What I Learned From One Hundred Pushups
I blogged previously about one hundred pushups. I started the program in October and am finally ready to discuss my experiences with it.
One hundred pushups is a six week program consisting of three workouts per week of various numbers of sets and reps per set. The basic idea is that at the end of six weeks you should be able to do one hundred pushups in one set. There is a caveat that if you fail to meet a specified number of pushups at the end of each week you must repeat that week so it’s possible to take longer than six weeks.
The first three weeks went very well. I worked my way up to be able to do over 20 good form pushups in a single set. In week four I hit a snag and had to repeat the week. I also had to repeat week five. And though I started week six I never quite completed it. I was only able to complete more than 46 pushups in a single set (the requirement for moving on to week six) one time.
After taking a couple of weeks off to recover from a sinus infection I started the program again from week four. I got through weeks four and five in one try but stalled on week six again. I never quite finished the program.
At the end of this experience I noticed that may upper body had changed. Though my chest was far from chiseled and could still not be defined as buff it had definitely changed. The workouts helped work off some of the fat and build a little muscle. I still have a way to go but this program definitely got me on my way.
I have decided that i will continue doing a pushup program but rather than set my sites on one hundred pushups I will take just one week from the program (week four) and repeat it every week. Week four was when things started to get difficult for me so I figure this will make a challenging workout that is not too exhausting. Will I move on to week five or six at some point? Maybe. But my expectations have changed from building to one hundred pushups to just doing something. If my body changed without finishing the program then this should be sufficient to continue the change that the program has already started.
The next step is going to be to add the two hundred situps program to the mix. The two hundred situps program is to situps what one hundred pushups is to pushups. After the one hundred pushups lesson I’ve adjusted my expectations. I’ll give the program my all and go as far as I can go with the hope that I can get to two hundred. But I won’t be let down if I never finish week six. And when it’s all over I’ll pick one week that was challenging but doable and add it to a regular workout. I’ll let you know how it goes.
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