@ Eric - I'm a glutton for punishment.... Can't remember where I first heard this: "No brain, no pain" ... I must be lacking in grey matter.... LOL
@ Elly- looking back over your entries, seems to me that you are chugging along solidly. I didn't see any set-backs or do-overs at all..... That's awesome.... I don't think I could continue without using SAM (Scott Alexander Modification). Keep rocking it!
I've been a bit off-the-reservation for the last week or two due to work issues. Should be back now. As was documented earlier, I hit a plateau. For the last week or so, I've been doing something a bit different. Pretty simple, actually... 6 sets to exhaustion with a minute's rest in between. But the difference is that I've been them verrrrrry slow, and verrry deep...like touch my nose and belt buckle deep. Under these conditions, my max set is only about 25, and it goes down from there. If nothing else, this is different, and I think sometimes you need something different to break up a plateau.
Does anyone think they can get the full 100 by Christmas? Is a video confimation in order?
Second installment of W5-C3-D3 in the bag. Same as Monday, hitting sets on 45" then 20' later the Max set. Not as much fatigue leading up to or after the max set as before. Must be some good stuff going on there. Plan to run the full workout on Friday evening - no extra time. That way I can be ligit in testing into W6.
20/20/24/24/20/20/22/50=200
@ William - those sound hard..... almost like punishment. But I hear you about needing to change it up to push past the plateau. Keep at it.
Thiird go at W5-C3-D3 didn't go quite as planned. The main sets went OK but when it came time for the max set I just didnt have it. I even gave myself an extra 3 minutes to recover before I attempted the final 50. Well, I only made it to 27 before I collapsed.
Twenty minutes later I tried again for the 50 and got it. Not really the way I wanted to but.....
20/20/24/24/20/20/22/27/50=227
Plan to test on Sunday.... see if I can go 60+ and jump to W6-C3.
Tested into W6-C2 this AM with 58. I was sort of surprised how it progressed. My plan was to mentally break the test into groups of 20 and finish with 60+. There were no breaks in the pushups, just a mental grouping as I went. The first 20 were smooth and easy. Next 20 required a little more focus and I also eased the tempo a bit. Still, no signs of fatigue as I finished the set. Continuing along the next 10 took on a different flavor. I could feel the fatigue coming on rapidly. There was a distinct threshold at # 52 where my arms suddenly felt incapable of lifting my weight. I struggled from that point on. Each pushup required twice the effort and took twice as long to complete. The final pushup - #58 took nearly 4 seconds, arms vibrating, eyes bulging and blood pounding in my ears.
I collapsed in a quivering heap of limp flesh, gasping for breath and drooling uncontrolably. Couldn't get to 60, 58 will have to do.
3 weeks from today - Christmas Day, I plan to video my first attempt at the full 100. Maybe I could even stream it live like Mike Hedman did for his FTP test.....
Awesome effort Steve! Really looking forward to the video!!!!!! I've been impressed by the lack of muscle soreness even though we're going to muscle failure every workout. Running to muscle failure (marathon) usually means limping for a week.
Nice job Steve!! IIRC, Michele used that same "break it into sets of 20" mental strategy when hitting the 100 mark last year as well. Let us know when you are ready to video!
Yikes, I've definitely fallen off the routine in the last couple weeks. The good news is that I'm at 85 pushups. I've got to get back on the program to get to the elusive 100.
@ Elly & Nemo - thanks for the support... gonna need it too. Feels like this is the toughest part coming up. I figured that if I put the video idea out there, I'd have HAVE to stay motivated or I'd do a public 'crash and burn'.
@ Michael - 85 is a HUGE number! Seems like should be close enough to clear the 100 before Santa arrives! Great work.... keep us posted
I think we need a Wiki post for "Vulture Cam" with instructions on the best way to stream or post vids. Im sure there are plenty like me that have never tried to do the video thing but be more than happy to post themselves as road-kill in the pain cave....
Epic fail today! W4/D1/C3 today was tired from the start even after two days off. I only managed 21/25/21/10, no max set. I'll step it down by moving over to C2. I'll do W4/D1/C2 on Wednesday. I'm debating whether to finish the program on C2, then restarting C3 from W4 to build to the 100 pushup goal. That might be another way to ramp up.
I am getting to the point where I wonder if I can get to 100 without basically making a total all-out heroic effort out if it. (Believe me, I'm not intending to discourage anyone else!!!). As the OS gets into the hard part here, I start to question whether that's really where I should be spending my mental energy.
I am reconciled to the fact that I've only bench pressed my weight like twice in my life, too, so I'm just not a big strong guy. (I've always said that it would be easier for me to bench my weight by cutting off my legs....) But I'm not a lifetime weightlifter guy either.
Anyway, I'm starting to think about how to convert this challenge into something I can do more or less permanently. That is, I think it's good for me to do pushups...good core, back and arm strength... but instead of doing 200 pushups in a bunch of sets, what could I do for myself that includes a set of ~50 pushups and some other simple core work that will help me out in the long run. Something I can just do in 15 minutes or whatever at the beginning of the day, end of the day or on a lunch break, whatever.
I haven't officially surrendered, but I keep trying slight variations and ending up in the same place (mid 60s). Seems like the next thing would be stepping it up to like 5 days a week, etc etc... and then pretty soon I'm a pusher upper who also bikes and runs. :-) So that's where my thought process is.
Dont' mean to be a downer for anyone... just being honest.
William- your not a downer! I feel that way about pull-ups. I've never been able to do even 1 unassisted. Just 1, really, how pathetic?
Anyway- as we've said, some of this is just the journey!
I'm back on the wagon. Got through the Week 4 Column 2, Day 1 workouts without too much trouble. If I can just stay consistent I think I'll see improvements.
Also- I think I was "cheating" a little before and that's where I'm having more of a challenge this time around. I don't think I was really going all the way down. I'm trying to be better about the form and that's making it tougher.
@ Elly - not an epic fail, how about 'temporary re-assesment of future expectations'
@ William - I'm with Nemo, x2 on not a downer AND it being a 'journey'. That is the way I live my life - a journey. Always have the opportunity to re-assess aspirations and objectives. Like you, I don't want to be all consumed by the need to make 100 pushups to be satisfied.
@ Nemo - Pathetic? Not hardly! More like different skill set. Big YES to the 'jouney' concept.
For me, I need goals to strive for, summit a mountain, shoot a class V river, run a marathon, run 50 miles, do a triathlon, etc. Now the big goal is IMLP. With all these goals, quiting is not an option. Knowing when it is unsafe to continue is a requirement. I never feel any shame or remorse if I need to turn around before the summit if weather or injury interfere. So far I have never had to DNF a race of any kind, but when life or limb are in peril, sure, I'd stop and come back another time or decide it was not the right kind of challange for me.
Something I learned while white water kayaking is this: "Better paddlers than you have walk easier things than this. There is no shame in making a wise choice."
This 100 pushup challange is a duanting task. It has been a lot of fun (in a sadistic sort of way). I may not get there either, but I will try. If I get to a place were I make no progress and feel it is interfering with instead of assisting me in my journey to my IM goal... I'm likely to back off to a simple routine that I add as part of my upper body/core work that helps me do cool stuff with my fitness.
Got home tonight and found a foot of snow to shovel..... pushups will have to wait till later.... if I still have the energy.....
Back in the groove now. 170 this AM. Successfully completed W6 all three days now. No cheating on rest time and even got a few extra on all last sets. Feeling good about moving on, just a bit frustrated that I was doing 270 a month ago.
Slow and steady...I'm determined to get there this time!
Backed down to new plan of SMELLY. (SAM protocal + ELLY): Day by day ramp up of C2 W4-6, then return to C3 W4-6, no progress until Day workout is honestly done.
Today: W4, D1, C2. Barely, barely got through it....arms have no power left. Too soon after yesterday's failed C3? Next workout is W4, D2, C2 on Thursday.
@ Elly - LOL on the SMELLY.... Hey, if it works..... any progress is real progress right?
Last night I got my 2nd session of W6-C2-D1 in. Was in no big hurry, plenty of rest betoween sets. The primary objective is to build fatigue resistance by repeating the workout several times then bust it out on the thrid session sticking to the prescribed rest periods.
40/50/25/25/50=190
Friday is the day to bust a nut and clear my way to C3-D1 (220 total)... we'll see....
W4, D3, C2 is in the bag. 23/28/23/23/33 for a total of 130 pushups. Reeeely tired now. Sunday is the fatigue test. At this moment I can't imagine every lifting my arms again.
3rd day of SAM protocol using W4 C2 D1 and I felt pretty good on that Max Set. So I'm gonna let myself progress to D2 next week. I'm liking the SAM process. gives me a little more confidence and by the 3rd day I know what I'm doing without needing to double check the workout.
Way to bring it everyone! This is seriously hard s#!t...
After 3 days of repeating W6-C2-D1... struggleing the entire time, I was able to finish but just barely. Most sets were with 60" rest except the Max set - needed 2 minutes to recover enough to go 50.
40/50/25/25/50=190 Third time around....
Not sure If I am ready to move on yet. Thing is, to finish by Christmas I am going to need to really push. So from above:
C2-D1 >> 40/50/25/25/50
C3-D1 >> 45/55/35/30/55 << next up <br /> C4-D1 >> 50/60/45/35/60
Week 4 Max test = 36 pushups. Arms feel okay....could have squeezed a few more out but wanted to save something for Week 5 on Monday. Onwards and upwards!
Keep at it Nemo, William, Scott and Steve!!!! Only 20 days left in the year....let's get it done!
Question: My DW is working on the 100 pushup challange too. This week she started with some hip discomfort - right at the front of the hip socket. Can this be related to pushups? Has anyone else ever felt this from doing pushups?
Comments
@ Elly- looking back over your entries, seems to me that you are chugging along solidly. I didn't see any set-backs or do-overs at all..... That's awesome.... I don't think I could continue without using SAM (Scott Alexander Modification). Keep rocking it!
20/25/15/15/25 for a total of 100.
120 on Friday??? Yikes.
I've been a bit off-the-reservation for the last week or two due to work issues. Should be back now. As was documented earlier, I hit a plateau. For the last week or so, I've been doing something a bit different. Pretty simple, actually... 6 sets to exhaustion with a minute's rest in between. But the difference is that I've been them verrrrrry slow, and verrry deep...like touch my nose and belt buckle deep. Under these conditions, my max set is only about 25, and it goes down from there. If nothing else, this is different, and I think sometimes you need something different to break up a plateau.
Will report my results as they come!
Fell off the wagon a bit. Back on this AM though. Sticking with the plan of repeating week 6 until I can get to 100!
Second installment of W5-C3-D3 in the bag. Same as Monday, hitting sets on 45" then 20' later the Max set. Not as much fatigue leading up to or after the max set as before. Must be some good stuff going on there. Plan to run the full workout on Friday evening - no extra time. That way I can be ligit in testing into W6.
20/20/24/24/20/20/22/50=200
@ William - those sound hard..... almost like punishment. But I hear you about needing to change it up to push past the plateau. Keep at it.
Twenty minutes later I tried again for the 50 and got it. Not really the way I wanted to but.....
20/20/24/24/20/20/22/27/50=227
Plan to test on Sunday.... see if I can go 60+ and jump to W6-C3.
Yeah, me too. I promise to get back on board starting Monday!!!
I collapsed in a quivering heap of limp flesh, gasping for breath and drooling uncontrolably. Couldn't get to 60, 58 will have to do.
3 weeks from today - Christmas Day, I plan to video my first attempt at the full 100. Maybe I could even stream it live like Mike Hedman did for his FTP test.....
Keep on pushing.....
@ Michael - 85 is a HUGE number! Seems like should be close enough to clear the 100 before Santa arrives! Great work.... keep us posted
I think we need a Wiki post for "Vulture Cam" with instructions on the best way to stream or post vids. Im sure there are plenty like me that have never tried to do the video thing but be more than happy to post themselves as road-kill in the pain cave....
I am getting to the point where I wonder if I can get to 100 without basically making a total all-out heroic effort out if it. (Believe me, I'm not intending to discourage anyone else!!!). As the OS gets into the hard part here, I start to question whether that's really where I should be spending my mental energy.
I am reconciled to the fact that I've only bench pressed my weight like twice in my life, too, so I'm just not a big strong guy. (I've always said that it would be easier for me to bench my weight by cutting off my legs....) But I'm not a lifetime weightlifter guy either.
Anyway, I'm starting to think about how to convert this challenge into something I can do more or less permanently. That is, I think it's good for me to do pushups...good core, back and arm strength... but instead of doing 200 pushups in a bunch of sets, what could I do for myself that includes a set of ~50 pushups and some other simple core work that will help me out in the long run. Something I can just do in 15 minutes or whatever at the beginning of the day, end of the day or on a lunch break, whatever.
I haven't officially surrendered, but I keep trying slight variations and ending up in the same place (mid 60s). Seems like the next thing would be stepping it up to like 5 days a week, etc etc... and then pretty soon I'm a pusher upper who also bikes and runs. :-) So that's where my thought process is.
Dont' mean to be a downer for anyone... just being honest.
Anyway- as we've said, some of this is just the journey!
I'm back on the wagon. Got through the Week 4 Column 2, Day 1 workouts without too much trouble. If I can just stay consistent I think I'll see improvements.
Also- I think I was "cheating" a little before and that's where I'm having more of a challenge this time around. I don't think I was really going all the way down. I'm trying to be better about the form and that's making it tougher.
@ William - I'm with Nemo, x2 on not a downer AND it being a 'journey'. That is the way I live my life - a journey. Always have the opportunity to re-assess aspirations and objectives. Like you, I don't want to be all consumed by the need to make 100 pushups to be satisfied.
@ Nemo - Pathetic? Not hardly! More like different skill set. Big YES to the 'jouney' concept.
For me, I need goals to strive for, summit a mountain, shoot a class V river, run a marathon, run 50 miles, do a triathlon, etc. Now the big goal is IMLP. With all these goals, quiting is not an option. Knowing when it is unsafe to continue is a requirement. I never feel any shame or remorse if I need to turn around before the summit if weather or injury interfere. So far I have never had to DNF a race of any kind, but when life or limb are in peril, sure, I'd stop and come back another time or decide it was not the right kind of challange for me.
Something I learned while white water kayaking is this: "Better paddlers than you have walk easier things than this. There is no shame in making a wise choice."
This 100 pushup challange is a duanting task. It has been a lot of fun (in a sadistic sort of way). I may not get there either, but I will try. If I get to a place were I make no progress and feel it is interfering with instead of assisting me in my journey to my IM goal... I'm likely to back off to a simple routine that I add as part of my upper body/core work that helps me do cool stuff with my fitness.
Got home tonight and found a foot of snow to shovel..... pushups will have to wait till later.... if I still have the energy.....
Run Stong my friends....
Back in the groove now. 170 this AM. Successfully completed W6 all three days now. No cheating on rest time and even got a few extra on all last sets. Feeling good about moving on, just a bit frustrated that I was doing 270 a month ago.
Slow and steady...I'm determined to get there this time!
40/50/25/25/50=190 fewer pushups than last week but seemed much harder with longer sets.
Looking over W6-C2, seems like it is built with a taper - D2 & D3 have less total than D1. May need to do something funky like this:
C2-D1 >> 40/50/25/25/50
C3-D1 >> 45/55/35/30/55
C4-D1 >> 50/60/45/35/60
I guess we will just have to see how this goes.....
Today: W4, D1, C2.
Barely, barely got through it....arms have no power left. Too soon after yesterday's failed C3? Next workout is W4, D2, C2 on Thursday.
Keep at it everyone!
W4, D2, C2 is in the bag. Not too bad today: 20/25/20/20/28 for a total of 113 pushups. D3 is up next!
@ Elly - LOL on the SMELLY.... Hey, if it works..... any progress is real progress right?
Last night I got my 2nd session of W6-C2-D1 in. Was in no big hurry, plenty of rest betoween sets. The primary objective is to build fatigue resistance by repeating the workout several times then bust it out on the thrid session sticking to the prescribed rest periods.
40/50/25/25/50=190
Friday is the day to bust a nut and clear my way to C3-D1 (220 total)... we'll see....
W4, D3, C2 is in the bag. 23/28/23/23/33 for a total of 130 pushups. Reeeely tired now. Sunday is the fatigue test. At this moment I can't imagine every lifting my arms again.
Smelly- love it!!!
Onto W4 D1 x3, next week. Onward and upward!
Way to bring it everyone! This is seriously hard s#!t...
After 3 days of repeating W6-C2-D1... struggleing the entire time, I was able to finish but just barely. Most sets were with 60" rest except the Max set - needed 2 minutes to recover enough to go 50.
40/50/25/25/50=190 Third time around....
Not sure If I am ready to move on yet. Thing is, to finish by Christmas I am going to need to really push. So from above:
C2-D1 >> 40/50/25/25/50
C3-D1 >> 45/55/35/30/55 << next up <br />
C4-D1 >> 50/60/45/35/60
Keep at it Nemo, William, Scott and Steve!!!! Only 20 days left in the year....let's get it done!
Question: My DW is working on the 100 pushup challange too. This week she started with some hip discomfort - right at the front of the hip socket. Can this be related to pushups? Has anyone else ever felt this from doing pushups?