Some 22 days ago, I was nominated and challenged by my friend Enrico to participate in the 22 day push up challenge which requires me to do 22 push ups a day for 22 days!
It is to raise awareness for service men and women who are battling post-traumatic stress disorder #PTSD.
PTSD acronym for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault. Read more about #PTSD here.
Why did I take up the challenge? It was largely due to my links with the military. Like all males in Singapore, I served National Service. Like many, I served as an infantry man. There is, I suppose a special bond between men who have served. History and literature have shown us many examples of how soldiers in different armies become friends. The military links went back to my grandfathers. Both were British Army drivers during WWII. They had seen combat when the British, ignominiously capitulated in the Gibraltar of the East in 1942. Then there was my maternal grandmother’s brother, who, as an Infantryman in the Malayan Army fought the communists during Emergency and the Indonesians during Konfrontasi. He had many tales to tell. and I was spell bound by his tales.
Jenni and Debra commented on the videos that, I made performing those push ups look easy, my reply to them was, that it was nothing compared to what sufferers go through. I can never be so arrogant as to pretend that having finished this challenge I will know their sufferings. I only seek to bring awareness of this disorder so that we may look at them in a different light, to lend our support and to be more compassionate.
I am, as always grateful for the support of my wife Sharon who reminded me every day of my obligations to perform those 22. To all those you have viewed, commented and shared my videos, thanks. And to Enrico, thanks, bro. I built some serious upper body strength because of these 22. Because I was less than professional with photography and videography, I had to do several takes to get it right. Even then, some of the videos were terrible. So for every successful recording of a 22, I would have done 66 at least.
During these 22 days, there was the oneupmanship between Enrico and myself. We sought to outdo each other in the difficulties and complexities of the push ups that we do. Enrico performed these variations; the wide armed, atop a wobbly balance board, while balancing on a kettle bell, feet elevated, diamond hands and narrow spaced chairs. I on the other hand, performed the: T bar, the wide armed, the feet elevated and the push-row-extend variations. Enrico one upped me in terms of the number of variations he came up with. Performing these variations. add variety (duh!) to your routine, ups the intensity and difficulty level so that you get a bigger burn for your workout and also targets different muscle groups for a total body burn.
Then there was the dress up challenge, which Carolyn started by asking me to do my 22 in a tuxedo. That did not happen. Am waiting for Enrico to put on his tux and perform his 22. I am usually in deshabille, my workout gear, for the push ups but I was in my professional attire of jeans and t shirts for those I did in town.
But the real highlight were those 22s performed at the Civilian Memorial and the Memorial to Konfrontasi. These were special as I felt that the 22 performed here honoured Singapore’s own veterans.
At the beginning, I set out to perform these 22 at different locations just to highlight the fact that you do not really need a gym to work out. You can do your push ups really anywhere.
I have performed my 22 at Fort Canning Hill, Yishun Park while people were hunting pokemons, Lower Seletar reservoir park, Upper Pierce reservoir park, in a classroom, on the embankment at Simpang from where you can see our northern neighbour’s shipyard and at the Civilian War Memorial. I did not technically perform my final 22 at the Memorial to Konfrontasi but 100m or so uphill on Fort Canning Park.
PTSD is a disorder we all need to know about. It could afflict your loved ones, not simply because they have gone to war but people can suffer trauma in many different ways. We need to be able to spot the symptoms and offer help and support.
Treatment for PTSD include therapy and medication. Cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT, is the most effective. Alternative is the Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.
For those who missed the videos, they are here.