100 Pushup Challenge
 

So I came across this site by way of a former co-worker: hxxp://hundredpushups.com/

I did the initial test and ground out 14 pushups, not exactly a satisfactory result. So, I'm going to take the challenge.

Anyone else up for it?

I am game. I'll do the test tonight.

I'll try the test tonight as well.

I can already do 100 consecutive push ups ;)

good ones, right? all the way down and back up, right? ;)

Just saying cause you'd be surprised how many people say they can do a ton and finally they are simply doing a tiny flex of the arms and not doing all the way down...

I just hate push ups. Used to want to die at about 15 but I can now do at least 30. I'll do the test tonight and have already printed out the complete program.

FM

Just kidding, that's impressive!

yeah, my baseball coach in high school was an ex-drill Sargent and we made us do REAL push ups. Ever since high school I've always workout / try to do at least 500 push ups and crunches a day.

well, that is very, very impressive. Ladies doing crunches easily and apparently without suffering is not unseen, but pushups usually kill them... ;)

One thing I hate is when our karate instructor is counting situps/crunches to the beat of the fastest in the group. I sometimes end up doing one every two. :lol:

FM

I'm in...I'll do the initial test tonight.

I'll give it a go.

This was on another site a while ago, and it wasn't even sportsdigs. ;)

I am starting my 5th week, though will be doing week 3 for the third time. I repeated week 3 once, did good enough that I think I could move onto week 4, but figured I would repeat week 3 one more time just to put my numbers over the top.

Although I may have to delay things some now. I messed up my ankle Saturday, and just now getting to walk on it more.

I am entering my fifth week doing the challenge. Today I did 141 pushups over five sets for the week 5, day 1 workout. When I first started, I did 14 pushups.

I have done two stress tests so far, one after week 2 (did 32 consecutive pushups) and one after week 4 (did 50 consecutive pushups). I definitely feel a lot stronger and am able to do more pushups by following the challenge. My only gripe so far is that the final set every day is "as many as you can" and the suggested total (more than 40 for week 5, day 1) is usually far more than I can manage after doing the first four sets of the day.

Oh, and I use Joe's Goals to track my progress.

I'm on the Tenacious D program...

"One is all you need."

Thanks that Joe's Goal is an awesome tool great idea.

I'm up for this - keep meaning to do some exercise again, so this will at least give me some structure and a relatively short exercise time.

Just done the initial test - 17, which was a poor move looking at where the break is. Wish I'd have quit at 14 now ;)

I haven't tried yet, but do you guys let your chest hit the ground? Or just make sure you go really low?

Really low. Chest hitting the ground is no good IMO.

Ya I usually try to get my chest right down, although I've found that if I'm as straight as I think I should be it seems my stomach contacts a little bit first :)

Starting tonight . . . .

This begs for a dynasty thread.

I stopped at 15 - just above the break between level 2 and 3. Ugh.

:)

I think it depends on how you define 'hitting'. I think if you're just feeling it touch then that's good, it's if you start to put weight on it that you're going into the no good zone.

It should be noted that the ranks listed in the initial test curiously have no bearing on the actual exercise plan. I think they are just there for fun or something.

I'm going to take the test in 15 minutes, i'm sure i'm going to disappoint myself as i used to be very good at pushups, so this will be the perfect chance to start to get in shape again.

yes, and they state that on the website. The real mark to have an effect on the number of repetitions is 10 pushups on the initial test, but if you do lower than that simply to have an easier workout afterwards, you are simply cheating yourself imo...

fwiw, based off the animation on their website, the guy doesn't seem to be touching the ground, but he sure does go quite low...

FM

Agreed on the cheating yourself part, and that's where I think I like having my chest touch slightly comes in. It's pretty easy to convince yourself you are lower than you are, or to slowly over the course of a session degrade the quality of your pushups. By forcing my chest to touch each time I know that I'm doing my best with every one (so long as I don't put weight on it, but I find it easier to judge that and avoid slip-ups than the 'ya I think I'm low enough' alternative).

Ok, 18 that is more than what i initially thought as i was tired at 10, but then made use of my old pain resistance from my youth years of being a gym rat to do the extra 8.

I used to be good at this, being my record 53 pushups in 60 seconds when i was at the military academy (15 years ago), but i have always had an strong chest and grew fast with training compared with the rest of my body and worked out at the gym for years (haven't in 4 years or so).

Big advice, warm up before doing it as you can damage your shoulders pretty bad.

Btw, this is the beginning of a weight loss/getting in shape dynasty i'll start to write later tonight (had it planned for the end of September but will start it now after this test).

This is awesome that so many people are 'signing up'! I'm almost beginning to feel sorry for all the keyboards we're going to be hammering away on with our extra strong upper bodies! Post-counts will take a dip for a few weeks as we all need to replace keyboards and mice! Soon FOFC will be challenging other boards to pushup-offs and tug-o-wars!

Initially starting boot camp I could do handle about 60 pushups routinely. By the 5th week, I know I could do 100 because at one point I had to as a punishment.

At my last PT test about 2 years ago I did 57 I believe in 2 minutes.

I'd probably be lucky to crank out 25 good ones right now, though.

i did 41

ok, I guess my usual 30 weren't as strict as the 24 I just did, heh... :)

So 24 is my starting point then.

I agree with Fidatelo, nice to see so many people jumping in. I've got my schedule all worked out. Wednesday/Friday/Sunday it'll be for me. :)

I do know I'll do many crunches and at least 25 more at the end of my cardio routine in karate class tonight, ending with 10 seconds with the chest at about an inche from the floor. These are usually the longest 10 seconds of the class... ;)

FM

I think I'll be going Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, which will be the off days from my normal Monday/Wednesday/Sunday runs.

I do not intend to do crunches. Maybe after I'll find some kind of 100 crunches program or something :)

If you guys are going to be trying to stick to a schedule, do not forget to figure in that after two weeks you need to test again, and that you may want to take schedule that. You also test after week 4 and 5 I believe. The web page suggests to take a day off before testing and a day off after testing, or something like that.

test after week 2 and week 4 from what I've read. I'll probably simply do the test on one of the usual training day and push the week one day forward. It's not like I'm on the clock or anything... ;)

FM

I can do about 80 in a minute and a half. Good ones. Here's a tip: keep your head up. A common mistake is looking down while you're doing them. It will prevent you from going down all the way since you'd hit your head if you actually did go down all the way.

We started doing this at TSW a week or two ago, and people are really excited over it. I think the ability to do this as a group, even via message board, has greatly helped. I know I have a hard time getting myself motivated by myself...but with others doing it, and showing that they're growing like me (or struggling like me), it's a big help.

I'll give this a try too. I used to be able to do 40-50, but that high school when I was 60-80 pounds lighter and playing sports most of the time. I also used to be able to do 50 sit ups in a minute and run the mile in 6 minutes.

I miss being in shape....

dola,

Are there any other type of challenges like this? I know about the Couch-To-5K program that my foot decided was a bad idea (it still hurts at times, I probably should go to a doctor to have it looked at), and one in which people walk the distance that Frodo did in LOTR. I haven't seen any other ones.

I always do 3 sets of 25, but I think I can do 100 in one shot. I'll try later when I'm not so sleepy.

As you mentioned, the Couch to 5K is a good one for beginning runners. I looked for a similar challenge for situps and couldn't find one, so I think I'm just going to start one and just follow the numbers given in this challenge as a guide.

I got 17. Looking at the rest of the weeks, it seems like as long as you got over 10, you're in that last set of exercises...??

Yep, that's why the rank is kind of goofy.

A mile in 6 minutes is quite good! I did a "Learn to Run" clinic in the spring (basically couch-to-5k) and have been keeping at it all summer, with my best 5k times averaging around 7.5 minutes/mile. I've never tried just running 1 mile as fast as I could, but I don't think I'd get much under 7 minutes. You must have been fast!

That was after a season of football and a season of basketball when I was a 160 pound high school freshman. Football was a lot of running and a lot of weights, basketball was a lot more running but not as many weights, so by then I was in great shape and used to running a lot every day. Sprinting, I've always been slow as hell, but I was always great at long-distance, endurance tests.

Well, that is before I got to college and started smoking, drinking heavily and gained a lot of weight. :)

well, as they explain, the rank is more as a mean of comparison with other people, like friends, coworkers, fellow message board members ;)

FM

It looks like after 2 weeks, you do another test and then reassign yourself a column. And then again after 4 weeks. So if you do over 10, you are not necessarily in the last column.

For instance, if after 2 weeks, you can only do 22 at one time, you'd then go to the middle column according to the chart.

EDIT: Before weeks 3, 5 and 6 it says "pick the appropriate column depending on your latest test results"

I just had soccer practice with my girls and I'm tired, but that doesn't excuse my measly 14. :eek:

Thanks for the link, I'll start tomorrow and do a Tues/Thurs/Sat schedule to begin. Should work in well with 3 days of soccer practice.

I'm going to give this a go tonight. I'll be surprised if I can do 20. I've never done any weights training or anything in my entire life - all cardio.

i did 16 and stopped...my elbows and shoulders sounded like a box of rice crispies.

I'm sure that during my life I've accumulated that many....

yup, you're right, there's a test mentionned at the end of the week 5 text.
"Surprise, surprise, it's time for another exhaustion test. Week 4 was tough one, and if you've made it this far, you're getting close to reaching your goal. If you're able to perform more than 45 consecutive push ups, feel free to move on to Week 6. Couldn't quite manage 45? No problem, just repeat the week and you should be ready to go after another three workout days. Good luck!"

FM