Push Ups

I like finding the easiest ways to get the most results.

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I needed a little more upper body strength. I used to lift weights regularly as part of my workouts, but as I began practicing yoga that dropped off because yoga will definitely build strength (depending on what type you’re doing) and I just felt I didn’t need it.

Fast forward 11 years and I found that I had lost some of the upper body strength I once had. (Incidentally, my lower body was stronger than it had ever been, but that’s neither here nor there.) I had been doing a lot more gentle types of yoga in the last few years, so maybe that had something to do with it, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t as strong as I used to be and had lost some muscle tone.

I wanted to work out my upper body but not turn it into a whole other workout that I had to do. I already practiced yoga, went to the gym for cardio workouts and walked a lot. I didn’t feel like throwing weight lifting or specific strength workouts back into that mix. I wanted something simple that would cover a lot of ground in terms of muscles. Also I wanted to enjoy it because then it wouldn’t be hard to keep up.

So I thought of push ups.

When I was in my teens and twenties, I could do a fair number of push ups. Not a crazy amount or anything and I’m not sure I ever tried to see how many I could do in a row, but doing ten in a row would have been pretty easy for me and, I don’t know, if I had tired myself out I might have hit twenty or twenty-five. So I knew that at one time I could do them pretty easily.

Also, I knew they would hit a lot of different muscles. I wasn’t sure which ones exactly, but I knew that it was more than just 1 or 2, so that was good because I wanted to kill as many birds with one stone as I could. (I actually don’t want to kill any birds, but that’s a good expression.)

And, I thought they were fun. I’ve always liked body strength exercises and, I don’t know, I just like knowing I can push myself off the floor multiples times. Maybe I’m weird.

Lastly, I knew that I could throw them in to my stretching time when I went to the gym. I like to stretch after I’ve used the elliptical machine, so doing some push ups at that time barely alters my routine at all.

I decided that when I went to the gym–which is once or twice a week–I’d do push ups when I stretched. I also decided that I would make this dead-simple and fairly easy, so I would do sets of 5 until I couldn’t do anymore, taking a break for a minute or so between sets.

In January of this year, I could probably do 3 pushups total. So for a few sessions I’d do those 3 and stop, but then soon enough I could do 4 and then 5 and then 8 and so on and so on. All from just doing as many push ups as I could do once or twice a week and being very unconcerned with the number.

I knew I would continue to improve with very little effort. Doing 3 push ups once or twice a week sounds like nothing, and that’s kind of the point–it is. But doing those three push ups a few times will get you to 4 and then doing 4 push ups a few times will get you to 5 and so on.

That’s the thing, the improvement is very gradual but because you’re doing it regularly it adds up (kind of like writing a novel!!). At this point in time I can do almost twenty push ups if I’m doing them in sets and thirteen if I’m doing them straight through. Those aren’t tremendous numbers but for as little effort as I’ve put in, I’ve increased the number I can do 6 times.

Also, I’m continuing to improve. So in six months, who knows? And this only takes me five or so minutes once or twice a week.

This is the lazy way to have ambition.

Have you ever thought about what easy things you can do that would add up to good results? Put on your lazy lens and look through it. 😉

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Amanda Linehan is the author of North, about a young woman on the run from her past, the law and an old adversary out to get her. Her newest release is Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller, about a 300-year-old vampire trying to restore the balance between life and death. She has published five novels. Get a free short story every month when you sign up for her newsletter.