Sean Kernan: I Swam One Mile A Day For 90 Days Straight. It Changed My Life.

The simple power of challenging yourself.

Author via Pexels

Around 60% of Americans don’t engage in the recommended amount of activity each day, and a full 25% don’t do anything at all.

It’s a damning statistic and part of our obesity crisis. But look, I get it — gym routines are hard to maintain.

I’ll share an experience that changed my perspective on exercise, and helped me stay fit for decades.

Things came full circle

I grew up as a competitive swimmer. I won all sorts of medals as a kid and it was one of the only things I’ve ever had a talent for.

My parents both swam in college and my dad was an All American, so perhaps it is genetic.

Around adolescence, I started to burn out really hard. I fought with my parents about going to swim practice. I’d been putting in so many hours since I was five that it just wasn’t sustainable.

And so I quit.

By high school, I’d gained a bunch of weight and started to have back problems from the non-activity.

After being fed up with the situation, I started exercising on a whim and went to my local rec center pool.

On the first day, I did just 500 meters. I realized I was lollygagging around too much, doing doggy paddle and not challenging myself.

So I dug out the old playbook and set a parameter for my workout. Each day, I would set out to do 1600 meters (about a mile). It would be 400 meters of warmup.

Then I did the main set: 12 x 100s on a set interval. It allowed for around 15 seconds to rest between each 100 (4 laps in a short course pool).

It was brutal at first

I had a clean freestyle stroke and breathed every three strokes.

I was gasping for air. By the 3rd 100, my shoulders and lungs were on fire. Pretty quickly, I started negotiating with myself.

“Well, I could just do seven 100s.”

“I think that’s enough for this day.”

Fortunately, I’m stubborn — even with myself. I grinded through the remaining 100s.

Now, it might seem like swimming a mile is a long workout. It really isn’t. In all, the swimming took me about 40 minutes tops. Most people could probably do it in under an hour.

It was still tough.

On my ride home after the first day, I had a total runner's high. I was exhausted yet it still felt good.

The first week was difficult, but by the 4th day, I suddenly noticed my back pain was gone. I was still sore in my body. But it was a good sore.

By the second week, I saw my appetite was quickly increasing. The swimmer diet really is real. I kept eating more and more yet still lost weight.

I turned up the dial

My natural ability with swimming started to return.

I could feel myself getting faster each day. I started to glide past other swimmers at the rec center.

I made it a point to create shorter intervals for my sets so that I’d push myself rather than just stay where I was at in the beginning.

It surprised me how much faster I got in the first month.

It was so rewarding — like I’d suddenly returned to the place I belonged. I’d tried so many other sports in the time since quitting swimming. And in each of them, despite trying desperately to get better, I’d sat the bench. Basketball. Soccer. Baseball.

All bench — unless we were winning a huge margin and the coach put me in out of pity.

I guess I’m not a land mammal. My feet are size 14 and are wide like flippers. It’s not the best setup for running.

Here’s the kicker

I was only 17 at the time and still had never kissed a girl. I’d been an outsider and was largely ignored by the girls, and was insecure about myself.

About 2 months into my daily mile swim, life really seemed to change on the outside.

I’d lost a full 30 lbs. My double chin vanished and my jawline appeared. All the soreness was gone and I felt new muscles in my chest and other parts that I didn’t know were there. My shoulders were broader.

No, I wasn’t turning into the incredible hulk.

It was more that swimming was giving me that ideal, fit physique that I’d wanted. In the mirror, I had way more color on my face from the increased circulation. I couldn’t believe how much of a transformation I’d undergone in such a short time.

In reality — my appearance reflected the way I felt on the inside. I was healthy. I had way more energy and, because my cardiovascular conditioning was markedly better, I didn’t sweat as much when I walked around doing things. My limbs were also more flexible.

Above all, I noticed people treating me way differently — in a good way. Girls were flirting with me. I went on a few dates.

No, it’s not only because I swam a mile each day or solely because society is so superficial. It was also because I felt my confidence growing. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see a loser nerd anymore, and I didn’t feel the need to put myself down. I was putting in the work and I knew it.

The experience of going back into swimming, and pushing myself to get better wasn’t always easy.

In each mile swim, there was always a mental hurdle around the 30%/50% and 70% marks where I wanted the set to end. I began recognizing those bottlenecks and focused on barreling past them.

In short, I dreaded the workout but loved the result.

After seeing how much my daily mile changed my life, I vowed to take care of my body.

And to anyone reading this, my best advice is to create a set of parameters for your workout. Make them non-negotiable. A set distance or intervals that you cannot cheat on or all is lost.

After you establish some consistency, find ways to make it more challenging.

Yes, any exercise is better than no exercise. However, I find that if you set a goal of just “running some” or “swimming for a bit”, it makes it far easier to bail out when things start to hurt.

Being intentional and deliberate makes the reward of completion even better. It boosts your sense of self-efficacy (your sense of control over your life).

Cliche as it sounds, setting a goal to exercise every day and challenge yourself while doing so, can truly change your life.

It certainly changed mine.