I was in a routine for years where I would do 3 sets of 10 pushups every day. Seriously, every day.

Until my routine collapsed. Inertia had taken a sledgehammer to my activity. Apathy had thrown my best intentions into the ditch. I quit doing my pushups. I mean, totally quit. Zero pushups.

But this is a hopeful story.

I recently awakened thoroughly disgusted with my lapse in routine. I swear I could feel the weakness in my arms. I was determined to face down inertia yet once again. My old enemy, inertia.

So, I got down on the floor and attempted to go through my 3 sets of 10 pushups. Here’s how I ended up … 3 pushups, 2 pushups, 2 pushups. A far cry from 10, 10, 10.

I was stunned at how quickly my strength had departed.

But … the next day, I got down on the floor and did 4,3,3 pushups. The next day was the same, 4,3,3.

Then a new day rolled around, and I did 5,4,4. My strength had increased a little. I was surprised to see how quickly it was coming back.

My arms stung from the lactic acid that poured onto my muscles as I struggled to increase the number of repetitions daily. But it felt oddly good.

Within two weeks I was back at 10, 10, 10. The positive inertia has kept me going and I have now exceeded that.

But it flipped me out to see how quickly my muscle strength came back. After that, as I was lifting some heavy items, I remember thinking ‘hey, this isn’t so heavy after all’. It was the pushups that did it!

Strength exercises like pushups are excellent for diabetes as it helps manage insulin resistance. Add aerobic exercise to your routine and you will have done your blood sugar control a huge favor.

Have you fallen out of your exercise routine? Inertia and apathy CAN be put back into their box if we start small and slowly ramp back up. Here’s to 10,10,10!

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[Author’s note: I hope you enjoy this blog! It was started because I am so sedentary that it is unbelievable. If you want to support this work, consider buying my book ’42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise’ on Amazon by clicking HERE ]