Thread: The One Hundred Pushups Challenge / Training Program

I know that we have quite a few fitness/health enthusiasts in this community like me, who work hard to break the chains that society places on the stereotypical gamer image. I also know that there are many others out there that would like to turn their life and unhealthy lifestyle around.

I'm going to be starting this 100 Push Ups Challenge / Training Program and I encourage everyone else to join me and we do it together. It's so much easier to get and stay motivated when you are accountable to other people and when you are working as a group to get it done. It doesn't matter what shape or form you are in, how busy your life is or anything else. This only takes 30 minutes of your time 3 days a week and makes you feel great.

Although I weigh lift 4-6 times a week, I would still like to improve my body in any way possible. Push ups in fact are great for improving your chest, abs, triceps, shoulders, biceps and general core strength.

I'm going to be posting most of the initial basic information from the challenge's website here so that you guys can read a bit about it and decide if it's for you.

Before you start:

• Obtain medical advice and clearance from your doctor.
• Take an initial push ups test.

The test will highlight your current fitness level and determine where to start and how to plan your push ups training program.

To perform the test, simply execute as many good-form push ups as you can. Don't cut corners and please don't cheat - the last thing you want to do is end up in the wrong level of the training program! The results may be humbling, but trust me, honesty is the best policy if you want to maximize your strength gains!

Once you've collapsed in a sweaty heap on the floor and your arms have stopped trembling from the exertion, make a note (mental or otherwise) of how many, or how few, push ups you were able to perform. As an example, the first time I performed the test, I managed to eek out just 19 consecutive good-form push ups.

Before starting Week 1, I recommend taking a couple of days to familiarize yourself with the program and recover from the exertion of the initial test. You'll be required to work out three times per week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday worked well for me.

Don't forget how many push ups you performed in the test and if you're still keen to improve your strength and fitness, read on to learn more about the program.

* If you're concerned about your Rank in the extreme left column; there's really no need. The scale of 1 to 7 is purely an indicator of current fitness, and can be used as a comparison tool between yourself, friends, family & co-workers.

Most people tend to fall into Rank 2 or 3 which is a great starting point for the plan. If you're ranked 1, you may need to consider one of the alternative push ups on the "What is a push up?" page. If you're ranked 6 or 7, maybe you need a tougher plan?!

WEEK 1

So, you've completed your initial test and you're keen to start the program? Great!

• If you managed 5 or less push ups in the test, follow column 1.
• If you completed between 6 and 10 push ups, column 2 is for you.
• Between 11 and 20 consecutive push ups? Impressive! Column 3 is what you're looking for.
• More than 20 push ups? I would suggest starting the program on Week 3. Choose either Column 2 or 3 based on the number of push ups you managed in your initial test.

For example: let's say you managed 8 push ups. Looking at the second column, Day 1 begins with Set 1 (6 push ups), a rest period of 60 seconds, before moving on to Set 2 (6 push ups). Rest for 60 seconds and continue with Set 3 (4 push ups) and Set 4 (4 push ups), before finishing with Set 5 and as many consecutive push ups as you can comfortably manage (at least 5, but not so many that you damage muscle tissue). The 60 seconds rest between each level should allow you to complete the workout, but I promise it will get tough towards the end.

Treat yourself to a rest day before moving on to Day 2, and then again before you complete Day 3. I find that Monday, Wednesday, Friday works well and allows you to use the weekend for rest and recovery before moving on to the next stage of the program. Feel free to juggle the plan around to meet your busy schedule, but make sure you rest in between workout days.

Hopefully you made it safely through the first week and now you're keen to move on to Week 2. However, if for some reason you struggled with the program, I would suggest either retaking the initial test or repeating Week 1. You'll probably be surprised at how much stronger you already are and will sail through the first week and be fired up and raring to go.

If you're ready to move on, let's take a look at Week 2 of the Hundred Push Ups Program.

Week 1-6 plus the final test can be found on their website.

Hopefully by the end of this me, and a couple of you guys will be able to proudly claim our "I did the hundred" badge!

You guys ready? Let's go!

Edit: by the way the idea behind the thread is to post your progress/results each time you complete a training session. Recording your progress has been proved to increase your motivation and chance of success and you can gain support from all of us too!

Edit2: Just in case anyone doesn't know some of the terms being used:

Repetition (or "rep") = the movement repeated.
Set = the entire number of reps without rest.

So if you look at the Week 1 Day 1 chart image I posted above, you can see in the first column is says Set 1, Set 2, Set, 3, Set, 4, Set 5, and then 2, 3, 2, 2, 3 ore more.

That would be 2 reps (2 pushups) for your first set. 3 reps (3 pushups) for your second set.

Therefore it's essentially:

• Set 1 (2 push ups)
• 60 seconds rest
• Set 2 (3 push ups)
• 60 seconds rest
• Set 3 (2 push ups)
• 60 seconds rest
• Set 4 (2 push ups)
• 60 seconds rest
• Set 5 (at least 3 push ups)
• Finished for the day.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Edit3: Many people have raised concerns about their wrists hurting when doing this challenge. Even myself, I've found that my wrists really don't like to be bent at that 90 degree angle, at a unnatural incline and then have a large amount of weight applied to them. There are a couple of solutions available:

1) Change the style of push up you are doing
You could change your push up type to a slightly less demanding one such as knee push ups or wall push ups, however this takes away a lot of the intensity and for those that do have the strength to do normal push ups, it can be quite demotivating.

2) Do knuckle push ups
Basically you just form a fist and let your fingers take the pressure while your wrists stay straight. I tried this and immediately didn't like it.

3) Roll up a towel to grip / place your hands on
I found this quite effective for my first few sessions. You basically roll up a towel so you can grip it / allow your wrist to be at a slight decline like this.

4) The best available solution - Push up Grips
Finally today I had enough. I want to take this challenge seriously, I want to finish it and I don't want to cause and harm to my wrists, so I went out and bought myself a pair of Contoured Push-Up Grips



You can position the grips either like shown in my photo above for the standard push-up position of hands facing straight in front of you, or you can turn them length wise so you are doing a "hammer grip" push up (as if you were gripping a hammer). Hammer grip is a lot more demanding and tough to do, but if you are looking for extra ways to work your muscles slightly differently after this challenge is completed then it's a good technique to try.



Not sure if you can see in this photo, but the bar is slightly angled, it's higher at one end. This is done so that your wrists are placed in a more natural position and your palms are facing ever slightly inwards.

Honestly if you guys are serious about completing this challenge and are experiencing some kind of pain or discomfort, go buy yourselves a set of these. They only cost me R170.00 which is about 17 Euros or 22 USD.

A bonus that I noticed when trying these out is I got a better extension in my back, allowing me to open it up more and actually work some of the back muscles too.

On Wednesday I worked out on my shoulders and back at gym, and yesterday my chest, biceps and triceps so all those muscles are still extremely stiff and tired.

However I decided to do the initial test nevertheless, and managed to score 34 consecutive 100% good form full pushups, putting me at rank 4 and suggesting that I start at Week 3. I think that's a relatively good rank for someone like me who leads a fairly active exercise but doesn't ever do pushups.

Today is my rest day from gym, and tomorrow I only workout Legs and Calves, so what I'm going to do is retake the initial test tomorrow before I head to gym so that I have maximum energy and will hopefully hit 40-45 pushups.

I will then start the full program on Monday with their recommended Monday, Wednesday and Friday 3 days a week pushup workout. If you guys are up for the challenge, take the initial test and let me us know what you score and then I will see you back here on Monday to start the program!

Edit: @Stede come join! Maybe then afterwards you will have enough courage to post in the RL picture thread? /tease haha joking man

I'm in. I'm badly out of shape (never been IN shape to be honest, never been the sporty type.) I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I need this, so I'm in. Then maybe I can give you a current picture. I've tacked on a fair bit of weight since I got married.

I highly recommend that you all do 30 minutes or more of intensive cardio every couple of days, even of you are already fit. There are significant cognitive benefits to doing so contributable to an increase in oxygen. Your brain is a muscle and benefits from training as much as your biceps do. If you look at highly competitive pro gamers they exerciser regularly as well, plus in addition to being more intelligent you will also feel better, and exercise of 30 mins a day is the best preventative health care. I think that working out regularly has been a big factor in my academic success. Also, Fitocracy is going public soon, so you can use that to metagame your work outs.

@Reverb I agree, just trying to take baby steps here with some people first

When I first started my transformation process I was doing gym 4 times a week and cardio twice a day (am and pm) and it made a huge difference. At school I was never that bright, I was hard working but not clever. A few years later in Uni I'm getting top marks ranging anywhere from Principles of Business to PC Technician Work, Sociology to Composition English Writing Skills, etc.

I got an invite to Fitocracy but never actually tried it. Is it any good?

@Sinshroud , Fiticracy basically gives you exp/achievements for working out based on how many exercises completed/length of time, so it's intended to provide psychological incentive to go work out so that you can level up in real life like you would in WoW.