Give Me Ten!
I started something new this week - the hundred pushups training program put together by Steve Speirs of Run Bulldog Run. The ultimate goal of the hundred pushups program is to be able to do one hundred consecutive pushups, but us mere mortals will probably be satisfied with just increasing our strength.
The hundred pushups program is a six-week program which starts you out by testing your strength by having you do the maximum amount of pushups you can do at once while still maintaining good form. For me, this was 15 pushups. Given my age, that started me in a rank 3 out of 7.
After the initial test, there are 3 training sessions a week over a period of six weeks. Each training session involves 5 sets of pushups with varying amounts of rest in between each set. The number of pushups required in each workout varies depending upon how many pushups you managed during your initial test. If at any time during the program you don’t complete the week successfully, you repeat that week until you do. So far, I’ve successfully completed week 1 by doing the following:
- Day 1: 10, 10, 8, 6, max (7 for me) with 60 seconds rest
- Day 2: 12, 12, 10, 10, max (10 for me) with 90 seconds rest
- Day 3: 15, 13, 10, 10, max (17 for me) with 2 minutes rest
I’ve noticed that many runners in the blogosphere are doing this challenge. However, there don’t seem to be very many women, with the exception of Corey from See Corey Run and Marcy of I Signed Up for This??. I’ve also managed to convince a few folks from Plurk to sign up. Come on ladies (and gents), won’t you join us? Almost all of us could use a little increase in strength!
In other news, this was a much better week of running for me than last week. I was back in the groove, with 27.28 miles of running, including a 10 mile race today that I ran more as a training run than a real race. My foot felt good and my confidence is back.
I hope everyone has had a great week!
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July 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Glad the foot is doing better. Sounds like a great week of running….
Good luck with the push ups challenge! Not sure how it took off like it did, but the web site is certainly buzzing at the moment.
Have a great week!
–Steve
July 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
It’s more like “Give me ten, and then another ten….”
Thanks for the mention & for encouraging other women (& men) to join the hundred pushups program.
Glad to hear you’re feeling much better & getting back on track with your running.
Pretty soon, you’re going to be the pushup queen!
-C
July 21st, 2008 at 3:35 am
How about this idea?
The above idea came to me when you & I were chatting about getting more women involved in the pushup challenge. My thinking was that if I start a community (or maybe it’s more of a “support group” LOL!
) just for the ladies, maybe that’d help encourage more women to join. So what’d'ya think?!
I also mentioned you & your blog in the above post. So check it out!
-C
July 21st, 2008 at 8:47 am
LOL, I was actually one of the last chicas to get on the bandwagon. There are a good group of ladies that started before me. Jess( 21 Days), Lisa (Java Mom Is Tri-ing), Lisa (Chasin Bunnies), Vickie, (Living And Tri-ing), and a bunch more but I can’t think off the top of my head
After week 3 however, I’m not so sure about all this . . .HAHA
July 21st, 2008 at 8:59 am
@Marcy - Good to hear there are more of us out there! I’ll check out their sites to see how they’re all progressing.
@cyberpenguin - Great idea, and thanks for the sidebar add.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
But do “lady push-ups” count?
July 21st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
While I’m not a runner, per se, I am a women and participating in the 100 Push-Up Challenge!
Today I just started week 4, completing 69 push-ups in total. My best consecutive run so far is 20 … still a long way off from 100, but 100% better from when I first started 4-weeks ago!
Best of luck to you and all participating. I’m excited to see someone hit the 100 mark … maybe it will be you
Train hard; stay strong.
Susan
http://www.catatpultfitnessblog.com
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 am
Yep. See this page for alternatives if you can’t yet do “good form” pushups.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 am
@Susan - You’re getting great results - what a great inspiration for those of us that are just starting out!
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I did my initial test last night and DEFINITELY need lady pushups. I can crank out about 2 regular ones- 3 if I get a minute break in between.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
@Runner Girl - Good for you for stepping up to the challenge! You will get stronger.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Workout Mommy is doing it too. Maybe Fitarella, not sure, though. I know I can do 15 but after that, it’s down hill. Maybe, I’ll do it……thinking about it. I’d really like to improve my upper body strength.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
@FitMom - there’s no good reason not to do it. It doesn’t take that much time and it will improve your strength. Why hesitate?
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Impressive site! Thank you.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hi Ladies (& gentleman),
I’ve just added the ladies who’ve mentioned here that they’re doing the Hundred Pushups Challenge to the “Hundred Pushups Queens.” (Thanks, Marcy, for the list of ladies doing the program; I’ve found all of the blogs & have added them to the list.) For future, anyone else who wants to join, please email me or leave a comment on my blog, so I know to add you to the group.
Thanks & good luck with your pushups challenge!
-C
P.S. Susan, the URL you left here has a typo, but I listed it correctly on my blog.
July 27th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] Pushups group (for people who are doing the Hundred Pushups challenge, which I talked about in this post). The groups function works basically like mini-forums where people can post information or [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hey there — I’m a woman runner and have been doing the push up challenge since the end of June. I’m doing the regular push ups and getting stronger each week! Sure, I’ve had to repeat Week 2 and Week 3 but I am now on Week 4. On Friday, I completed 106 push ups!
So … yeah, I’d love to be added as a Hundred Pushups Queen! LOVE it!
July 28th, 2008 at 11:38 am
@Felice - Congratulations on your progress. 106 pushups is amazing!
I’m forwarding your comment to Corey at See Corey Run - she’s the one that’s putting a list of ‘Hundred Pushups Queens’ on her sidebar.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:05 am
Good Luck as you keep working on the push-ups! Who would have ever thought push-ups could build this much community and be such a hard thing to do?