So remember that time that I was in the middle of the 30-day plank challenge, wrote a post about it, and then never told you if I finished the challenge?
Yeah. Sorry about that.
I know you all have been losing sleep over my lack of communication. I know you’ve been thinking, “Did she do it? Did she complete a six-minute plank? Or did she bail out and quit the challenge?”
The answer to these questions is here!
Quick recap: I started the 30-day plank challenge on Jan. 1 with a 1:20 plank. My goal was to increase to a 6:00 plank over the course of the month.
So Jan. 30 was Day 30, the final day of the challenge. I entered the day not exactly looking forward to my 6:00 plank attempt. See, Days 27, 28, and 29 had brutally demanded strongly suggested planks of 5:00, 5:00, and 5:30, respectively. By Day 30, my abs were feeling it (which I had expected), but my arms/shoulders were feeling it even more (which I had not expected).
On the final day of the challenge, I put off my planks until nighttime, rationalizing that it was good to give my arms/shoulders more time to rest after the previous day’s 5:30 plank. That was true, but I also avoided planking earlier in the day because I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to make it to 6:00.
Finally, after 10 p.m., I mustered up the courage to give it a shot. After all, I had dedicated the previous 29 days to planks, and I don’t like to quit something like this once I’ve started it. This is basically how my 6:00 plank attempt went down:
I felt OK. At first.
Ready to go!
For the first 2:30 or so, I was fine.
Clearly I had no idea what was coming my way.
After 2:30, the plank began taking its toll. That was not a great sign because I wasn’t even halfway to my goal yet.
Feeling a little bit concerned
I’m sure it hurt me that I was mentally unprepared; all day I’d been reminding myself how tough a 6:00 plank would be. Not helpful.
Can you tell I’m really not loving the plank challenge at this moment?
The problem with planks is that they don’t leave many opportunities to do other things at the same time. So there I was, in the middle of my 6:00 plank, and all I could think about was how much I was suffering. I took some pictures of myself planking, which, when I looked at them right then, only reinforced how horrible I felt.
Not fun anymore!
After a certain point, the only thing that kept me going was my competitive nature, which reminded me how tough/macho/whatever I’d feel when I was done. Except I didn’t feel macho while I was actually doing the planks. I didn’t even LOOK macho. Instead, I looked like this:
“Make the challenge stop!”
Somehow, finally, I was closing in on my goal time. My arms, shoulders, and abs were screaming at me, so I screamed through clenched teeth…
“AAAAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!” (Not flattering.)
…and held on until my watch read 6:00. Then I collapsed on the floor and stayed there for a while.
Pain.
This is my “I did it, but I’m suffering too much to celebrate right now” expression.
Despite how tough my 6:00 plank was, my inner competitor was right: I did feel tough, not to mention accomplished, when I was done. When I started the 30-day plank challenge, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep up with it, but I did. It was incredibly difficult toward the end, but to me that just means that it was more worth it.
No, since Jan. 30, I haven’t done 6:00 planks regularly (or ever), but I am able to do 3:00 planks, no problem. My previous planking comfort zone had been 1:00 to 1:30. Progress!
A smile at last!
Operation Life 