100 pushups and similar insanity

[Lothlorien]

I came across the 100 Pushups program and am thinking of giving it a go. Not sure I can manage one at this stage!
It's a 6*-week program with three difficulty levels, you choose yours depending on how many push ups you can perform initially.

There is also an app with a similar program. It makes keeping track easier, but the number of push ups that need to be done for each set/day is different.

Anyone else doing or done this, or some other "silly" fitness challenge?

(* if you're lucky... )

 

[MacMadame]

100 seems like overkill. Just like those plank challenges that have you planking for forever. After a certain point, you aren't getting general fitness out of it but just the skills of doing a push-up/plank.

 

[Lothlorien]

Week 1 completed!
Only managed a few push ups in the initial test, so that put me in the "least difficult" version of the program. Very manageable so far, though I'm expecting things to get tougher soon, and will probably need to repeat days or weeks.

I'm not aiming to be able to do 100 push ups, but to discover where this challenge can take me.

 

[Lothlorien]

Completed week 2, but didn't feel strong enough to progress to the next week, so I thought I'd repeat.

Started re-doing week 2.

Got sick... did nothing for a while.

Back to the drawing board, week 1 it is again.

 

[Anita18]

100 seems like overkill. Just like those plank challenges that have you planking for forever. After a certain point, you aren't getting general fitness out of it but just the skills of doing a push-up/plank.

There was a recent article talking about how women generally don't have the strength to do pull-ups. It's an awkward exercise for most women, and it's not enough to be generally strong. Pull-ups are something you have to train specifically for. It's not impossible, but you do have to train for them.

Working up to a 100-pushup regimen definitely feels like that - something that doesn't necessarily lend itself to helping you out in other physical movements. It just means you can do 100 pushups.

That said, if it's helping you be more active @Lothlorien, go for it! Just know that there might be other things that will help you more with your health and fitness goals. For example, I could choose to be stubborn about pull-ups, but my main health concern is osteoporosis. (I got all the risk factors, and then some!) Pull-ups won't help me strengthen my hip bones, so I elect to do exercises that do. Just lifted my bodyweight in a low-bar squat yesterday!

 

[MacMadame]

Just lifted my bodyweight in a low-bar squat yesterday!

Cool!

Push-ups are a good exercise. They are basically a moving plank. And they help with upper body strength. I just think that, after I could do a bunch of them, I wouldn't care about doing a bunch more.

I go back and forth on these types of challenges. Some fitness people I know hate them and think they don't lead to sustained effort. But I did one two years ago and it was fun and it really did help my overall strength. (It also wasn't one of those crazy ones where you end up planking for an hour or doing a thousand of whatever).

Afterwards, I was so convinced that I would keep doing the exercises after the challenge was over but of course I didn't. So that's the issue for me. I know I should do strength training. I tell other people to do strength training. But I never seem to have time to do my own strength training!

 

[Anita18]

I know I should do strength training. I tell other people to do strength training. But I never seem to have time to do my own strength training!

You actually don't need to go that often to see progress. I'm making progress lifting just once a week, 45 min-1 hr each time. But my goal isn't a change in body measurements - I just want to lift more weight each time. I'm actually following the formula built for guys who want to gain mucho muscle mass. I should be eating twice as much as I am, and lifting 3x as often as I have been, to really see THOSE gains. As it is, I'm not gaining as fast as I could be, but I'm surely doing a lot better than my mom and grandma when they were my age, which was lifting 0 lbs. Something's always better than nothing!

 

[MacMadame]

Well I haven't been since Jan.