My Ambitious Summer Workout Project

There are many reasons why diets and workout regimens fail. Time, lack of healthy food, injury, and stressors of life can all have detrimental effects on whether or not we achieve workout/overall fitness goals in our lifetimes.

I have fallen victim to this myself, multiple times.

Despite this, I would consider myself in reasonable shape, certainly well enough to get on with the usual daily movements in life with little to no issues. But I want more out of my life than to just be “healthy enough”, because up until recently I was doing better than that.

Again, many reasons why deteriorating health have happened, but today I want to focus on how I want to turn that around this summer.

I saw a post on social media about someone who did something called the One Punch Man Workout. For the uninitiated, One Punch Man started out as a webcomic, became a Manga, and eventually an Anime. I have not read the Manga or seen the Anime, but my very basic knowledge informs me that One Punch Man is exactly as he is titled. He can defeat any enemy he comes across with a single punch.

While that is not my overall goal, the workout I came across that he does daily intrigued me and it goes as follows:

• 100 Push-ups

• 100 Sit-ups

• 100 Squats

• 10km Run

When I first saw this I thought “Ooooo I like round numbers this works with my brain really well” and it also sets clear and obvious goals. While I am not in the best shape of my life, I knew I could do 100 squats and 100 sit-ups in a day. The push-ups would be difficult but not impossible, just a matter of building those muscles and stamina. You may have noticed I left out one of the core tenants here.

Running.

I do not run for fun, and it is not something that I have ever really enjoyed unless it was for a particular sport. This was and will be the biggest hurdle for me. To be fair, I can walk 10km a day easily without even thinking about it, so in reality it will be the cardio endurance that is the hurdle I must overcome. That said, even during my ramp up period last week I have seen progress.

So, how do I plan to reach this goal of all these round numbers and doing them every day? For the sit-ups and squats, it’ll be the matter of doing this on a daily basis, as most workouts tend to shift from one area of the body to another whereas this regimen calls for a total body workout daily. Occasional rest days/lowering the overall number will be needed.

As for the running and push-ups, it’ll be about building to the ultimate number. I have experience in this area before. A few years ago I did a workout regimen that eventually ended with me doing 100 push-ups and 300 squats in a single day. It was also the best shape I have been in for quite some time. Applying some of those daily goals will help me get to the nice round numbers I am looking to achieve.

And what happens once those are reached? It will be about continuing to do these things on a daily basis and making the time for them. The Manga and Anime allude to the fact that One Punch Man completes these workouts all in one set. For us mere humans, it would be smarter to break things down into more manageable sets, but perhaps increasing the size of those sets over time. For the running though, I would really like to get to running 10km with minimal to no stops eventually. At the end of the day, my cardio really needs a lot of work.

So, that’s my plan for the summer in terms of workout goals. I’ll still do plenty of walks and play basketball and pick up soccer. But stumbling on this One Punch Man Workout really lit a fire under me. Again, maybe it’s the round numbers, or maybe it is also the fact that upon research there are multiple sources that tout the validity of the workout regimen. Either way, I look forward to continuing on this journey, and letting you all know how things work out!

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