Today I did an experiment. I wanted to see how far I would go if I didn’t look at the timer at all. My personal record up until today was 4 minutes. And when I did that it felt like the world was ending. And I was feeling pretty beat up after being yelled at by a 9 month old for an extended period of time (apparently you’re not supposed to make them dinner, it’s just supposed to magically materialize. And so forth). So my expectations were not high.
Anyway, I put pandora on shuffle and got my magazine and got into my plank! My husband timed me so I wouldn’t cheat. Several times I wanted to ask him to tell me the time, but I refrained. The Baby Einstein channel was playing songs, and I figured those songs were short, so I aimed to get through at least one of them, hoping for two. And it seemed like that first song just dragged ON and ON. Catchy, but LONG. Or was it really short and my perception was skewed by the plank? Who knew. At one point I had to stop reading and close my eyes to focus on my breath. I did a little bit of plank dancing too. Then I started counting backwards from 20- over and over and over. First, as slowly as I could manage, and then I was just blowing through the numbers, but kept making myself do it over and over again. When I felt like my back was going to give out, I came down. I was sure it had only been like 2 minutes. But my husband and the timer both said 5:20. FIVE TWENTY! I know some of you are at 7 minutes, but for me this was a big deal! And really surprised me.
I didn’t even think that was possible at this point. Which is maybe why I hadn’t done it yet. So now I know.
This turned out to be a worthwhile experiment. I will try it again when I am feeling better 🙂
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BASIC & OVERACHIEVER are the same today. Give your timer to someone else or turn it upside down. See how far you go without looking at the timer. Use one or all or none of my tactics above, but give it your best shot. Have fun! If you beat your time AWESOME!! If you don’t beat your time- NO BIG DEAL! I didn’t think I would beat my time. It was just an experiment. I posted on fb before I did it to hold myself accountable. Even if I’d had to post a lower time. Who cares. Just do the experiment.
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Some of you have asked that I repost the supplemental ab video from a few days back. It’s one I’ve used in my Tribe group, but am sharing it with you for free because I think it’s important to do more than just the planks in this challenge. Make your core muscles stronger so you can reach that 10 minute plank sooner!
[youtube]XcyUgN4K174[/youtube]
Enjoy your day!
Your Fitness Coach,
Miranda Zukowski