The First Push-up

You’ve never exercised, or haven’t done it in a long time. You decide to start. The first of the next month is a popular choice, but it’s not really a choice – it’s just a lie, a deferral of disappointment. You most likely already know that, but you’ve been living with the lie and the disappointment for a while so it’s OK.

So, if you know you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, why not start now? Not on the first, not next week, not even tomorrow.

Now. Right now, as you’re reading this piece.

I think I know why. Because just thinking about an exercising routine is exhausting. The idea that you have to do 100 push-ups, run 10 km daily, lift weights, and eat less is just too much. On top of that, depending on how much you want to shed, it may take anything between 3 months to 2 years. That’s a long time to wait, and there’s no guarantee you’ll ever make it. And all this time on a diet, too? No way, too hard.

That’s the thinking, right?

It is, but what those who never start exercising don’t realize is that once you’ve actually started, your thinking changes, too, along with your weight. Your negativity starts dissipating on its own, you don’t have to make any effort on that. You stop caring how long it will take or that you can’t eat that much anymore. The machine that is your body begins realizing that you want something else from it and a dialog is opened. “Here’s what I want you to do.” you tell your body. “I want you to stop storing energy, and start using more of it.” “All right,” replies your flesh on a business-like tone “but you gotta gimme me somethin’ to spend the extra energy on.”

This is where exercising comes in.

Yes, but … but … but it’s hard. (Yes, I can hear you say that.)

Yup, it is. So here’s what I propose.

Start with one push-up.

I know it’s hard. It really is. All those extra pounds, all those bigger than necessary meals, all those TV dinners, they all conspire against you. They whisper sweet words of bacon, ice-cream, and double cheeseburgers. They tell you it’s much easier to sit on the couch, with a nice full plate of fries and a Coke strategically placed next to you so the arm movement is minimal, and watch the game. It’s so easy, there’s no effort involved, they promise, cross their heart hope to die.

They’re not wrong, it is an easier path.

But you are determined. This time you manage to ignore them. You can still hear them – oh boy, they are really loud – but this time they don’t get through. After all it’s just one push-up. How hard can it be? So, you go down on your belly, you spread your arms at shoulder length, body straight, heels touching, and you push. The first 2 inches are OK, everything is smooth. Then something sits on your back.

It’s them, the extra pound army, the soldiers of TV dinners. These guys are nasty little goblins. If they can’t persuade you verbally, they resort to violence. “We tried to be nice,” they say, “but if you don’t have the common sense to take the offer …” they pause for effect, “… we have other methods.”

It is hard to beat them. Not impossible though, because they have a weakness: they can’t notice (or maybe they don’t care about) small changes. You need to work against them slowly, at first, just to gain momentum. That’s why you start with only one push up. Even if the goblins notice it, they won’t give it too much attention, especially if you don’t go any further.

But if you make it, if you manage to go all the way up on that first push-up, until your arms are fully stretched (which may not be the right way to do it, but who cares?) then you’ll have crossed the most difficult bridge in your exercising career. You will have slapped back the bully called comfort and its acolytes, the nasty goblins. You will have the pleasure to see the surprise on the bully’s face.

That’s why I am trying to motivate you.

The first successful push-up will teach you that you can do what you put your mind to and it will be one push-up more than … well, the number of push-ups you’ve been doing until a few minutes ago.

You don’t have to do any more push-ups today. Stop here, continue tomorrow. In fact, if you haven’t exercised in a long time, or never, then you have to stop. Doing more will attract the goblins’ attention (and you may injure yourself). Take it easy. Tomorrow you can do another one. Or maybe two. Or maybe a push-up and a sit-up. By tomorrow the goblins will have grown complacent and your two push-ups will count as one in their books. If you cannot wait until tomorrow, do it today but put a few hours between the push-ups. The goblins have a short attention span.

So stop now and do the push-up. I’ll wait.

I’m not kidding. Just do ONE push-up.

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Are you done? How do you feel?