OneMillionPressups4Parkinsons
Pressups4Parkinsons - A Million Pressups
Parkinson’s is a degenerative condition of the brain. It is progressive – it gets worse over time. There is no cure. But ….boxing seems to have the amazing ability to help manage the disease and hopefully even delay or slow down the dreaded progression.
Last January, at the wrong side of 70, I set myself the, some would say crazy, challenge of doing 1000 pressups a day for the whole of January. This was to raise funds for Parkinson’s Boxing and to raise awareness of the benefits that boxing can bring to People with Parkinson’s (PwP).
Due to people’s incredible generosity the project raised £22,000 and certainly increased awareness. The money raised went towards Parkinson’s UK & England Boxing developing a coaching course for those coaching People with Parkinson’s, the delivery of 9 courses to over 150 coaches and also funds to help run weekly Parkinson’s Boxing sessions at St Paul’s Boxing Academy and Goole Amateur Boxing Club.
But there remains still plenty to be done. We now have an opportunity to build on what we have already achieved not only for Parkinson’s but other conditions also – and to push the challenge out into the wider community
So, what I have planned is a target of A MILLION pressups in January, undertaken by a wide group of people with the 1 million being the total for all participants. Each participant will set their own target number of pressups per day – achievable but challenging. It is NOT a competition – the only person participants will be competing against will be themself! Nobody else will know how many anybody has set as a target or how many they have achieved – unless of course they tell people themselves. Options (e.g. wall pressups) will be available for those who may struggle with conventional pressups.
Anybody can take part – all they need is to be able to do pressups and the determination, will power and resilience to keep it going for 31 days. For my part, I will aim to knock out a similar number as last time. The pressups can be done anywhere and any time of day
Once the month is up there will be one final “last round” for those with some pressups still left in the tank - a 24 hour “Pressup Marathon”. People can come and go as they please over the 24 hours and do as many or as few pressups as they want. Some may want to join me in seeing just how many pressups we can bang out in 24 hours. Could 5,000 be possible? Could 10,000? Seems a nice round number!
The main aim is to get as many people participating as possible. I would rather 500 take part doing 65 pressups a day and raising say £30 each than a handful doing a shedload. This challenge will not only raise awareness but hopefully, in the words of England Boxing, also engage the community in a meaningful and inspiring way
More details to follow re sponsorship/donations etc.
Donations - https://gofund.me/bf06d862
Organizer
Rotary Club of Howden Trust Fund
Beneficiary