The More You Do It, The Easier It Gets

Life is full of universal truths.

• It's always darkest before the dawn. 
• Pretty is as pretty does. 
• Houseguests -- like fish -- start to smell after three days.
• If He brings you to it, He will get you through it. 
• Clowns are scary. (OK, I made this one up. But you agree, right?)

Here's another one: The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Eating right? Yup, it applies. Sleeping enough? Sure, that works, too. Lifting weights? Walking for 20 minutes a day? Doing push-ups?

Yes. Yes. And yes.

I may have mentioned my aversion to push-ups before. I may also have mentioned that I've switched up my early morning bike/trainer ride by increasing the number of fast pedaling intervals and adding push-up intervals. On average, I'd say I get 5 or 6 push-up sets in a normal 45-minute ride.

The goal at the beginning was to do 15 push-ups each time. The goal, at the beginning, was tough. It was not easy for me to do 15 in a row, that many times in a row.

Today, I did sets of 20, without a lot of trouble. That's 100-120 push-ups a couple of times a week. (They're still girl push-ups ... don't get too excited.)

The point is that it gets easier because you get stronger.

Walking fast for 20 minutes makes you sweat and is uncomfortable? Fine. It will be better next week. Keep going.

Those 15-lb. weights too freaking heavy for much more than a set of 12 reps? Great. You'll be looking for the 20-lb. set in a just a little while. Tough it out.

Finding it hard to push out 15 crunches? Big deal. Do 15 a day for a week and I promise you that in 14 days, you will be able to do 30 at a time. Just don't quit.

Don't let "hard" stop you. Let "hard" inspire you to kick it in the teeth.

Because you can.