I tried a 100 days active challenge 🏃‍♂️

I tried a "100 day challenge" like almost everyone on social media these days but trust me the intention was not to go viral or become an "influencer"!

Bottom line, I was active for 100 days as the title says (boring 🥱) but if you are curious about the backstory, how it went and some unexpected outcomes, stick around as I try to jot down the experience...

Background

Though I used to hit the gym and bike couple of times a week and play table tennis almost everyday, somehow my back injury decided to flare up when I was doing a road trip in Australia 🤷‍♂️. Since then, I moved countries, changed jobs and had to take physical therapy for a while. This period was definitely stressful but the flare up did make me rethink fitness or just being active, taking a different approach - targeted exercise first, everything else later 😌

What did I set out to achieve?

The goal was simple - get out and do some physical activity so that my flexibility improves and my back muscles get strengthened - do it everyday. Owing to my injury, I couldn't do the typical gym exercises so I narrowed down to these activities: brisk walking, yoga and swimming. As I said before, strengthening my back muscles was the first priority and everything else followed that.

How did it go?

• I hit my target of 100 days (Proof: Strava).
• From not being able to walk a few hundred meters without pain to walking 4-6 kilometers without pain, my mobility improved a lot.
• I started running and playing table tennis again!

How did my approach change and what's the impact?

• I have definitely gone way more than 100 days by now. It has become a habit and whenever I don't workout in the morning, it keeps irritating me until I do it!
• I feel a lot more flexible now and lot less scared about flaring up my injury again.
• Previously, when I used to work out, I always focused on improving my cardio fitness and gaining muscle. Now, my approach is entirely different, focus on working/strengthening the muscles around the injury first and then work on the overall fitness.
• Strangely, I have started to track my workouts less and push it until my body tells me to stop. Listening to the body is the best approach IMO!

If you have come this far, I hope I helped you to get a tiny bit of motivation for your 'being active' journey or made you laugh about how I can overthink even something as simple as walking. In either case, I'm happy 😌

If you are looking to connect, follow/ping me on Instagram or follow me on Strava for some competition 😁

If you feel like buying me a coffee ☕️, here you go - Buy Mahesh a Coffee!