Regular readers know what a sidcha is and that my second daily habit that both became a sidcha and helped me conceive of the concept began with doing ten burpees a day.

I think I started my burpee habit in early 2012. In time, that habit evolved into a twice-daily set of calisthenics. I agree that discipline equals freedom, so more than the sizeable gains of saving money, saving time, strength, balance, flexibility, mental acuity, cardiovascular health, self-awareness, humility, and all the other usual benefits of physical fitness, I’ve gained freedom, mainly mental.

I haven’t missed a day since I started. Since I do a fixed number, I don’t have to keep track daily. I update a spreadsheet I created and it tells me how many I’ve done. Today I pass 250,000. That’s the number I’ve done as part of my sidcha. I’ve done more otherwise, but probably on the order of 100, not 1,000 more.

Once I considered hitting 10,000 an achievement. It was. I was about to write that this one is bigger, but, come to think of it, this one feels smaller, surprisingly, like recording taking many breaths or something else I just do as part of life.

Having only increased the number of burpees, stretches, balancing exercises, and other activities in my sidchas, but now significantly older, I wonder how long I’ll keep up this number per day. From the first month I did them I acknowledged I’d have to decrease my daily number if I lived long enough. Since my potential is decreasing while my number per day is increasing (or has stayed level for a few years), I’m pushing my potential more all the time, though I think I’m doing them more slowly now.

In the back of my mind, I feel like I’ll keep this number or increase it until I’m 60, but I sense that my body’s potential is decreasing faster than I expected. Injuries heal slower. I feel more tired the rest of the time.

Still, it feels great to finish them. I’m not close to where they’re hard, except when I’m sick or after running a marathon or other physical exertion. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll keep up the numbers my whole life or at least well past 60, just taking more time to do them. Instead of ten to twenty minutes, I might take thirty to sixty.

We’ll see. I guess I’ll just keep doing them and figure out if or when to taper based on hands-on practical experience.

If you value fitness and freedom, I recommend a sidcha or two. Since burpees cost nothing, take little time, have low risk of injury, and other benefits, I recommend them, but there are other options.

Here’s a video of me doing my morning calisthenics a few months ago:

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