Don't forget to do the simple things differently

Am I the only one who does uniform repetitions for a workout?  I once road my bike a little over 97 miles but because it wasn't exactly 100 miles or what in parlance is known as a 'century' ride, I rode in a circle around the parking lot until my cyclocomputer read exactly 100.00 miles. When I run I don't stop at some random distance that perfectly aligns with my car door or driveway. Oh no. I will run past or stop short so my GPS sport watch has a specifically aligned number in American or Metric standards. Running 3.1 miles is acceptable because its a 5k, but  running 3.3 miles is not because it doesn't equate to a quarter, half or full  increment. When doing cardio on a machine it's a debate to stop on a rounded off distance or a rounded off assessment of calories burned. 

Here is photo of a recent day of push ups. Notice those sets are perfectly rounded numbers. I do my pushups in sets to 50 to track them while out and about. When I get home I tally them up on my dry erase board in the kitchen. But always done in sets of 50. You can see that when I finished them up watching tv at home that night. 

I realize that even as difficult as it is to knock out regulation sets throughout the day I am doing myself and my fitness a disservice by conforming to an arbitrary number. It makes adding up the reps in my head easier but my body and mind get to a point where 50 is the expected number and I am putting the result before the effort. 

I have now started to push my repetitions beyond 50 per set. No specific number, just as many as I can do without injury and able to continue with more later in the day. My body is ready for it and my mind is not. The perfect storm for improvement. 

When you think about it, 97 miles is a pretty awesome distance to ride. 8.8 miles is a pretty awesome distance to run. 64 push ups is a pretty awesome number to do all at once. Why add more OCD to my life when the effort provides its own reward? New lesson learned, don't get bogged down in symmetrical distance and repetitions. Just do. Just be. Just act.