Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hero drives my bodyweight challenge

He was my hero. I was just a 5 year old kid when this "Superman" came to town. And to this day his story still brings a tear to my eye. What he achieved, against the obstacles he overcame, makes almost everything we struggle with seem so inconsequential in comparison.


His story below, but first, I have three questions for you.


The answers determines your future.


What are your real limits?
What beliefs do you have about yourself?
What limits are you setting on yourself because you are thinking too small?


Most people put up walls in their minds, blocking them from success.
But my childhood hero, Terry Fox, refused to do this.In his early 20′s, Terry, stricken with cancer that had already claimed his right leg, set out on a cross-Canada marathon of hope.


The year was 1980. I was only 5 years old at the time, but it left an impact on me that still drives me to this day.


Terry began his marathon of hope long before fundraising runs became popular. His goal was to run across Canada, raising money for cancer research. And he started with just himself and a buddy in a van.


He ran through snow and ice in Quebec, where he was nearly – and literally – run off the road by drivers that were angry at him for being there. No one understood what he was doing. To them, he was just some dumb kid risking death running on the side of a highway.

He ran those first few weeks of his marathon of hope – with no hope from anyone else. Even his buddy, the van driver, doubted the mission.Yet Terry ran a marathon each and every single day – on one leg.


On one leg!

The fact that he ran a marathon a day, every day, is driving me during the 33,333 bodyweight challenge.

Each rep is like each step, eating up the road, putting another piece of the marathon behind me.

Today was another 606 rep chunk out of the big elephant.

250 pushups
200 squats
101 rows
55 burpees

Some of the squats and pushups were done first as a warmup, and then I went for an all out set of pushups.

The result was 56 reps.

Of all the movements and body parts that have benefited the most from the 33,333 rep challenge, it has to be my shoulders, chest, pushups, and even my bench press. I'm pleasantly surprised. I was worried my shoulders would get sore or even injured, but that has not been the case. The shoulder joint seems to be strengthened. It's been interesting.

But I need to step it up on the number of chin-ups and pullups I do over the next 9 weeks.

Today's Kickbutt Mindset Tip:
Progress comes – in spurts – and it is your passion that gets you through the dips. So always believe in yourself and never, ever, ever, EVER give up. That's what you must do.

Let this photo be a reminder for all of us to have great gratitude for the easy lives we live, and inspiration to stay true to our convictions, to focus on what matters, to concentrate on what counts, and do what is right.
Photo: Let this be a reminder for all of us to have great gratitude for the easy lives we live, and inspiration to stay true to our convictions, to focus on what matters, to concentrate on what counts, and do what is right.

Push on,

Craig Ballantyne, CTT

***

12 week cumulative total:

15,000 Bodyweight Squats
  • 6485
10,000 Pushups
  • 3875
3,000 Bodyweight Rows
  • 1363
2,000 Pullups
  • 237
1,500 Burpees
  • 529
1,500 Chinups
  • 445
333 Handstand Pushups
  • 102
= 12,926/33,333 reps

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