Vultaire Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Hi, First off, this is my first posting here on Nerd Fitness. Been on the newsletter for a long time, but haven't had a good reason to bug people up until now. If this is the wrong place for this posting, let me know. Thus, without further ado... Anyone see the recent Conan show with George Takei, where Mr. Takei, at the age of 76, talks about doing 100 pushups every day? And then he proceded to tear through inclined pushups on stage?(Skip to 2:37 for the good part. And yes, I'm ignoring that his form may not be perfect. It's impressive nonetheless.) I look at myself, and while I can complete sets of 10, it's hard to push much more than that in one go. But here's a 76 year old guy who can supposedly blaze through 100?! No; come on - if he can do 100 pushups a day, I can too! So, here's a simple challenge, not too difficult, just requiring the dedication to keep with the challenge every day, rain or shine, sick or well. (Barring anything that truly should keep you from completing it like a major injury or the like.) It's boring and obvious, but that's what works, so: Start today by doing a set of pushups, however many you're comfortable with. This is your current "minimum set" of pushups.Every day, add one to the minimum number of pushups in your set. If you want to do more, great! But still, only add one to your minimum set. Slow, steady improvement is the name of the game.Keep doing this until you are able to complete 100 pushups in a single set.Inclined pushups are optional. I'm talking simple vanilla pushups. Maybe I'll do inclined after I complete this challenge? Anyway, just thought I'd share this in case anyone else cares to give it a go. I have been seriously doing this for a bit over a month now, and I've been tracking my progress as well. Today I managed a single set of 46 pushups; in 4 more days I'll be at my halfway point so to speak. Hope some of you may be interested to give this a try! Good luck! 2 Quote Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Oh, my... 5 Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Welcome to the rebellion! Good luck with the challenge dude 100 push ups in a row is no joke. Just understand that the progression will not be linear and that in order to do 100 push ups in a row you'll have to do several hundred per workout. This sounds like a great start though and I wish you the best. 1 Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
Vultaire Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Simon: Thanks. And yes, I'm totally open to the possibility of not making it if I stick straight to what I've said above. It's been pretty hard at times to keep up the linear trend. I went ahead and added an extra column for tracking extra sets. At the same time, I'm curious how far the "just one more a day, every day" will take me. Probably I can progress quicker, or at least maintain the trend easier, if I add the extra sets... But as an experiment I think I'll wait on the extra sets until I reach a point I can't surpass with the simple "+1 a day". Quote Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 It probably depends a lot on how many you could do when you started but for me I stalled around 60 and that was on more than 1 set a day. Despite what many people in the fitness industry make it seem like progression is not linear. It is at first then starts to look like stairs and finally more of a wave with ups and downs. That's just life. You seem to already grasp that which is something that discourages newbies so good on you for that. If you're interested in further reading on bodyweight stuff The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsastouline is an amazing resource. I don't know if he invented it but Pavel is the one the popularized the grease the groove method which is basically doing many sets but all of them short of failure. I forgot what the term is for it, neural something or other, but the effect of lots of sets is training your nervous system to be as efficient as possible in that movement. Strength is a function of the nervous system. Most people's muscles are significantly stronger but they are held back by inefficient neural signals to those muscles. Training many many sets of an exercise increases your efficiency. It's the same reason a guy like Bruce Lee, who was tiny, could generate a MASSIVE amount of force from his body. Sorry for the long post but do yourself a favor and at least google grease the groove. It wasn't until I employed this strategy that I was able to break that 100 barrier. 1 Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
Vultaire Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thanks for the advice! Googled, and placed a hold on that book at my local library. Quote Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Oh, cool, Simon! I think I've got Grease the Groove on PDF somewhere. Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
mbab0711 Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Dang, y'all make me feel puny. The most I've accomplished is 45 assisted push ups (3 sets of 15). I thought I was awesome. Well, I see I have some progress to make. And project Death to my Skinny Arms was born! Quote Hold on kids. Mama's got squats to do! Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Dang, y'all make me feel puny. The most I've accomplished is 45 assisted push ups (3 sets of 15). I thought I was awesome. Well, I see I have some progress to make. And project Death to my Skinny Arms was born! You are awesome EVERYBODY starts somewhere and if someone ever makes you feel like the progress you make is insignificant quite frankly they're a dick. Progress not perfection. 2 Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
sea.bee Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 This sounds like it could be both a neat and painful challenge to try. I did something pretty similar for with situps in HS once. I think I went from doing <20 situps in a minute for some physical fitness thing in gym and having my abs killing me after to doing 3-4 sets of 75 situps with pretty short rest between sets in a few months. And then I got bored of said gym routine, and now I'm back to square 1. It's all good though. New fitness goals, new workouts, new attitudes! To PUSHUPS! Also, I'm not super recollecting the wonderful world of math/calculus, but would it be safe to say that fitness gains are mostly experienced on a logarithmic scale? Yes, math people? I'm just an accountant, once it gets past adding and subtracting, it goes over my head. Quote Level 1-2ish Assassin Str: 2.2 Dex: 1.9 Sta: -0.49 Con:1.3 Wis: 2.8 Cha: 1.7 http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/43281-a-single-step/ Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Also, I'm not super recollecting the wonderful world of math/calculus, but would it be safe to say that fitness gains are mostly experienced on a logarithmic scale? Yes, math people? I'm just an accountant, once it gets past adding and subtracting, it goes over my head. If it's the graph I have in my head then yes. Think diminishing returns. The more push ups you can do the harder it is to increase that number. Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
Nedwin Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 http://hundredpushups.com/index.html Quote Level 2 Furyan Ranger You keep what you kill STR 3 | DEX 2 | STA 3 | CON 2 | WIS 2 | CHA 36.1 | 6.2 | Duolingo | Daily | Fitocracy Spoiler Captain Hammer: Have I seen you at the gym? Billy: [smiles] At the gym! Captain Hammer: [to himself] I don't go to the gym, I'm just naturally like this... Link to comment
Nedwin Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 It gets really tiring counting that high Quote Level 2 Furyan Ranger You keep what you kill STR 3 | DEX 2 | STA 3 | CON 2 | WIS 2 | CHA 36.1 | 6.2 | Duolingo | Daily | Fitocracy Spoiler Captain Hammer: Have I seen you at the gym? Billy: [smiles] At the gym! Captain Hammer: [to himself] I don't go to the gym, I'm just naturally like this... Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 It gets really tiring counting that high #Firstworldfitnessproblems lol 1 Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
Basement Cat Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 #Firstworldfitnessproblems lolWe need a gadget with a light beam that activates a counter each time you break the beam. I know there is such a thing, but I have no idea what it's called. That or a trained parrot to count for us... 2 Quote Current form: Chubby House Cat (lvl4) Weight objective: 20% S. 4 P. 6 E. 4 C. 7 I. 8 A. 4 L. 5 Battle log Current Challenge Handy linky. Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Or the clicky thing, like umpires use. Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
SteelShield Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Google Play has a ton of pushup apps - some that count for you using the proximity sensor on a smartphone, others look like six-week tracking programs. There's several that appear to specifically directed at a 100 pushup goal. Quote "Strong in purpose and strong in action; strong within and strong without; strong against foes that are seen and strong against foes that are unseen; all the way up and all the way down, all the way around and all the way through; first, last and always—strong!" Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 And, there's this: http://alternative100pushups.com/ Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yep. I usually start at 30 also Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
Nedwin Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Like the classic movie/tv way... "Seven.....eight...."*someone walks in* "SEVENTY-NINE, EIGHTY!!" 1 Quote Level 2 Furyan Ranger You keep what you kill STR 3 | DEX 2 | STA 3 | CON 2 | WIS 2 | CHA 36.1 | 6.2 | Duolingo | Daily | Fitocracy Spoiler Captain Hammer: Have I seen you at the gym? Billy: [smiles] At the gym! Captain Hammer: [to himself] I don't go to the gym, I'm just naturally like this... Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I've done this and succeeded The crazy thing is that some days your workout [including the rest breaks] will be far more than 100 pushups I don't know of anyone that's been able to achieve 100 push ups without regularly exceeding that number in training(sets obviously but you get the idea). Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
Barfly Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Like the classic movie/tv way... "Seven.....eight...."*someone walks in* "SEVENTY-NINE, EIGHTY!!"And I start doing clapping push ups Quote The past is only smoke in a dream. Lvl 6 Ranger Berzerker STR 9 DEX 4 STA 9 CON 8 WIS 2 CHA 8 Barfly ain't even tryin'... Link to comment
Vultaire Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Wow... you guys are great! Lots of really cool resources to look at! For the record, I have basically "failed" the challenge (which I expected to happen eventually). I was doing them too fast and maybe cheating on form a little, and when I corrected my form, it got a lot harder and I couldn't keep up. But that being said, it wasn't a bust in any way. I am doing far better than I started. My nightly single set w/ correct form is around 35+ right now, and I've developed the habit of doing pushups daily. Those two things together are a big win for me personally. I'm going to look into one of the 100 pushup programs you guys have linked to; I'll try to transition over. Still shooting for the same goal, just changing the means. Again, thanks - a single post and already I'm seeing this is a pretty sweet community. Glad to be here. 1 Quote Link to comment
Borg Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 A method I have used to reach 50 consecutive pushups was to do half of your 1set max followed by a rest... I think I started at 80s or so. Then repeat until the total number of pushups, 50 in my case, was reached or surpassed. Then each week reduce the rest by 5 seconds. I am sure there are other methods and I would be curious how you go about your next challenge. Quote Link to comment
Flex Luthor Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Something that helped me as well which follows the grease the groove method that I forgot about was gamercising(name in progress). Basically I would play an online game like gears of war(my favorite at the time I did this) and at the end of a match I would do x number for every death. I was doing about 300 per 2 hours so it was definitely a significant volume and my numbers skyrocketed. Plus it's extra motivation not to die Quote "I like you just the way you are" - Mr. Rogers In Br0din's name we gain. Link to comment
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