The Big 21

by Brandon Botkin
(Kennesaw, Ga)

The best workout I ever did was called The Big 21. This workout consists of switching back and forth between push ups and sit-ups. You start with 21 push ups and work your way down until you get to zero.

I was twelve years old when I first did this workout, hearing about it via my summer league baseball coach. Ever since that summer, my total physical and mental health have progressively improved.

From start to finish, the workout took me just a little over fifteen minutes to do. The fact that I was not in the best of shape at the time made it extremely difficult to do.

I was not able to complete it in it's entirety at first. For me, I had to start at 11.

The drive from my coach for us to continue doing the workout definitely helped me out. Every night before I took a shower and went to bed I would do this workout in my room.

After just a week of doing it, I could notice some improvement, and progressively throughout the summer I was able to start at a higher number until I eventually reached that magical twenty-one.

I still continue to do this exercise daily, and am proud to admit that I am in great shape. Now I am actually able to start at fifty push ups and work my way down.

My advice would be for everybody to try this exercise on a daily basis. Sometimes your muscles will begin to feel sore, and it is okay to take a day off if that is the case.

I let every one of my buddies in on this secret workout of mine. If you can't finish starting at 21, drop to a lower number and work your way up until you too can conquer "The Big 21".