10,000 Pushups And Other Silly Exercise Quests That Changed My Life
Headed into 2025 I was fat, out of shape, and lazy. My three young children were running circles around me, and I was increasingly concerned not only about my health in general but about the kind of example I was setting for them. My (very) sedentary job in front of a laptop serving as the CTO of Adalo wasn't helping, nor was the fact that my favorite hobby in the world outside of work is, well, sitting in front of the laptop building SaaS companies like SecurityBot.dev and 6DollarCRM . Adding to the general anxiety was the fact I had spent the last two years watching my parents struggle with devastating health issues. My parents had me in their early 20's, so all said they really weren't that much older than I am. My thoughts regularly turned into worry that I'd eventually wind up with my own serious health problems if I didn't get my act together. I wanted to do something about it, but what? Past attempts to go to a gym weren't successful, and I really did not want to drive any more than I already do serving alongside my wife as a kid taxi. Also, having made half-hearted attempts in the past to get into shape (Orange Theory, P90X, etc) and winding up spending less time exercising than researching the minutiae of max VO2, bicycle construction, and fasting benefits, I knew I had to keep things simple. While on a post-Christmas family vacation down in Florida I concluded it made sense to set a goal that could help me get into better shape but which also could be completed in small chunks over a long period of time. It was also important that I could do the workout at any point in the day and even in my office if necessary. And thus began the quest to complete 10,000 pushups in one year. Almost 10 months later, this harebrained goal and the many positive effects that came from it changed my life in ways I never imagined. While still in Florida I fired up a Google Sheet and added two columns to it: Date and Pushups. And on January 1, 2025 I dropped down and knocked out 30. Well not 30 in a row, mind you. I never could have done that on day 1. It was more like 10, 10, 5, 5 or something like that. Then I wrote it down. On January 2 I upped my game a bit, doing 35 and again immediately logged into the sheet and wrote it down again. In the days that followed, the reward very much became the opportunity to open that sheet. Can't write the pushup number down if I didn't do the pushups, right? I didn't want to break the chain (although you'll later see I did in fact break the chain plenty of times in the months ahead) and so in the first 31 days I did pushups on 24 of 31 days, logging 1,018 in total and averaging 32.84 per day. I even worked up the motivation to run on a treadmill one day in January, logging 2.17 miles in 30 minutes on January 14, 2025. Other than that run and pushups, according to my spreadsheet I did no other notable exercise that month. It was also in January that I stopped eating fast food of any type, and as of the day of this writing I've not reversed course on this decision. Long story short we were driving back from https://codemash.org and pulled through a McDonalds. I had at that point been eating McDonalds all of my life; nothing over the top mind you, but probably twice a month at least for as long as I can remember. Anyway, the food that day was rancid. Legitimately nauseating. I have no idea why it was that way but I was so turned off that right there and then I swore I'd never touch it again. Coincidentally, over this past weekend I was on a walk and reflecting on some of what I'd been writing in this blog post, and my thoughts turned towards diet. When was the last time you heard somebody (including yourself) say they feel better after eating fast food? We all know the answer to this question: never. This stuff is not food and I feel so much better staying away from this poison. Whether it was due to the winter blues or that shiny New Year's resolution already starting to fade, I only logged 848 pushups on 21 of 28 days in February. But I definitely seemed to be getting stronger, averaging 44.63 pushups on those days, and managed to log a daily high of 117 pushups on February 9, 2025. By the end of February I had logged 1,876 pushups. According to my spreadsheet I also managed to lift weights on February 1, 4, and 10. I have a pretty basic weight set in the basement and although I can't recall the specifics, I was probably standing around listening to CNBC on my phone most of the time. I'm not going to sugarcoat it; March was bad, real bad. I only logged 206 pushups on 9 days, averaging 22.9 pushups on those days. It's unclear to me why I'd tailed off so much other than to imagine old man winter was really starting to weigh on me by that point. Even so, those 206 pushups took me to a total of 2,082 pushups for the year. In April my pace picked back up along with the improving weather and increasing sunlight. I completed 375 pushups on 13 days, averaging 28.84 pushups on those days. However I also managed to lift weights on six days in April, went on a run on April 14, and even gave fasting a go for a 28 hour period between April 2-April 3 (not sure I'll do that again). Another lifestyle change unexpectedly happened in April: I basically quit drinking alcohol, wine in particular. This decision was a pretty simple one because as I've gotten older, the hangovers have gotten worse, and my sleep quality has gotten much worse, anytime I drank more than 1-2 drinks. As of this writing (September 28, 2025) I've had maybe 2-3 glasses of wine in almost 5 months. My new alcoholic drink of choice when I feel like having something? Miller Lite. It has low calories, low alcohol content, and you can buy a 12 pack for as much as one bottle of wine. Adding 375 pushups to the pile took me to a total of 2,457 pushups for 2025. Likely due to fear I was going to enter yet another summer rocking the "dad bod", my exercise intensity soared in May. I completed 1,281 pushups over 25 days, averaging 51.24 pushups on those days. On five of those days I completed more than 100 pushups, and on May 18 completed a YTD single day high of 150. I also became mildly obsessed with the idea of doing a split. While browsing Libby as I love to do at night, I found the book Even the Stiffest People Can Do the Splits . The cover showed the author smiling and doing a full split, and I thought well if Eiko says even stiff people can do it then maybe I can too. Over the course of May I did the splits workout 15 times, and undoubtedly became far more flexible although I never did quite reach a complete split. This continued into June and early July however for reasons I'll explain in a moment I stopped doing the regiment out of fear I'd get hurt. However, to this day I stretch daily and of all the different exercise routines I've tried this year I think aggressive stretching has perhaps had the most ROI of them all. On May 15 I ran a 5K with my daughter (well she sped ahead of me after mile 1), completing it in 32:50. Not too bad considering according to my log I ran exactly four times in 2025. Headed into June I had completed a grand total of 3,738 pushups. June is where things really started to get exciting. Every year Xenon Partners runs a friendly intercontinental pushup contest. "Friendly" is a relative term considering I work with numerous combat veterans, retired members of the United States and Australian military services, and a former Mr. Australia contestant. I also spent some time in France with the family, attending the 24 Hours of Le Mans race (amazing btw) and sightseeing around the country, meaning I had to fit pushups in whenever possible, including at Versailles: In June my output soared to 2,014 pushups, and despite all of the traveling managed to do pushups on 24 of 30 days, averaging 91.55 pushups per day. I also set multiple PRs in June, doing 205 pushups on June 1, 222 on June 15, and then 300 on June 27. As of June 30 I had completed a total of 5,752 pushups. Upon returning from Europe I got the bright idea to organize a race called the 5/15/500 Challenge. This involved running 5 miles, biking 15 miles, and then completing 500 body weight exercises. Nevermind that I'd run maybe four times in 2025 and hadn't been on my bike once. Many of my neighbors joined the fun, and we even had t-shirts printed for the occasion. Of course, I also created a website . I did this because I figured having an artificially imposed deadline was going to force me to exercise more often. Mission accomplished. In July I completed 2,002 pushups, ran 48.88 miles, and biked 28.99 miles (this includes the race day numbers). The heat throughout the month was often unbearable, but I pushed through all the same knowing July 26 (race day) was coming up quick. During this period I also really began to dial in my diet, eating little more than fruit, eggs (lots of eggs), chicken, rice, and salad (lots of salad). It was during this period and August that my body began to change. I became noticeably larger and more muscular, and incredibly my abs began to show. In this photo I'm completing race pushup #500. Don't judge the form, it was almost 90 degrees and the exhaustion was real from having already completed the run and bike segments. That said if you squint in the right light you can see I actually have muscles due to all the pushups and running! Due to all of the July training and the 5/15/500 Challenge, my YTD pushup output soared to 7,754. It was around this time that I went down a major rabbit hole regarding microplastics. A successful techie named Nat Friedman funded a study that looked into the prevalency of microplastics in food, vitamins, and other products, and published the results here . I'm not going to call out any products by name here (although I should because they are poisoning us), but take a moment to open this site in a new tab and search for protein for a glimpse into how you are being poisoned every time you take a bite of so-called health food. After spending a few weeks researching this topic I radically changed my diet and eliminated all of this nonsense. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, look into the relationship between chocolate-infused health products and heavy metals. In August I did exactly 1,000 pushups, and threw in 190 body weight squats just for fun. 525 of these pushups were completed in a single day (August 16) thanks to my neighbor, friend, and fellow 5/15/500 contestant Charlie having the bright idea that we should knock out what was originally supposed to be 400 pushups during our sons' soccer game. Of course, our competitive spirit got the best of us and I quit at 525 while Charlie pushed on to 600. I'll get him the next time! The running sessions continued throughout August, with 37.48 miles completed. I started taking running much more seriously at this point because I signed up for the October 19 Columbus 1/2 Marathon. I've run 1/2 marathons before (poorly - my last finish time was 3:05) so I know what I'm getting into here, but this time around I want to actually finish at what I deem to be a respectable time which is around 2:20 (10:40/mile pace). Of course, in order to train for this I needed to know what pace I'm running in the first place, and so I bought a Garmin Forerunner 55 watch with GPS. As mentioned before my proclivity for going down research rabbit holes hasn't really helped my previous attempts to get into shape so I chose this watch because compared to other watches it is relatively spartan in terms of features. Above all else I wanted a watch that can accurately track my running distance, pace, and route and so far I am so, so happy with this purchase. It is perfect, and the battery life is amazing. On August 2 I received the watch and later that day took my son and his friend up to a local (Alum Creek) mountain bike park and while they were riding I decided to run the trails. I wound up running 4.69 miles on very hilly and bumpy trails, and paid for it dearly over the next week due to terrible foot and knee pain. On August 21 I ran my first training 10K, completing it in 1:12:28. According to my fancy watch I completed the first 5K in 39:11 but then sped up and completed the second 5K in 33:11. On August 25 I repeated the route, this time completing the 10K in 1:05:41. On August 28 I did it a third time, completing it in 1:02:47. Progress! I brought some help to the the August 25 and 28 10K training runs: GU packs . In July I read the book Swim, Bike, Bonk: Confessions of a Reluctant Triathlete , by Will McGough. In this hilarious recounting of training and competing in an Ironman triathlon, the author mentions using these mysterious "gel" pack, of which the most popular is known as a "GU pack". I subsequently picked up a few at the local Walmart and can confirm they unquestionably gave me a boost on these long runs. Now anytime I plan on running a 10K or longer I put one in my running pouch and open it 5K into the route. With another 1,000 pushups in the book my YTD output sat at 8,754 on August 31. Much better endurance aside, the most obvious visible outcome of the last few months is my clothes no longer fit. My polo shirts are so baggy they look like tents, and my t-shirts are too small because I'm so much more... muscular? What in the hell is going on? This seems to be working! With 8,754 pushups complete, I only had 1,246 to go and concluded I'd meet the milestone in September. With the 1/2 marathon around the corner my running workouts picked up and I set multiple PRs, including a 29:51 5K PR on September 8, followed by another 28:10 5K PR on September 11. On September 17 I got one of the biggest motivational boosts possible. I was in Chicago for a quarterly meeting, and one of the fellow board members who I've seen in person once every 3 months (but not 3 months ago because we were on the France trip) walked up to me and introduced himself. I stared back at him completely puzzled, and watched him walk away to greet the person next to me. He suddenly wheeled around with a look of shock on his face and said something to the effect of "Holy shit! I didn't even recognize you! You look amazing!". On September 21 I completed the 10,000th pushup in unceremonious fashion on my living room floor: On September 24 I gobbled up a GU pack and headed outside feeling like I could tear a phone book in half. My goal was to shatter the previous 28:10 5K record, and I was on track to do exactly that, running the first 2.1 kilometers in 18 minutes flat. Then out of nowhere I felt this terrible pain in my left calf and came to an immediate stop. It wasn't until September 29 that I could comfortably run again, and even then I only ran 1 mile because I'm terrified of a nagging injury setting me back for the October 19 1/2 marathon. In September I added 1,501 pushups to the pile, bringing the YTD total to 10,245. Today is October 1, 2025 and the pushups continue. The aforementioned 1/2 marathon is on October 19, and my neighbor Charlie and I have already agreed to walk/run a full marathon (around our neighborhood) on November 29. Although it's almost 80 degrees today, in past years we've seen snow by the end of the month so I'm thinking about getting one of those fancy stationary bikes or maybe even a treadmill so I can keep this party going over the winter. In recent months I have started to look so different that friends have asked me for some diet details. As mentioned, I no longer eat fast food, nor overconsume alcohol. But I've also almost completely cut out processed foods, eating them only very sparingly. A few months ago I did manage to go down the microplastics and heavy metals rabbit hole, and now spend some time researching anything that I plan on eating on a regular basis. Believe me, a lot of the food you think is healthy is pure garbage. Every morning I eat one of two things: either a gigantic fruit smoothie or four scrambled eggs and a salad. I do not deviate from this, only very occasionally eating some protein-powder pancakes made by my wife. My smoothie consists of milk, greek yogurt, 1.5 scoops of Optimum Nutrition protein powder, a huge scoop (probably two cups) of frozen organic berries, and an entire banana: Here is the typical scrambled eggs and salad breakfast: For lunch I eat some combination of chicken, rice, tuna, and salad. I almost never deviate from this. For dinner I eat whatever my wife decides to make, which is always healthy. Obviously we occasionally go out and I'll eat some garbage like wings or pizza, but this is pretty rare compared to the past. I also take a few vitamins and creatine daily. Earlier in this post I mentioned researching the prevalency of microplastics, heavy metals, and other poison in food. This is particularly problematic in ironically protein powder, protein bars, protein shakes, etc. I settled on Optimum Nutrition because it is one of the few powders on the market that has been tested by numerous third-parties, including the Clean Label Project . It's pretty expensive compared to other products, but I'm happy to pay in order to avoid ingesting this garbage. Despite getting myself into incredibly good shape relative to the past, this wasn't really that hard. On 105 of 274 days (38.3%) I did no pushups at all. On 142 of 274 (51.8%) days I did between 1 and 100 pushups. On just 26 of 274 (9.4%) days did I do more than 100 pushups, and on only 8 of 274 (2.9%) days did I do 200 or greater. Interestingly, although I have no hard data to back this up I feel like my strength soared in the 67 days following the 5/15/500 race (July 26). Following that date I did more than 100 pushups on 11 days (16.4% of the days), and became noticeably more muscular. Here's a chart showing the pushup volume throughout the year: Headed into October, I feel like a million dollars and plan on continuing these off-the-wall exercise quests for the rest of my (hopefully long) life. I obviously have no idea what I'm doing, but am happy to answer any questions and help motivate you to get in the best shape of your life. Send me an email at [email protected] or DM me on Twitter/X at @wjgilmore!
Business
Career
Php
AI
Shell
Programming
Database
JSON
API
Tutorial
Swift
Entertainment
Culture
Gaming
Security
DevOps
Ruby
Cloud
Hardware
Web Development
Design
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Backend