40 by 40! (Goal related, not a workout)

[alisoncooks]

I had a birthday this month, and I'm officially in the last year of my 30s.

I've been playing around with setting a fitness-related goal. I certainly could stand to lose 40 pounds by age 40... but I don't want to make this about weight. I was playing around with the idea of 40 push-ups (in one go or in sets of 10) by 40...but that's impossible, lol!! I've never been able to do more than 2-3 toe push-ups!!

However, CharM's family reunion thread might just be confirmation that I can/should do this!

What do you think? Any suggestions (for other goals or ways to meet this goal)? What goal would you set for yourself?

[bee]

I had a boss who decided to run 40 miles for his birthday. To be even crazier about it, he decided to do it all on the track at the local high school so that he could have friends and family join him for some laps, so all day long people were hopping in with him and falling out. I am not in any way suggesting you should do that!

You could maybe come up with 40 things like pushups that you do 40 of. Some would be easier than others. I'm just thinking on the keyboard here -- haven't really thought it out, but squats, crunches, pushups of course, jumping jacks, assisted pull ups?, um, and then a whole lot more. Maybe that's not a great idea. Oh, what about a different thing of 40 for each hour of your birthday?

It's a fun idea. I guess I should start thinking of how to commemorate my 60th in a couple of years.....

[Gams]

How about some combination of:

40 straight days of exercise
40 minutes of walking each day for 40 straight days
40 straight days of at least 10,000 steps on your pedometer each day
40 different workout DVDs in 40 days

[bubbles76]

Originally Posted by Gams

How about some combination of:

40 straight days of exercise
40 minutes of walking each day for 40 straight days
40 straight days of at least 10,000 steps on your pedometer each day
40 different workout DVDs in 40 days

My first thought was, "yea, I could definitely buy 40 workout dvds in 40 days" lol! The life of a vidiot.

I like these goals. How about 40 days of yoga? 40 days of meditation? Leading up to your birthday.

[Vantreesta]

I forget which year hubby and I did this goal I had set, thinking it may have been 39. We go hiking for a long wknd every year for my birthday. Whichever year this was, I said the wknd goal was to hike a mile for every year of my life. Hubby never works out and this was still totally doable for us but was still a nice challenge.

[CharM]

Originally Posted by bubbles76

My first thought was, "yea, I could definitely buy 40 workout dvds in 40 days" lol! The life of a vidiot.

I love this "challenge"!

Alison, do you want to do pushups? What I mean is, is it something you've always wanted to do? Or is there something else that you want to do, like maybe you see a post about [insert topic here] and you think, "that seems like fun" or even, "that's crazy! I can't do that." Well, now's the time to do it.

Let us know what you decide.

[Vantreesta]

Originally Posted by Gams

How about some combination of:

40 straight days of exercise
40 minutes of walking each day for 40 straight days
40 straight days of at least 10,000 steps on your pedometer each day
40 different workout DVDs in 40 days

40 kettlebell swings 40 days in a row

[alisoncooks]

Originally Posted by Gams

How about some combination of:

40 straight days of exercise
40 minutes of walking each day for 40 straight days
40 straight days of at least 10,000 steps on your pedometer each day
40 different workout DVDs in 40 days

I do like these ideas! And I could do several of them without killing myself!

Originally Posted by CharM

I love this "challenge"!

Alison, do you want to do pushups? What I mean is, is it something you've always wanted to do? Or is there something else that you want to do, like maybe you see a post about [insert topic here] and you think, "that seems like fun" or even, "that's crazy! I can't do that." Well, now's the time to do it.

Let us know what you decide.

I *do* want to do push-ups. Well, I don't want to do them...but I want to be ABLE to do them. I never really have been able to, not even at my fittest...

[yogapam]

When a friend of mine turned 60 she made a list of 60 things to do in her 60th year. She started right after her birthday and took most of the year to get through the list. It was all kinds of things she hadn’t done before.....specific hikes, activity/exercise goals like swimming 60 lengths of a pool, books, artsy stuff, food/restaurants, movies, travel, things she was always afraid to try like this huge suspension bridge in Vancouver, and the list goes on.... I did several with her, it was a lot of fun. She wrote a blog about it.

[CharM]

Originally Posted by alisoncooks

I *do* want to do push-ups. Well, I don't want to do them...but I want to be ABLE to do them. I never really have been able to, not even at my fittest...

Ok, then I think you should go for it! There are several sites and videos with suggestions on how to progress. Some say do them on your knees until you master them, others say to do "negative" pushups first (lower yourself to the bottom position). But don't overthink it! Find something that you like and just stick with it. I was forced to do pushups thanks to Power 90 and P90X, and many workouts I do now still have them, so I do them. It does feel good to be able to do them even if just for bragging rights.

Originally Posted by yogapam

When a friend of mine turned 60 she made a list of 60 things to do in her 60th year.

What an excellent idea!