By Mark Ambrogi
For the third year in a row, Pearl Riggs is working on a unique fitness challenge for herself.
For the second consecutive year, she is encouraging friends to join. This time it is a progressive sit-ups challenge, which started Jan. 1.
Riggs, a part-time fitness instructor at Push! Fitness for Women in Indianapolis, started in 2014 with pushups. She had done it 10 years previously.
So the Noblesville resident started Jan. 1 and did one push-up. On Jan. 2 she did two, and the count progressively increases by one each day.
“So by the end of the year, it came to 66,795 total push-ups,” Riggs said.
After she completed the challenge in 2014, she put it on her Facebook page and encouraged friends to join her in a squats challenge for 2015.
Riggs, 59, had been a personal trainer but hasn’t done that for awhile.
“My goal when I do this is not to knock people out but to have people do more (exercise) in the current year than they did in the previous year,” she said.
Riggs said if people can’t meet the challenge one day she suggests alternatives to continue.
“I’m very careful about form, because I don’t want to have anyone get injured because of this, so I usually attach a video of proper form,” she said. “And I attach pictures of the muscles we’re working so that people can visualize. For instance with squats, you could blow your knees out if you are not doing it. I can’t stress technique enough. We’re trying to get stronger — not damage joints or muscles.”
At the end of 2015, two other people completed the squats challenge with her.
“We started with 43, and we got quite a few that hung on through maybe half the year,” Riggs said. “But it’s harder than it sounds, because when you think just adding one a day isn’t bad, but it’s gets pretty intense. You get sick or you are on vacation, so I encourage people to work ahead so if you got the flu, you’re going to get up and do your sit-ups that day. It doesn’t seem gracious to kick someone out if they are going to make it up.”
For more, visit www.push-fitness.com.
