Chris and I started the [#][exercise] challenge earlier this month. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, the craze started with hundredpushups.com – a six-week, methodical program to being able to do one hundred pushups in six weeks starting at nothing. Chris elected not to do that, as she doesn’t want bulging logdriver biceps, but chose to do the other to with me – two hundred sit-ups and two hundred squats. A friend mentioned it to me long ago while we were still in Taiwan, but as I was doing enough push-ups and sit-ups to suit me through kung fu class, I let it slide. Another friend recently started the push-up challenge and as Christmas and all its excess had just finished and I was sitting and waiting to hear about a job, I figured it would be a good time to do this. It’s only three times a week, which is rather convenient, though I don’t do all three on the same day – I think it would kill me. It still doesn’t take very long, even on the double exercise days, which is terrific. After all, the enemy of exercise is a lack of time.
We’re just finishing week five out of six. How is it? Well, out of the three, I would definitely say that the push-ups are the hardest. I was able to do a fair number of push-ups at the start (40 on the initial test), and even more back when I was doing kung fu. I’ve managed to get that up to 55 without stopping, which I’m quite proud of, though I don’t see how I’ll be able to jump from there to 100 in a week, unless breaks are allowed while still holding oneself up.
Squats follow (for me) – I’ve always had pretty good legs, and while these make me sweat, they’re doable. I’m pretty hopeful on doing the 200 next week. Sit-ups are my easiest (#2 for Chris) – for both of us, it’s more of a question of neck strength before ab strength. Is this a common problem with sit-ups? Are we doing something wrong? Mine has subsided greatly, but it still bothers Chris. Still, 200 should be OK.
The program is really nice because it’s got built-in understanding that not everyone’s the same and it is a rather tough program. In fact, it encourages you to redo a week if you’re feeling beat by it. Really, it’s just nice to have a routine, especially repetitions slowly growing and all laid out for you instead of trying to do a big batch of 200 in one go off the start. Chris doesn’t like a lot of repetitive exercise, she prefers to be learning or having fun while exercising, but she likes this because it has that definition and a goal always in sight.
What will we do when we’re done? There are suggestions to try it again with variations for some of the exercises. I’d like to just keep up the final week, if possible – it’s a decent work out and will at least keep up the muscles. Only time will tell, but we’re both committed to staying healthy, so we should be able to fit it in somewhere!
I’d like to state that I have been doing the 100 pushups and do not have logdriver biceps.
It has, however, vastly improved definition of my arms, chest and abs. I’d recommend it to everyone. It’s a great program.