OK, so I'm competing at Blackpool again this year. Since our dance now 
involves several lifts, my dance teacher ordered me to do 5 press-ups 
every day. (She actually ordered my partner to do likewise, but she made 
some excuse about having recently had her appendix surgically ripped out 
of her tummy...)

Initially I did 5 press-ups almost every day. And it was quite hard. But 
then one day I did 5 and didn't feel particularly tired, so I went on to 
do 10. And now I typically do 10 press-ups most days. Thing is, I've 
been doing that for many, many months now, and it's never got to the 
point where I feel like I could do more than 10. (What I do sometimes do 
is 10 in the morning, and another 10 in the afternoon on the same day. 
This, I tell myself, counts as 20 press-ups.)

In the past I've never been able to do press-ups at all. Starting from 
laying on the floor, it's difficult to achieve the necessary leverage to 
get off the ground. So when I say "10 press-ups", really I'm cheating: I 
start from the top rather than the bottom. And I don't go all the way 
down to the ground. Usually I'm at work though, and I make sure that the 
pass card dangling from my neck lays flat to the floor before I come up 
again. (At least, until I get to the last couple of presses, by which 
time I'm in agony...)

Presumably it's normal to feel dizzy and overheated after performing 
strenuous exercise. (Not to mention doing it in a position which 
restricts blood flow.) I used to find that if I did two sets of 10 in 
the same day, next day my tit muscles were sore. That doesn't seem to 
happen any more.

It's slightly ironic, actually. In order to lift something, you almost 
always use your biceps. And yet, press-ups train the triceps, not the 
biceps. But hey, I'm sure it affects your chest and shoulders too.

You would think press-ups would make your arms hurt. I find more than 
anything, my wrists hurt. And my shoulders and chest. Having just said 
that, when I started it used to be hard work. But lately I've been 
finding that my arm joints keep clicking as I work. That doesn't sound 
like a good thing to me...

The other day I walked over to the local playground (while it was 
raining, so there was nobody there). I found I was able to perform about 
three pull-ups before my arms completely stopped working. That's three 
more than before. (!) From a dead stop, with my feet off the ground, I 
was actually able to pull my entire 90 Kg body weight up so my head was 
just below the metal bars. (I didn't want to nut the beam.)

Again, you'd think your arms would hurt. But more than anything, my 
tummy muscles felt very strained. And I was flailing around all over the 
place, so I'm probably doing this completely wrong. In the end, I 
decided to go home and stop embarrassing myself. Clearly I suck at pull-ups.

All of this is pretty intense. It's high-power muscle action over short 
time periods. What I really need to figure out is what I can do about 
lower intensity exercise over long periods. I did consider buying a 
bicycle - but let's be real here. I'm never going to ride it. It would 
just be a huge waste of money. (And I don't have a hell of a lot of 
money right now!) If I could go back to dancing every Saturday night, 
that would help - but nobody ever seems to be available these days. I 
guess I'll see what I can figure out...

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