1,000 Pushups to Combat Anxiety

About five years ago, Stephen Skinner battled anxiety. He had recently started working as an office coordinator at the accounting firm Reznick Group in Baltimore and searched for a way he could rid himself of stress.

Hearing that exercise could help with his problems, the 32-year-old Glen Burnie resident began lifting weights at home in 2006, trying different techniques to keep things interesting. Then last year he learned that he could do exercises that didn’t require weights, such as pushups, and get the same effect.

“I got bored doing weights … and looked online and learned that Herschel Walker was doing 1,000 pushups a day,” Skinner said. Walker is an NFL Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy winner and mixed martial arts fighter known for his fanatical fitness regimens.

So Skinner began to set goals for himself. First 2,000 in a day. Then 2,000 in an hour. Then he decided he wanted to see if he could do 1,000 pushups in 15 minutes.

And at noon Friday, Skinner—in front of his wife, brother, sister and about 40 coworkers—he set out to do just that.

“I do sets of 50 [pushups]. So in the beginning I would take 10 second breaks. Then once I’d done about 500 I would take longer breaks—maybe 20-25 seconds. And toward the end, with maybe 300 to go, I would take 30 seconds breaks,” he said. “Toward the end I lost count … they told me I did more than 1,000.”

Skinner said he’s not sure of the exact number of pushups he did, but he was satisfied knowing he’d met his goal, adding that with that support system he didn’t have much of a choice.

“It came in handy to have everyone there,” he said.

Since he began exercising in 2006, Skinner said it was unbelievable how little he’s had to deal with anxiety.

“I suffered from anxiety all the time, but now I’ve never had the amount of stress and the level of anxiety that I had before I started doing it,” he said. “That’s what pushes me to keep doing it.”

Skinner said he loves doing pushups because he can do them anywhere he goes, whether or not he has access to a gym.

Always a slim guy, Skinner admitted that the extra muscle definition in his arms is something that he’s sure his wife appreciates.

“That’s another thing that keeps me doing them,” he said.

So now that he's met his goal, what’s next for Skinner?

“Since I have surpassed 2,000 in a hour [and] 1,000 in 15 minutes, I think I am going to go for 500 pushups in five minutes,” he said.