Progress Reports

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3, Day 2. Challenge Participant Roundup!

Today is day 2 of week 3. Monday’s workout was tough for me, and I just barely made it through the last set of 15. Today’s workout steps it up another notch, and I am 50/50 on whether I’d be able to finish or not.

To get some added inspiration today I checked out some other fitness and finance bloggers who are taking the challenge. I thought you might enjoy reading some of them too, so here they are! If you want to be added to the list – leave me a comment or go to the forum and tell us after taking our poll.

100 Pushup Challenge Participants

Today’s workout is 16, 14, 14, 12, 15(max) pushups.

I’ll be doing the workout tonight when I get home for work. Just trying to psych myself up to do it. I’ll update here once I give it a shot.

UPDATE: I just finished the pushups for today, and I have to say this was the hardest one yet! I was able to do: 16, 14, 14, 12, 16. That means I did a total of 72 pushups!

Here’s the progress chart for the challenge so far:

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 3, Day 1

By Peter 3 Comments

Today is the big day – day one of the 3rd week. After yesterday’s exhaustion test I’ll be starting in column one of this week’s regimen.

That means today’s workout was 15, 12, 12, 10, 15(max) pushups. Even though I’ve been progressing, this seemed like quite a bump for me, but what else can I do but give it a shot?

I got home from work, drank plenty of water and then started the sets off. The first set of 15 was no problem. The second set of 12 was done in no time. The third set of 12 got a little harder. The next to last set of 10 was a struggle. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish the set, but I did. The last set of 15 was even harder. I went steadily until about 10 pushups. At ten they became a bit more labor intensive.

Pushups 11-15 were extremely difficult. On 15 I pushed up about half of the way, and then struggled with my arms to make them push up the rest of the way. I did it!

Well, I made it through today’s workout, but with how much I struggled on those last couple sets today, I’m afraid I might not make it through the next one. Stay tuned – will it be a train wreck – or will I make it through another day?

Here’s the progress chart for the challenge:

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 2 Exhaustion Test

By Peter 4 Comments

On friday I finished week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge. As they suggested on the 100 pushups website, I waited a couple of days, and then did the exhaustion test to find out what column I should be starting in tomorrow for week 3 of the challenege.

I got up this morning, got hydrated by drinking a couple of 12 ounce glasses of water, and then proceeded to pump out as many pushups as I could without stopping.

I quickly made it to 10 pushups, the point at which I stopped on my initial exhaustion test. So already I’m ahead of the game! I then made it to 16, my previous high number of pushups that I performed this past week. I finally topped out at 20 pushups – my new high.

Now if you had asked me if I could do another pushup after that 20th one, I may have been able to squeak out 1, or possibly 2 more. But after seeing week three’s workout, I knew there was no way I could finish it if I had to do column 2. Even column 1 looks hard to near impossible.

So next week, I start with sets of 15, 12, 12, 10, 15. Could it be my first fail? I hope not!

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 2, Day 3

By Peter Leave a Comment

Today is day 3 of week 2, and once again it’s slowly upping the number of pushups.

Tonight is our 4th of July BBQ, so I figured I better get my pushups done in the morning before I get weighed down by hot dogs, burgers and beans. It is not going to be a healthy eating day today.

After having a yogurt for breakfast, and drinking most of a 32 ounce water bottle, I got down on the ground to do my pushups. The first set seemed harder than they normally do for some reason. (or do I say that every day?) I eeked out my 10 pushups, and then moved on to sets of 10, 8, 8 and then my max set. I took probably 60-90 seconds between reps, although it says to take 120 or more if required.

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On my max set I wasn’t even sure if I could hit the max minimum of 10 pushups, but I was able to make it to 10, and then 11, 12, 13 and finally 14! So in the end I was able to do just as many pushups today as I did 2 days ago – 50. It doesn’t feel like that many each rep when you’re doing them, but when you put them together you’re actually doing quite a few pushups. It feels good!

This weekend I’m supposed to do another exhaustion test to figure out what column to continue in for week 3:

At the end of Week 2 it will be time to check your strength and perform another exhaustion test. In simple terms, perform as many good-form push ups as you can manage before you physically can’t do another rep. The number of push ups you complete will determine which level of the program you’ll start in Week 3

If I’m able to do 16-20 pushups (which is what I expect probably), I’ll be starting on Monday with sets of 15, 12, 12, 10, 15. That’s 64 pushups, and 14 more than I’ve done before. Why did I sign up for this again? Wow.

If you’re doing the 100 Pushup Challenge right now, and you’re blogging about it – please let me know on the Quick to Fit Forums, I’m going to do a roundup in the next few days, and I’d love to link to you!

Quick To Fit Forums

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 2, Day 2

By Peter 1 Comment

Today was day 2 of week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge. I was not feeling it today, and was not looking forward to doing my set of 11, 9, 7, 7, 10(max). I changed once I got home, and got to work.

It seems like the first set or two I’m usually pretty tense or stiff, and they’re a bit harder to push out. Once I get warmed up they feel a little better, but they start getting harder to do. The first set of 10 I got out, but my muscles were pulsing a bit. It wasn’t hard necessarily, but my muscles weren’t warm yet. The second set of 9 was a little easier. By the third set I was pushing them out no problem. By the fourth I was starting to get tired. And on the last set I really pushed myself.

On the last set I was able to keep going until I collapsed after doing 16 pushups. My new high! So today’s final numbers were 11, 9, 7, 7, 16 (max). 50 pushups!

Day three is just around the corner – could 17 or 18 pushups be the new high after today? Somehow I doubt that because the numbers of pushups on each rep go up next time. I think I’ll be lucky to reach the max on the final set of 10. We shall see!

QuickToFit.com Forums

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 2, Day 1

By Peter 2 Comments

Monday evening I began my second week in the 100 pushup challenge. Week 1 was tough, but not exceedingly hard.

After doing my reps for day 1 of week 2, I felt pretty good after I finished. At the end of the sets I was able to max out my pushups with 15 pushups, which is the most I’ve done since starting the program. I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but it does make me feel like I’m working in a positive direction.

Week two starts out with a few less pushups (42) than week 1 ended on (44). So for tonight, my pushups went as follows: 9, 8, 6, 4, 15 (max). Total of 42 pushups for the day.

Wednesday will be day 2 of week 2. Stay tuned – will I break my new max pushups of 15?

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 1, Day 3

By Peter Leave a Comment

Saturday was day 3 of week 1 for my 100 pushup challenge. I didn’t get to my pushups yesterday because I was entertaining, and people showed up early. So I performed my pushups this morning.

One hundred pushups

Day three was a bit harder than day 2. Once again the reps on each set of pushups was slightly more than the day before. Since I was in the second column, the sets went from 10 pushups, two sets of 8, to 5, and then a max set where you do as many as you can.

I was feeling a bit stronger this day, and though it was tough, I was able to get through the sets doing 10-8-8-5-13. My set of 13 at the end was the most I’ve done so far. Not exactly impressive, but I was happy with it.

Here is my progress so far in chart form. As you can see the amount of pushups is going up, ever so slightly, ever day.

Next week, the pushups increase. I hope I can keep up!

LINKS:
100 Push-Up Challenge Website

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 1, Day 2

By Peter Leave a Comment

Wednesday was day 2 of week 1 for me in the 100 pushup challenge. Tonight I’ll be performing the day 3 routine. But first, how did day two go?

One hundred pushups

Day two was similar to day one, but the reps for the number of pushups you performed were slightly increased. If you wanted the rest period was also increased.

Pushup Challenge

On day 1 I was able to complete the reps without too much problem. Day two was a bit more difficult due to the fact that I was a little bit sore from day one, but I completed the reps again without too much problem. They went as follows: 9-8-6-5-11.

Once again as before the last set of at least 7 was a struggle all the way, but I pushed myself. Day three promises to be the hardest one yet. Stay tuned!

LINKS:
100 Push-Up Challenge Website

100 Pushup Challenge: Week 1, Day 1

By Peter 2 Comments

Last week I decided that I was going to start getting back in shape by joining in the 100 Push-Up Challenge that several other bloggers have been talking about the last coule of weeks. J.D. over at GetFitSlowly.com started the trend last week by asking who else would join in the program. I decided to join after several other bloggers I’m familiar with, including The Happy Rock, decided to jump on board as well.

One hundred pushups

The one hundred pushups program requires joiners to do pushups three days a week for six weeks. Each day you perform five sets of push-ups, with a 60-120 second rest period between each set. The number of pushups you perform every week increases until at last during the final week, there is a slight cool-down week. A few days after you finish week six, you try for the magic number of one hundred push-ups.

Can I do it? I don’t know, but I’m certainly going to try! I’m going to be re-starting my Body For Life program at the same time, and I think they’ll work nicely together.

Last week I performed my initial push-up test, and it was extremely humbling. 10 push-ups was all I could manage! Because of the number I completed in my initial test I started the pushup challenge earlier in the week by doing a series of push-ups as shown in column 2 below:

I was able to do the recommended reps. My reps looked like this: 7-7-5-4-11 (with 60 seconds of rest between each set) . After I was finished doing my pushups my arms were shaking. The next day I was sore, so I know I was working some muscles that hadn’t been worked in a while.

I know this isn’t going to be easy, but now that I’ve started and I’m blogging about it, I’m committed. Will you join in and start the pushup challenge too? If so, let us know how you’re doing! Stay tuned for Day 2 of the challenge!

LINKS:
100 Push-Up Challenge Website
100 Push-up challenge @ GetFitSlowly.com
Exercise for Free @ TheHappyRock.com
Free Workout Program @ TheHappyRock.com

Welcome to Quick to Fit!

By Peter 1 Comment

Hello everyone, this is the inaugural post for QuicktoFit.com! I started this blog as a way to keep myself accountable for my fitness life, in a similar way that my other blog, BibleMoneyMatters.com has helped me to remain accountable in my personal financial life. Blogging about the subject means that I have to think about it, and the fact that I’m writing about my progress means that I’ll be embarrassed when I backslide or don’t follow through with my exercise plan.

photo credit: Seth W.

So with that said, I’ll start out by giving a quick rundown of my personal fitness level, where I’ve been, and where I hope to be.

I am 32 years old, 6’4″, and at my heaviest last year I weighed 255 pounds. I was overweight, but because I’m so tall I was able to distribute the weight well enough that I didn’t look as overweight as I was. When I mentioned to others that I wanted to lose some weight they would say things like “Oh, you don’t need to lose weight, you don’t look that heavy!”, or “You DON’T need to lose weight, I do!”. I wasn’t happy with my personal fitness level, and knew I needed to make a change – no matter what other people told me.

The final straw that really got me going on a fitness regime was when I was driving home from work one day, and every time I hit a bump in the road, I could feel my fat jiggling. That was just gross, and I knew this needed to be fixed.

A few years previous I had lost 10-15 pounds using the Body For Life system, and I knew it worked well for me. It was also a plan I knew I could stick to, so I started doing the plan in February. I began exercising 6 days a week by lifting weights 3 days a week, and doing aerobic exercise (interval training) 3 days a week. I also began eating healthier, 6 times a day. Over about 4-5 months I lost 40 pounds through the program. I was down to 215 pounds, and was feeling more fit than I had in years.

Over the last 6-8 months since then I have let my exercise and eating regime slip. It’s been a tough 6 months where my wife almost died from a complete leg blood clot, and we had a death in the family. I just haven’t been motivated to work out or eat well. In fact, when my wife was in the hospital for a month, I ate at Mcdonald’s almost every day, and probably gained 5-10 pounds that month alone.

Well, this past week I realized that I had gained 20 pounds back of the 40 I had lost, and knew I needed to stop the bleeding before I gained it all back. It is time to get back on wagon, and lose the remaining 35 pounds to get to my goal weight of 200 pounds.

So here we are. I’m currently at about 235 pounds, and ready to start back on a weight loss plan. Time to start. Here we go. Join with me, and we can all go from slow to fat, to quick to fit!