Progress Reports

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3(x3), Day 1 (again)

Week 3 once again

Today I restarted week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge – again. Lately it seems that every time I try to restart this whole thing we get busy, have nights out and I just can’t find the time to get my workouts in. I think I may start having to get up earlier so that I can exercise in the A.M.

Week 3 day 1 Column 2

Once again I started with 20. No problem. Powered through.

the two sets of 15 weren’t too bad, maybe the rest I’ve had actually helped? The 13 and was harder, but overly hard.

For the last set I made it to 20, and it wasn’t as much of a struggle as it was last time. So Wedensday I move on to day two again.

Looks to be a little harder, but do-able.

How’s your pushup challenge going? Have you given up yet? Still giving it your all? Doing it half-way? Let me know in the comments!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help.

If you have already downloaded the file you may want to re-download it as I have corrected some mistakes, and made some updates. Thanks!

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 5, Day 1

By Peter 4 Comments

Week 5 looks tough!

Well last night was day one of week 5 in my 100 pushup challenge. How did it go?

FAIL!

Ok, it wasn’t all that bad. It was a pretty tough week and I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to make it through the first 2 or 3 sets. After day one it gets even worse where instead of having just 5 levels, it has 8!

Week 5 day 1

So last night I started doing my pushups with the set of 30. I made it through that without too much difficulty (which even a couple of weeks ago would have been a huge struggle). The second set of 24, was quite a bit harder. They were asking me to do a lot more reps than I’ve been doing this whole time, and it is H-A-R-D, hard!

The third set of 22 was a struggle. Around 16 or so I was straining mightily to push myself up. I made it through.

The fourth set of 20 was tough going. I pushed as hard as I could, really struggling after 14 or so. But once again I made it. But at this point, I knew I was not going to be able to finish that last set. I thought maybe I could make 20 – but 30? No chance.

photo credit: bitmask

The last set I started pumping out pushups, and around ten I started to hit the wall. At 13 I could barely get up. And by 15 I knew I was done.

At that point I got on my knees and finished the pushups from my knees, but still I had stopped 15 short of my goal of 30. Bummer.

While it’s disappointing to have had a fail on the first day of week 5, I knew this may happen and it wasn’t a total surprise. I had looked at week 5 and realized that like week 3 they had really bumped up the level of pushups a notch.

Even though I failed, I did over 100 pushups today before I failed. Not too shabby for someone who struggled to push out 10 on the initial test!

So where to go from here?

So from here I think I’m going to take the weekend off, and then restart on monday on week 3, day 1, column 2. I’ll re-do weeks 3 and 4 using column two, and hopefully next time I reach week 5 I’ll be ready!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

If you have already downloaded the file you may want to re-download it as I have corrected some mistakes, and made some updates. Thanks!

[ad#468x60_sas_elitefitness]

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4 Exhaustion Test

By Peter 3 Comments

Week 4 – what column will I be doing in week 5?

This morning I was waiting around for some workers to finish fixing a crack in my foundation. While I waited around I decided to do my exhaustion test for week 4.

If you perform 30 or less pushups you go back to week 3 and 4. I was thinking that was the way I might be headed. Up until now I haven’t been able to do more than 25 pushups at a time (which in itself was an improvement).

I got down on the floor this morning and started pushing out pushups at a pretty good pace. I made it to 10, then 20. Then I passed my previous high and kept going. I made it to 30 then 35. I eeked out one more to stop at 36. That’s quite an improvement over week one’s initial test!

Looking at the workout plan for week 5, I think I may be in for a rude awakening. Column 2 (which I’m supposedly supposed to be using) starts out with 35 pushups, and pretty much stays hard the entire time. Wow, this is going to be interesting.

In the interest of having a better chance of finishing week 5, I think I’m going to do column one for week 5. Let’s just all pretend I didn’t eek out that last pushup :).

So starting tomorrow, week 5 of the 100 pushups challenge!

Here’s my progress so far:

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 3

By Peter 3 Comments

Week 4 – will I have to repeat it like week 3?

Today was day 3 of week 4 on my 100 pushup challenge.

Once again it looked tough, so I wasn’t sure if I could do all the pushups. Every time that I surprise myself and complete a set my confidence climbs though.

I was a bit stiff this morning so I did some jumping jacks and running in place before attempting any pushups. Didn’t want to hurt myself just jumping right in!

Today the sets were supposed to be 20, 15, 15, 15, 18.

I made it through the first set of 20 without too much problem at all. Two 15s were tough again. The third 15 was beginning to get pretty tough – and I powered through the last pushup with a small struggle.

Finally, the last set of 18 I went through at a brisk pace, starting to struggle at 15, but finally pushing all the way through to 20.

So today I did 20, 15, 15, 15, and 20. That brings it to a grand total of 85 pushups! Not bad, I’m getting better!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 2

By Peter 2 Comments

Week 4 resumes!

Here we are on week 4, day two. Pretty similar to day one of week 4, but slightly more pushups.

I took the day off yesterday because I had such a hard day having to put my dog to sleep at the vet. Not something I ever want to go through again. (But I’m sure I’ll have to, we have another dog)

The first set was rough today, I didn’t really warm up beforehand, and i was pretty stiff. The second two sets of 14 were better, but still tough. The set of 12 was beginning to show signs of a struggle. And the last set of 15 was tough- but I eeked out 16 pushups. So on Saturday I’ll be attempting to finish out week 4. We’ll see if I make it. There is a bump up of 12 pushups in those sets, and that’s a lot of extra pushups!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 4, Day 1

By Peter 9 Comments

Week 4 of the challenge is here!

Here we are on week 4, finally!

At the end of week 3 I was able to power out 25 pushups in my final set, which was my new high. Today I am starting week 4 in column one:

That means I’ll be doing 16, 13, 13, 11, 16. After doing day 3 of week 3 this actually sounds do-able!

The first four sets were pretty easy today. I powered right through them without too much problem. I definitely feel like I’m getting stronger. The last set I was able to get all the way to 22 pushups. Not too shabby! Day two looks to be similar to day three of week 3, so we’ll see how that goes. As time goes on, my confidence is rising though!

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3, Day 3 (again)

By Peter 1 Comment

Week three of the 100 pushup challenge… again

This morning was day 3 of week 3 of the 100 pushups challenge. I did the same week last week, and I failed on my day 3 pushups in the last set of 16. I made it to 12, and then had to finish from my knees.

This week was a little bit different. I could definitely feel myself getting stronger, and even though my gains were small, I was able to do more pushups in the final set each day, than last week.

I started out today with the set of 20 . I was pushing myself and powering through the pushups today, something I haven’t done as much before. The pace was just a little bit faster. I then made it through two sets of 15, and the 12. At this point in the sets last week I was really struggling. This week I was feeling a bit stronger.

After resting between my sets (another thing I didn’t do as well last week), I powered through my last set. I made it to the required 16, and kept going. I made it to 20, and kept going. I finally maxed out at 25 pushups! That’s quite an improvement over last week’s 12, and a new pushup high for me!

Next week I’ll finally be moving on to week 4, and once again, column one. Once again, here is the chart of my progress:

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3, Day 2 the second time around

By Peter 1 Comment

This week is my second time around doing week 3 of the 100 pushups challenge.

I did my pushups on Wednesday just before going out to play tennis. I pushed through them at a good pace. It wasn’t as tiring as the last time I did them, but it was still hard.

I started out with the set of 16. No problem. two 14s, slightly harder. Twelve was a struggle. The last set of 15 I was able to power through them, and get all the way to 17. That is one better than last week. Small gains, right?

Now I have friday to look forward to – Hopefully I’ll get all the way through this week. If not, back to week 3 again!

After my pushups I went out for an hour and a half of tennis with my neighbor. It was an extremely hot day outside, and I was sweating like crazy. On those hot and humid days don’t forget to stay hydrated! If you don’t you’re in for trouble!

photo credit: aloshbennett

100 pushup challenge for Ipod

Also – don’t forget – If you haven’t downloaded the 100 pushup challenge for your Ipod (or other portable device) yet, you can still do so by subscribing to our RSS feed. The download link will appear in the RSS feed. If you have trouble finding it, please email me through our contact page, and I’ll be happy to help. Thanks!

100 Pushup Challenge: Back to Week 3, Day 1

By Peter 3 Comments

Saturday was day 3 of week 3 in my 100 pushup challenge. As I mentioned in a previous post I failed on the last set – only making it to 10 of the required 16 minimum pushups, although I did complete the pushups from my knees. This week I’m doing week 3 over.

I didn’t get to the pushups until almost 10pm on Monday, at which time I was already pretty tired. The sets for today calls for sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 and a final set of at least 15.

I started out with the set of 15, and noticed that once again I was pretty sore still from Saturday’s pushups.

After the two sets of 12 and the 10 I was struggling.

The last set I struggled mightily from 10 on, but I was able to push out 16 pushups.

I’m repeating week 3 this week, but after doing that set i think it actually felt harder doing it this time. Is that even possible? Could it be that my weekend off for vacation took that much of a toll on me?

After doing my pushups I got out our “Biggest Loser” workout video to get in a quick cardio workout as well. As far as I’m concerned the high-intensity cardio workout on that DVD is pretty tough, and it gets me sweating every time!

Stay tuned everyone – tomorrow I’ll have something for you all – related to the 100 pushups challenge. Check back here for an update!

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3, Day 3

By Peter 2 Comments

Saturday was day 3 of week 3 in my 100 pushup challenge. I was still pretty sore from the pushups on Wednesday, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

I did my pushups around 11:30 in the morning before my wife went out to do some exploring on our vacation this weekend. I wasn’t feeling particularly strong, and my sets bore that out.

Today calls for sets of 20, 15, 15, 12 and a final set of at least 16.

I started out with the set of 20, and was able to complete them without too much trouble. I did notice, however, that I had a bit more difficulty than other 1st sets this week.

The second two sets of 15 got progressively harder and I could feel my tired muscles protesting every pushup. By the third set of 12 I was barely able to finish.

The last set I made it all the way to 12 pushups, struggling the whole time. At that time I couldn’t go any further. I finished the set of 16 by doing the pushups from my knees. So I finished the set – albeit with a bit of cheating.

So I’ve failed a set for the first time – although I don’t count it as a complete failure. I still finished the set.

So next week I’ll be repeating week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge. I knew it would probably happen sooner or later. Hopefully this week I won’t be quite as sore after day 2 of week 3. How are you doing on your challenge?