Push-Up Challenge Motivation

Sigung’s Corner

by Sigung David Moylan
Fu For You Spring 2025

Last year, for the Spring Edition of Fu for You, I wrote about the push-up challenge, where we do 2,000 push-ups in the month of February in support of mental health. This year, we decided to run our own version of the challenge, creating an online spreadsheet where participants could watch each other record their daily totals. The enthusiasm for this challenge was staggering! At the time of this writing, we are collectively at 88,013 push-ups across 38 active participants. With four days to go, we seem on track for our collective goal of 100,000 for the month!

By the time you are reading this, the snow may be starting to subside. This winter had some of the heaviest snowfall I can recall, especially throughout February. With the snow came hours of shovelling, which, for some, even included snow removal from roof tops. Although some of us dropped in our daily push-up count during the heavier snow days, most kept up the furious pace making the accomplishment that much more impressive! Kudos to the many warriors at the Academy for pushing their own weight and Mother Nature’s!

Each week, I dropped for intervals of 20 between sessions of shoveling, teaching and training Kung Fu, biking, and doing LOTS of lion dancing. I was also reading our Word of the Week quotes everyday which all focused on our monthly theme of Challenge (I must say, a very well chosen one by our Leadership Team). All this combined for some introspection on the value of testing ourselves.

I know that the deep winter months can be very trying. Shorter days, less sun, cold temperatures, leaky basements, seemingly non-stop illnesses, and so on, can really take their toll. Framed differently, the adversity of winter is also an invitation to discover who you are and what you can rise from (and dare I say, thrive in).

I was thoroughly impressed by the members of the Academy this winter. Class attendance and spirit was strong. Every special team (Demonstration, Performance, Leadership, Competition, Lion Dance) was truly firing on all cylinders! You stayed positive, stepped up and supported one another and the Academy: We had one of our biggest and best Academy Award parties to date, with a packed dance floor of all ages for most of the night! Students were quick to grab a shovel, mop or broom to keep the Academy in top order. We filled the Weight Room wall with coloured bears and decorated for Lunar New Year.

The push-up challenge is a simple, silly and fun way to get out our heads and into our bodies. Whether you committed to 2,000 or 10,000 (Sifu Erich!) I think we certainly accomplished our goal. We leaned into hard work and flourished this winter. With gradings and tournaments around the corner, Spring is always a very busy and exciting time at the Academy. After tackling a challenging winter with such gusto, I am excited for the new season and what we can accomplish together!