Planking isn't going terribly bad. I have changed the way I time. I started with a stopwatch method, but that quickly began to feel like watching a needle pierce my arm before they draw blood. Not good. It's a little annoying to change the countdown everyday, but I'm sure I'll hit a snag point where I struggle to get beyond the time and it will become less often.As I said earlier this week, by the end of the challenge, I'm supposed to be able to plank for 300 seconds. That's 5 minutes. I'm doubtful, but I've decided that it doesn't matter. It's okay if it takes me longer to get there than 30 days. I'll just keep trying to get there even if it takes me years. The point of this isn't to be able to pompously state I can plank for however long, but to improve my posture and core strength. Of course I'll mention it if I achieve it, but that's not why I'm doing it. It's simply a numerical measure of progress to me.
Starting at 20 seconds was easy. My core was strong enough for that. The jump to 30 seconds wasn't bad. At 40 seconds, I started to struggle. I'm under a minute at this time.
I think when undertaking fitness goals, people often see themselves as a failure if they need more time. The world isn't going to blow up if you take an extra day, week, month, year, decade to progress. Just keep trying to get there and one day it'll just happen. Maybe ask for tips if you're taking a decade. It could be incorrect technique holding you back after all. I know from martial arts, the slightest of tweaks can bring dramatic improvements.
Whatever you're trying to do in terms of fitness, or anything else really, just keep working at it. If you get injured, you can read about it, do physiotherapy exercises to heal, visualize yourself doing it, and rest the injured area.
Don't give up. The best things in life are hard won.
Salut,
R~