A girl’s gotta have a fitness goal

Here’s a girl with a goal.

Kristen Seymour, a writer for That’s Fit, recently announced that she’s taking on the One hundred Push-ups Challenge. She’s now into week three and up to 50 push-ups in a row.

You go, girl! That’s totally cool!

I’ve written a series of posts on here before about the benefits of push-ups to women. Read them here, here and here.

Sometimes I don’t think we women challenge ourselves enough when it comes to fitness. We baby ourselves, sticking with comfortable weights and not going much beyond that. I’ve caught myself doing it, and my husband has accused me of doing it.

You’re not going to improve, get stronger or break into new territory if you don’t push yourself.

My current major fitness goal is to do unassisted pull-ups by the end of the year. I’m slightly beyond two-thirds of my body weight. I’m struggling a bit with a plateau right now that I can't seem to get past. But I hit the pull-up machine every time I’m at the gym, and I keep trying. (Here’s a hint: If you can’t make a 10-pound jump, try finding a five-pound weight to sit on top of the weight stack. That way, you can increase in smaller increments, but still increase.)

Having fitness goals gives us something to strive for, a road map as we try to make ourselves better. If you stick only with what’s comfortable, you won’t improve.

There’s a saying that I like: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” That’s true in fitness, and in life.

Maybe I’ll take on the 100 push-ups challenge next.

Girls, what’s your fitness goal?