Chapter 352: Beyond the Breaking Point
The plank was becoming unbearable. My muscles screamed in protest as I held the position, sweat dripping steadily onto the mat beneath me. My arms trembled with the effort, my core burning like fire. Most people would have given up dozens of minutes ago, but I held on, counting each second as it crawled by.
Thirty more seconds. Twenty. Ten.
When I finally allowed myself to drop, my arms gave out completely, and I collapsed face-first onto the mat. For a moment, I lay there gasping, feeling the familiar relief that came after pushing past your limits.
But relief wasn’t what I was after tonight.
Without giving myself time to recover, I rolled onto my back and began a set of sit-ups. Not the controlled, measured movements of a normal workout—explosive reps that sent fire through my abdominal muscles with each repetition. My form deteriorated quickly as fatigue set in, but I didn’t slow down. If anything, I pushed harder.
Twenty-five. Fifty. Seventy-five.
My vision began to blur at the edges, but I kept going. My body was giving me warnings to stop pushing so hard. But I refused...Those warnings were designed for normal people following normal limitations.
I wasn’t interested in normal anymore.
At one hundred sit-ups, something in my lower back popped audibly. The pain was sharp and immediate, radiating down my spine and into my legs. A rational person would have stopped, assessed the injury, maybe called for medical attention.
Instead, I rolled over and began doing push-ups.
The pain in my back made each repetition agony, forcing me to compensate with muscles that weren’t designed to handle the load. My shoulders began to burn, then my chest, then my arms. By rep fifty, my form had completely broken down—I was basically just throwing my body weight around in movements that vaguely resembled push-ups.
But I didn’t stop.