[wjgilmore]

Thought my fellow programmers/nerds might find this blog post useful and interesting, and hopefully motivational. There isn't much else I'd rather do than screw around with my computers, write code, etc, which has naturally made getting into shape kind of difficult. This year I resolved to do something about it and so embarked on a series of ridiculous exercise quests and am now in the best shape of my adult life.

[3eb7988a1663]

I realize it started as somewhat of a joke, but more analytics would have been fun. Tracking your body weight or other quantitative numbers to monitor the improvement.

Couch potato zero to 10k anything physicality has to have a noticeable impact, and I am inspired. I like that even though you had multiple low times, there is still enough buffer in the year to hit the goal without having super saiyan discipline.

[wjgilmore]

Definitely did not start as a joke, but I do wish I had taken for instance various body measurements. I can confirm my chest and shoulders are huge compared to the start of 2025.

And yes agreed about the importance of continuing through the multiple lows! Sometimes the motivation just wasn't there but I kept plugging along and then suddenly everything came together.

[chis]

The question I wonder when reading this is why did this work for you when other exercise routines didn’t? It sounds like you at least tried the gym before and couldn’t stick with it - so why did this one stick?

To me it seems a lot of healthy people end up not needing discipline because they find healthy things they enjoy and want to do.

Like I wondered if someone copying this would be better off targeting 1000 air squats instead. But maybe that’s not as “cool” and wouldn’t have brought as much intrinsic motivation.

[wjgilmore]

I have no idea why this worked other than I really took to the process of doing the exercises and then logging it all. Once I had a little bit of data I started writing Google Sheets formulas, creating charts, etc and it suddenly became fun. Then when I did get into shape it became a game of beating my previous 5K and 10K times. Lately every few days I go outside and run hard to beat my last time (currently PR is 28:10). I would have smashed this time a few days ago but about 2 miles in I suddenly had a terrible calf cramp that took a few days to get past. Not going to tempt fate again until after completing the Columbus 1/2 marathon on October 19.

[xenocratus]

> Lately every few days I go outside and run hard to beat my last time (currently PR is 28:10). [...] a few days ago [...] I suddenly had a terrible calf cramp that took a few days to get past.

As someone with horrible back pain issues after a very intense block of training for a 1/2 marathon at the beginning of this year, I do hope you'll reconsider that first part of the quote above, since it's probably one of the causes of the latter. Took me a while to internalize the "run slow to run fast", but it does make a huge difference for injury prevention.

[Neywiny]

Not putting words in your mouth but your 10k mark I think coincided with my viewpoint for my own fitness journey. You did it in your living room. The gym is a whole thing. Getting the without gear, the water bottle, the driving, etc etc. Then when you're exhausted and tired you have to drive back or walk back or whatever. Doing push ups in your living room has no barrier to entry or exit. You do them when you want to, you stop when you want to, and you're back on the couch watching tv to recover within seconds. Can do it in hotel rooms, late at night, 5am, whatever. For me, that's the benefit and why such exercises work when gym doesn't. Maybe some of your success is from a similar vein, maybe not

[wjgilmore]

100% yes! Everything you describe is spot on with my experience. Took me a long, long time to realize in order to get into ridiculous shape I need 1) the floor 2) running shoes.

[nradov]

You don't need a water bottle at the gym: they have a fountain. And if you're too exhausted after a gym workout to drive home then you're really doing something wrong.

[tomyedwab]

Honestly, good for you. I am almost two years into my spreadsheet and I try to get in 10 minutes a day of intense exercise and half an hour or more of walking to counter sitting all day at the computer. Many people try to "get healthy" and change their entire daily routine at once and that is impossible to do while also living a normal life. It sounds like you layered in one activity at a time and each success motivated the next ambitious goal. This is a smart strategy and one I would recommend to others.

[wjgilmore]

I overthought this so, so many times. This time around I was just like see floor, do pushups, log it lol. One thing led to another and now I'm suddenly feeling like Hulk Hogan.

[frays]

Thank you for sharing this post!

Do you have any concerns that you're only doing push movements? My physiotherapist told me that it's quite easy to build imbalanced muscles by excessively doing only push ups, without incorporating "pull" movements in my exercises too. It seems like you would've come across this in your research but don't think it's an issue seeing as you seem very healthy and happy with your current shape?

[wjgilmore]

Sorry for slow response. At this point I'm doing much more than push movements. The pushups remain (I did 527 on Saturday for instance) however I'm also doing bootcamp-style track workouts, occasionally lifting weights, running hard, and eating very clean. And yes I am beyond happy with current fitness level and shape however new goals will be set for 2026. :-)

[dsalzman]

Awesome job!

[wjgilmore]

Thank you!