100 pushups

[Siggi74]

Hi

I'm new here. I am 35 years old and I've been working out (in some form or other) my whole adult life. There have been periods when I'm not in very good shape, but mostly I've stayed in pretty good shape. My main sport was volleyball and my main way of staying fit has been pumping iron. In the last couple of years, time constraints mean that going to the gym a few times a week has not been an option. Hence, I switched to a HIT routine of one very intense weight training session per week. However- although I enjoy these weekly sessions a lot and got excellent results from them- the weekly pain and soreness started to get to me. I also believe that a daily dose of excercise enduced endorphins is a key part in maintaining mental health and the weekly gym sessions were clearly not providing that (just one BIG kick of endorphins followed by 3 days of pain).

I therefore find myself gravitating back to bodyweight exercises. I have read your excellent books, "Pushing yourself to power" and "The miricle seven" and used many of the exercises in the past few years (The hindu push up being an absolute favorite). Reading through the posts on this forum is convincing me, once and for all, that using your own bodyweight and muscle strenght to stay fit for life is THE way to go.

So, now I am getting started on coming up with a daily routine and goals for myself. My first goal is to be able to do 100 consecutive military style push ups (I did 60 on a fitness test last winter, so this should be achievable). However (and now I'm finally coming to my question), I am wondering what is the best way to achieve this. I started using a program from a website called one hundred pushups]. Their plan is to do work out three days per week, doing 5 continuously increasing sets of push ups. The problem is that I'm on week two and I find the sets quite painful (and I'm NOT a sissie :-)

So, I'm wondering: What would you say was the best and safest way of achieving this? Is it doing 200 daily pushups with various techniques? Or every other day? Or should I just try that and see how it feels?


regards:
Siggi

post scriptum:
Thanks for a very cool website and being such an outstanding role model. You (and many of the guys here actually) are a great inspiration to stay fit and strong and withstand the ravages of time.

[inertia]

You'll get a lot of suggestions so pick the one that sounds the most fun. For me, the best method was 3 sets of 60% my max, twice a day (morning and evening), 6 days a week. Only add one rep at a time to allow your body to acclimate to the increasing load.

[Siggi74]

Thanks man. Your approach doesn't sound very "inert" though :-)

I might just try your approach. Thanks for the advice.

regads:
Siggi

[Viking Dan]

So, now I am getting started on coming up with a daily routine and goals for myself. My first goal is to be able to do 100 consecutive military style push ups (I did 60 on a fitness test last winter, so this should be achievable). However (and now I'm finally coming to my question), I am wondering what is the best way to achieve this. I started using a program from a website called one hundred pushups. Their plan is to do work out three days per week, doing 5 continuously increasing sets of push ups. The problem is that I'm on week two and I find the sets quite painful (and I'm NOT a sissie :-)

Bear in mind, you can increase the rest between sets on that program if neccessary.

[stingray]

hmmm..I thought my post was deleted for posting a link to this site?

[JoeJustice]

Er... I guess that's what you get with different moderators working on the same board. I didn't believe that site was a commercial site, it's been linked here before. Last time I saw it, I don't believe they had the app or the book, looks like they're going commercial on us!

Opinions may vary... stay tuned.

Controversy among the moderators! It's like a Soap Oprah, only with push-ups!

-Joe

[Greg Newton]

My apologies Stingray. I or whoever approved the post missed the link.

Siggi,

We don't mind references to other sites or programs if it has value for a discussion, but we don't link to other commercial sites. As to the 100 pushups, in my opinion and experience, and I have worked up to 100 military style, 120 Atlas, and 200 Tiger Stretch; practicing pushups thoroughout the day is a good way to increase volume and numbers. Once a week you need to go for broke and test how many you can consecutively do. A good trick to practice is rest/pause. Pause in the up position after the first thirty or so, take two deep breaths and do another ten. After every ten, stop and take two deep breaths until you get to 100. You can actually do all 100 that way and over time cut out the rest/pauses.

[Siggi74]

Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry about the link. I didn't in any way intend to promote that site (and, in fact, the reason I wrote is that the program wasn't working for me. Anyway....It won't happen again.

I've decided to use the following approach:

Twice a day:

One set tiger pushups- starting with 10
One set standard military pushups- starting with 15
One set of various other pushups (atlas-wide-dive bomber-elevated feet etc)

I'm going to increase the reps in each set by 1 per day and see where that takes me.

I think the variety will keep me from being bored, and working the muscles from different angles will deliver more functional strength and decrease the risk of injury.

I intent to supplement this program with M7, isometric exercises and squats.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Again....thanks for the advice and sorry about the link.


regards:
Siggi

[Greg Newton]

No problem Sigi,

A variety of pushups is the best way to go for overall strength and joint health. You are not overworking any particular range of motion. Another thing that I've found is that when my Tiger Stretch pushup numbers go up, so do the military pushups. You might find the same works for you. Good luck. By the way, sixty military pushups is a pretty good number and few people can do that in good form.

[Bruno]

I tried the free 6 weeks to push ups program and thought it was ok but I did not reach the goal. At the end, I think I wound up with 71 or so straight. I documented it but forget right now and it was a while ago.

I continued for a few more weeks repeating week 6. For those that don't know, the program attempts to have a person achieve 100 push ups in a row at or around week 6. The last week has you performing 8 sets of varying numbers with the last set being a max rep set.

After my attempt at the program ended I started on 8 sets of 30 reps three days a week. I have progressed by doing 1 or so more rep per week. Basically, I have done this over the course of the summer. This week, I was up to 8 sets of 47. I have not tried a max set yet and may not for a while. After I get to 8 sets of 50, which I can probably perform now. I may switch it up. 20 sets of 20 or something.

[Siggi74]

I have proceeded with the program I described above. Although I did ease off for a couple of days when my shoulder started hurting (only did M7s and a single set of tiger push ups). I also followed your advice on breathing.

I tested myself this morning and I managed to do 70 military style push ups, which is a personal best. This is clearly working. I am getting toned and I feel great. Pushups rule!

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll let you know when I hit 100!