Today was the final day of a 30-day planking challenge, which I joined at the behest of my colleague Robbert Slooten.
It was a long sweaty grueling challenge, which we documented via videos we shared back and forth. It was fun, and tiring and made me feel quite accomplished, especially as the length of time increased. That is, until I learned the world record for planking, held by a 62-year-old, is 8 hours and 15 minutes. It really puts my month-long struggle to achieve four-and-a-half minutes into perspective.
Regardless, the whole process reminded me how much I enjoy this kind of thing. such as Josie Long’s 100 days to make me a better person, which I did quite some years ago.
I ultimately didn’t succeed in the final days of the plank challenge. My knees buckled yesterday before the four-minute mark. And that trend continued today, when I also made it to the conclusion only with the help of a mid-plank collapse. But I’m more of a process guy anyway.
The month had plenty of highs and lows, and here are my takeaways
1. Doing something every day (just about), is a ‘habit’. Habits matter, as we are our habits.
2. It really helps to have an accountability partner, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have followed it through to a conclusion without someone there to work with me. Also, Robbert set a new personal best today: 5 minutes and 15 seconds.
3. The filming aspect kept us honest, and was fun. Check this short video out to see how much fun it was!
