The "Third Quarter" Rule of Exercise

Recently, I have sort of precipitated a mob of people doing the Hundred Pushup Challenge.  For the benefit of those doing pushups with me as well as anyone else attempting an endurance-based exercise routine, I thought I would discuss a helpful exercise "rule" I learned from rowing.  Note: this isn't a strict "rule," but rather a phenomenon that occurs during endurance-based exercise.  It deals with your mental state and willpower.

(Hundred pushup people: information about how this applies to the hundred pushup challenge is near the end of this post.)

Willpower is often the limiting factor in determining whether you complete your planned endurance-based workout or stick to a training program.  Sometimes I plan to run for an hour and only make it 40 minutes through the workout before stopping.  When I try to do as many pushups as I can, I've recently discovered that even after I feel like I can't do any more pushups, I can actually get out a few more.  I only stop doing pushups once I give up.  (No, of course I can't do infinite pushups with infinite willpower.  Don't take this to literal extremes; that isn't the point.)  Developing willpower is one of the reasons I exercise.  Here's where the Third Quarter rule comes in.

The Third Quarter Rule says that if you divide your (endurance-based) into quarters, the third quarter, not the last quarter, is the hardest.  The first half of the workout, if it's a reasonable workout for your level, should go by without too much trouble.  However, the third quarter is when you realize that you have to do all that over again, even though you're really starting to get tired.  You start thinking about how long you still have to go, and it becomes very tempting to say "good enough" and cut your workout short.  This part requires the most willpower.  If you make it through the third quarter, though, you can see the finish line and can usually get through to the end.  The third quarter is therefore the most "dangerous" part of your workout when it comes to completing your goals.

I was thinking about this rule recently when I got into the fourth week of my pushup challenge.  There are six weeks total (the idea is that you can work out for 6 weeks and be able to do 100 pushups), so the fourth week of the workout put me into the "third quarter" area.  I hadn't thought about the Third Quarter Rule applied to entire training regimens before, but the feelings I got in the third quarter of my pushup challenge were so close to the feelings I get in the third quarter of my runs that I started applying the Third Quarter Rule to the pushup workout as well.

So, pushuppers: watch out, it will probably be tempting to quit during the third quarter of your workout.  If you just get through that section of the workout, you will probably make it to the end!  I will be impressed if you stick with it! :)

(Of course, I haven't done pushups in the last week... but I pulled a muscle in my back and was in extreme pain.  It's a funny story, actually.  My back started hurting and then I went rock climbing on it and it got about a million times worse!  At least the climbs I did were really satisfying.)