
So, sharing my internal wins, or new “Private Habits”, candidly was meant to show what I was working on and how I was improving myself. However, those wins are for me, those are mine, and I can’t really expect other people to be excited about them like I am. After all, People don’t care about me. Do I still bring up my Spindrift carbonated water with lemon juice and my intermittent fasting to strangers at my daughter’s dance practice? Well, yeah, I still do, and I maybe need to work on that if that is over-sharing; but for here, on this channel, this blog, I am going to pause and pivot. I am not going to consistently tell you about how consistent I am in my diet, work, or sleep patterns and expect you to be happy for me.
The truth is, nobody liked the post much on LinkedIn or Facebook, but I just checked the stats on WordPress, because I was curious, and that post had more views than any of my other recent posts in some time, and I even got some likes on Worpress itself, which I’m not sure I have ever had. So, I am back to square one with Dr. Socrates. I now know that I definitely don’t know sh^t. I need to stop overthinking this, (and maybe rebuild parts of my 4th wall.) Overthinking is not a new pitfall for me. Unfortunately, Analysis Paralysis is kind of my jam and I need to shed that like last year’s skin. Maybe that is what this BLOG is about.
I am going to post consistently, for you (and for me). I’m not going to overthink what I post, I’m just going to keep posting consistently. oh, yeah, and I’m going to keep breathing, probably not drinking alcohol, eating right, and working out HARD 3 times a week, (but I’ll try to keep that more to myself moving forward.)
Work Cited
Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. [Rev. ed.]. Free Press, 2004.
Medhora, Neville. This book will teach you how to write better. [1st ed.]. Neville Medohora, 2013.
About the Author
David Kolmer is a learning professional who currently works and lives in St. Louis, MO. He does not have a degree in nutrition but does hold a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and a Master of Arts in Instructional Design and Educational Technology.
Hello, 2023! May you bring me focus and consistency.
I recently read a post written by a friend named Stephanie Gerald. She was inspired by a friend (who will remain unknown) to have a word for a year. Since this came at the beginning of a year and the end of another year it resounds of a new years resolution. However, living your life according to a word seems so much more possible than going to the gym every day. It’s an ideal, something to strive for. Stephanie was nice enough to share the words she has had from the past few years and I love them: Intentional, Courage, Power, and the newest one Grit, inspired by the great Angela Duckworth.
I wanted to steal one of Stephanie’s words because they were so grand and illustrious, but I realized I need to be honest. In a way, honesty was my word from 2022. as I shared in a previous blog post, HONESTY. Now if you have read ANY of my recent blog posts, you will know that I recently went to my first DEVLEARN conference, (and I promise I will get over that someday), but for now, it is still a huge landmark in my career and life in general. While I was there, the learning guild offered these windows of unlimited coffee, and boy did take advantage of that. There was also an espresso bar at the Dochebo booth and I knew the barista on a first-name basis. I don’t even need to mention how much free alcohol was available.
Me at the height of my caffeine addiction being chased by the angel of death at DEVLEARN.
Either way, by Friday I was revved up like a locomotive. I attended a class on Podcasts hosted by the profound Betty Danowitz, from If You Ask Betty. I don’t recall why but there was some sort of delay in the training and Betty asked if anyone knew any jokes. So guess who started shouting out his favorite dad jokes? Yes, if you answered me, then you are correct. After the third joke, Betty asked me to sit in the front row to be her co-host. This was flattering but I knew she was just trying to keep the Heckler close to her so she could keep an eye on him. (Betty Shared a picture of me in this state but it looks like my chat history doesn’t go that far back on Linked In. Either way that embarrassing photo is not the point.)
Now, I was very engaged in this course on Podcasts, and I’d like to start my podcast soon, but for now, I can gather my thoughts in this blog. As preparation, I have also started listening to the I Love Betty podcast and writing on it religiously. (I am wondering why she is not sponsoring my blog, but I need to remember to take baby steps.) One of the Podcasts that has resounded with me over time was with Tim Slade about building your brand. All the talk about choosing colors and fonts made sense and didn’t phase me, but one thing stood out, it shocked me. The goal is to be consistent with colors, fonts, and designs AND in your behavior. To be true to your real self all the time. Often, the only thing I am consistent at is being random. It’s not because I am overly scatterbrained or legitimately mad, but because my brand of humor is conceptual and abstract. So, I realized, I say and do random things to be funny. In other words, hoping it will make people like me more. However, this often backfires with people who don’t know me well. People think I am being serious and I offend them or concern them. Or even worse, they don’t laugh.
So now that I am being more honest with myself, and the world, I want to take it a step further and be more consistent. Well, how do I do that? I have already taken a few steps.
Improvement Dave 