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A Quest to Build Arm Strength: Planks
Habit #2 in my 30 day journey
My left arm took months to recover from the flu shot this year. I usually have a little soreness in the shoulder for a few days and that’s it. This year my arm was weak for a couple of months after the jab.
I’d do a simple task like grab a liter of milk out of the fridge and my arm felt weak as if it couldn’t handle that moderate weight. It felt kind of like all the strength had been drained out of that arm.
Eventually, the abnormal weakness went away and now I’m faced with the fact both of my arms are lightweights.
I am currently incapable of doing a single pushup using proper form.
It wasn’t always this way. There have been periods of my life, even in middle age, when I could do ten proper pushups in a row. But that time is not now.
Losing arm strength temporarily reminded me that my body is naturally deteriorating. I can slow the process through exercise or I can neglect strength training and speed it up.
So habit #2 in my 30 day habit formation journey is planks. I’ll add in pushups later in the month but for now I’m going for planks.
Habits are easiest to remember when you tie them to something you already do so here is my plan. During the working day, every time I get up from my chair for a cup of tea, toilet break, or whatever, before sitting back down I am going to drop to the floor and hold a plank position for as long as I can.
I just tried it now and made it 60 seconds. We will see where I can get to after 30 days.
