On a humid spring night in Charleston, South Carolina, my girlfriend and I toasted the end of our vacation at the bar atop a posh southern hotel. Like one does when there’s a break in the conversation, I check my phone. It’s 11:50 pm I have 25 more Lizards to do before midnight.
I sigh, I get into a plank get down on the floor and start. As my girlfriend takes a sip of her rosé, people give us weird looks, probably wondering why this weird guy works out so late in public one weekend.
I lost a bet? Was I trying to impress my girlfriend? Was he trying to show off to the patrons of this fancy bar? No. I was trying to complete the One Punch Man challenge and needed to clock in 25 more push-ups for the day.
What is the One Punch Man challenge?
japanese tv show one punch man follows the journey of Saitama, the world’s most powerful superhero, who defeats all his enemies with a single blow. The anime is based on the joke that he is so strong that he is bored fighting enemies and hopes to eventually face a worthy opponent.
one punch man it pokes fun at the tropes of superhero cartoons and anime. Usually the leads of such shows have incredibly intense training routines that make them almighty (like Dragon Ball Z goku acting a billion abs to fight an enemy). Saitama’s training, by comparison, is simple, so much so that when he announces it to his protégé and some enemies, no one believes him.
What is your training? 100 push-ups, 100 ABS100 squatsand a 10K run, every day for a year and a half. Also, never, ever use air conditioning in summer or heat in winter, to strengthen the mind. And of course eat three meals a day, but only one banana in the morning is fine.
The exercise regiment became a viral hit and appeared all over the internet with people trying to follow this regimen for days, weeks and months. As an avid runner, occasional gym goer, and someone who’s always up for a challenge, I had to throw my hat in the ring. While I did all the physical elements of the workout, I allowed myself the simple pleasure of air conditioning and heat.
What does a certified personal trainer think of the One Punch Man challenge?
Before accepting the challenge, I called Anthony J. Wall, director of international business development for the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and a certified personal trainer. I asked him if he had ever heard of such a challenge and what he thought about it.
Wall was direct: “From an ACE perspective, and as a certified personal trainer, there are obviously some red flags in a show like this.”
The first red flag, Wall said, is that the body needs time to adjust to exercise. If you try this challenge without strength training background, the volume can lead to overload injuries—100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 sit-ups, and a 10K run per day is something you should work on for a long period of time.
That bleeds on the second red flag: your body needs rest between workouts. If you do the same exercises every day, your body doesn’t really retrieve after the efforts of the day before, your muscles get sore, which makes it more difficult to continue the challenge the next day. Eventually this can lead to serious injury.
Third: Repetitive challenges like this can demotivate a beginnerand actually lead to a negative mental association with exercise “Not everyone understands that discomfort does go away, that Muscle pain disappears,” Wall said. “So someone says, ‘God, now it hurts. How will I feel in two or six weeks? It’s hard to tell people, don’t worry about it, it will go away.”
As mentioned, I am a experienced runner He lifts weights twice a week, so I was pretty sure he’d be fine. Regardless, Wall recommended that I only try two weeks to start, with the option to continue if I felt good. Two weeks is a far cry from the year and a half that the anime proposes, but it turns out it was just the right amount of time.
Attempting the One Punch Man challenge
The first day, I was optimistic. Based on another one of Wall’s suggestions, I broke down push-ups, sit-ups, and squats in sets. If that sounds like cheating, Saitama never said they had to be continuous, and even then, I probably couldn’t have done 100 push-ups in a row without breaking my fragile runner arms. In my prime as a post-collegiate athlete, I was running 80 to 90 miles a week, so the 10k race It was expected to be quite easy for me to handle.
Such confidence lasted the first few days, probably because I was in holidays and had time to do it. I woke up, I ran, I did half of all the strength exercisesenjoyed my day, then did the final games at night before bed.
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On the fifth day, the pain began. My shoulders and chest were toasty from pushups and squats. range of motion shortened. I started taking longer and longer breaks between sets. I found myself in the scenario mentioned above, doing push-ups while having a drink. I was consumed with homework, dutifully focused on getting the right amount done every day, no matter if that meant sitting through commercial breaks while watching TV or excusing myself from social gatherings to squat in the back room.
By day 11, I put aside my optimism and despondently submitted to the bland routine. Me ABS, armsY buttocks were inflamed, my racing got slower and slower, and my mental strength disintegrated. I wasn’t getting most of the way out early anymore: With vacation behind me and work ahead of me, I put off my workouts. At 9 or 10 at night, he would take out slow and exacerbated series. I didn’t care anymore form either Profits. He just wanted it to be over so he could exercise differently or go play. tennis either basketball with my friends without worrying that the resulting pain would make my push-ups, sit-ups, and squats more difficult.
But I only had three days left. So I stayed focused, knocking out set after set throughout the day, running after workand praying that I’d recover enough to not suck the next day.
Finally, after two weeks, I finished. Unfortunately, I did not become the most powerful superhero in the world, but I did look a little bloated.
One Punch Man Challenge: The consequences and conclusions
I called Wall after the two weeks to discuss my findings. Unsurprisingly, your red flags discussed above were spot on.
My body was already adapted to running, so it wasn’t much of a challenge. However, my body was No adapted to such a high volume of strength training every day. I was so sore that my form for all exercises suffered and my body’s natural range of motion was strained. If I had recovered properly, my body would have been able to recover between sessions. But because I was doing the exact same routine every day, it was impossible to recover. Pain more equal repetition demotivationso with each passing day, I was drifting further and further away from the challenge mentally.
Wall asked me how long I thought I could realistically maintain this routine if I had to try. I replied that physically, I could probably take another two weeks. But mentallyIt was not a pleasant experience. I am a person who likes variety, running some days, playing different sports other days and going to the gym twice a week. Not someone who can do the exact same thing over and over again. And that’s the problem with the One Punch Man challenge, or any workout, for that matter: if you don’t enjoy it, it’s going to be really hard to do. consequently.
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“If you don’t stick to the schedule, it doesn’t matter how brilliantly you schedule it,” Wall said. “If you don’t like something, regardless of what the magazine says or what the personal trainer says, then you’re not going to join for any reason and you’re not going to be successful.”
Wall criticized these types of challenges, often promoted by influencers or professional athletes. He emphasized that each person is different, so no Exercise routine it is one size fits all. The only thing that all training regiments do have in common, however, are goals. Goals are derived from the five main components of fitness: cardio endurance, muscular strengthmuscle hardening, flexibilityand body composition.
“Very few people come [to a personal trainer] and say, ‘I want all dimensions of fitness,’” Wall said. “Most people are going to say, I want more strengthOr do I want to lose a bit of weightor maybe I want to look and feel a little better.”
The One Punch Man challenge touches on cardiovascular fitness and body composition from running, and muscular strength and endurance from push-ups, sit-ups and squats. But in all cases, Wall believes the challenge falls short.
The average person cannot safely jump on 10k races, which is a little over six miles, or doing 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats without the pain and repetition hurting your long-term motivation to stay fit. The point of the challenge is simply to check off the boxes, which Wall and I agree is not a nice way to solve. Instead, being present in the moment and feeling the energy, mood, and confidence boost from your workout is a much better way to approach fitness.
I won’t do the One Punch Man challenge again. And unless I’m fit and want to dabble in it, I shouldn’t either. Wall’s advice? be skeptical of fitness challenges and the fashions you see in social networks or read online, but don’t be afraid to have fun, either.
“If you have a challenge, control your body. If you have to take a rest, rest. If you have to stop, stop,” Wall said. Fitness is supposed to be physically and mentally attractive. It is supposed to help you lead a healthy life. So if you do attempt a challenge, consider whether you will come out the other side excited to face your next challenge. fitness goal—instead of frustrated and hurt like me.
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