iBlog

100 push ups in 2 weeks

Several years ago I was helping my dad install a window unit air conditioner. As we lifted it into place I felt like I was offering no help at all. It was as though I was pushing against an immovable force. We got the unit into place, but I knew that something needed to change.

My job had me sitting in front of a computer for nearly a decade, and it had taken its toll on my muscles and my waist. I’m not in any danger of becoming overweight (in fact I’d like to add about 10 pounds of muscle), but I did notice an extra something around my midsection that wasn’t getting any smaller.

Before we had children we used to have a gym membership, but with all the busyness that comes with having a family, I knew I would not take advantage of that enough to justify the cost and so looked at something simpler, that wouldn’t take too much time, but still deliver some real results.

I decided to do two things. One was to bicycle to work as often as I could. This did not add significantly to my day as I had to get to work somehow. Plus it has the added benefit of saving gas and (ahem) reducing my carbon footprint. My commute is 10 miles one way, so I get a pretty good workout. It increases my cardiovascular fitness an burns some calories while building leg strength. All good things.

The second thing I started doing was push ups. These are great for building arm strength, particularly the triceps, as well as defining your pecs. It has the added benefit of building core strength which is helpful for cycling. Again, all good things.

I started doing about 10 push ups at a time, and would do several sets in the morning, gradually adding to the number of reps as I got stronger. Last year I was able to do 75 push ups, but that has fallen off a bit as I had some illness that got me out of the habit of exercising for a while.

Then I ran across the one hundred push ups site, which has a six week program for training to do 100 consecutive push ups. Having come relatively close to that, I decided to take a look at the program and give it a shot.

Last week I took the simple initial test and did as many push ups as I could. I’ve been doing a couple sets of 50 each time I do push ups in the morning, so I knew I was well n my way already. I managed to max at 65 in the initial test. This actually put me at week 6 in the training program. However, I did not think that I could go from 65 to 100 in just one week, since the training does more than increase strength, but also conditions for the endurance aspect of doing 100 push ups in a row. So I decided to start at week 5.

Monday of this week was my first day. Having done 65 push ups I started in column 3—the toughest set. I really felt it and wasn’t sure I’d get to at least 40 push ups in the last set, but I was just able to push out 40 push ups at the end.

Tuesday my chest was sore. I was a bit worried I’d still be sore on Wednesday, but I felt pretty good that morning. I took a ride in the morning, so put off the push ups until that afternoon. I worked through the sets and as I felt my muscles fatigue I again wondered if I’d be able to do at least 40 push ups for the last set (where you do as many as you can).

I felt pretty good at 30, and powered by 40, finishing with 50 reps for the last set. I do not feel very sore at all today, and am looking forward to tomorrow’s “workout” to see how I do. I am also anxious to see how many more push ups I’ll be able to do after one week of concentrated effort. I’ll have a better sense of whether or not I can get to 100 after another week or not. I’ll be sure to let you know…

And whether it takes me another week or two to get to 100 push ups, I’ll still have taken longer than those who try the course and take 6 or even 8 weeks to make that goal, since I started 4 years ago…