Take Part in 3,318 Push-ups this June for Mental Health Awareness
This June, push-up for mental health!
The push-up challenge is back for 2021 with a new goal. From the 1st to 25th of June, The Push-Up Challenge is challenging individuals to complete 3,318 push-ups and raise awareness and funds for mental health awareness. Why 3,318 push-ups? 3,318 signifies the number of lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2019.
In 2020, 130 000 participants completed 121 million push-ups and raised $5.1 million for mental health charities. This year participants can fundraise for two of Australia’s leading mental health organisations, Headspace or Lifeline. Alternatively, they can raise money for The Push For Better Foundation, who are running the challenge.
If you’re interested but don’t want to do it alone, you can get your entire community involved! Sign up as a team with a bunch of friends, your workplace, sports club or even classroom by creating a community! It’s completely free to sign up. Open to all ages and abilities, participants can aim for 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the daily push-up target, which can also be done as sit-ups, squats or tailored exercises. Progress is tracked via an app, all while learning more about mental health.
Thousands of Australians from all ages and walks of life will be participating in the challenge which aims to engage people in mental health through connection, physical activity and education. The number of push-ups changing each day is meant to reflect a vital mental health statistic in Australia that needs changing.
Founder of The Push-Up Challenge, Nick Hudson is also no stranger to mental health. After finding out that he needed open heart surgery he fell into a depression. After surgery, recovering physically and mentally became his main goal and he began to shift his focus into making The Push-Up Challenge the event that it is now!
When asked about why he’s passionate about the challenge, Nick had this to say “Mental ill health is something that everyone is likely to encounter at least once in their lifetime, be it a friend or loved one, or experiencing it themselves as I have. It can be hard to reach out. By participating in programs like this that promote connection, physical activity and importantly, conversations about mental health and suicide, we can break down the stigma associated with mental ill-health and encourage those who need it to seek help early.”
For more information and to register, head to: www.thepushupchallenge.com.au