Run to Win

It’s been a few years since I have tested myself, but at that point I managed 46 pushups nonstop. I doubt that I could do that right now, although I could probably get into the low 30s.

There’s a craze going around right now about doing 100 non-stop pushups. The craze was started by one of the readers of this site, Steve Speirs.

He started the Hundred Pushups, which provides a 6 week program designed to get anybody into shape fast so that they can complete 100 pushups. It may take some people a little longer than 6 weeks if they have to repeat any of the weeks, but it is a proven system that will build up strength and endurance in record time.

Steve told me about his new site when he first launched it, and it was right after I started my own program for the Summer. I am looking forward to this Autumn, though, when I plan on following Steve’s program to see how many pushups I can work up to.

The site allows you to follow each week separately or download the complete program all at once. You can also choose to be listed with others taking the challenge so that you can provide mutual support and encouragement while getting public accountability.

If you are in the market for a new weight training program, then this is a good solution to throw into the mix and can give you something to be proud of once you have completed it. Pushups are one of the best exercises that you can do and having a strong base can really improve your running.

Have you joined the challenge?

This week last year saw a good mix of workout and race news, along with a great recipe and some news on the moron of the day.

• The second New England Mile road race was won by Dereck Treadwell, but he was unable to bring home the sub-4 prize money. Let’s hope that somebody manages to break the barrier tomorrow morning in this year’s race!
• In other racing news, it was week 6 of the Back Cove 5k race series. That meant that there was an official leader board, although it was not announced yet. This year the leader board will be available every week as soon as the results are entered into the website.
• Ben Roethlisberger made the news when he crashed his motorcycle and split his head open. He recovered quickly, but not before somebody tried to sell a replica of his helmet on eBay. (The guy was selling an empty box.)
• The New York City marathon sent out their welcome letters to everybody who made it through their lottery system.
• I haven’t had grilled catfish for a year now; I should start leaving more recipes on the site.
• I tried to see how many pushups I could do but wrists began hurting before I got fatigued so I stopped at 46. I should grab a couple of dumbbells and see what I can do this year as a good comparison. Most of my pushups lately have been with my hands on medicine balls.

Friday afternoon I went for a 15 mile run averaging race pace even with warmup and cooldown. When I returned to the gym, I was a little tight so I decided to stretch for 20 or 30 minutes before showering and continuing on my way.

While I was stretching, I saw a man doing pushups on medicine balls. First he started off with a medicine ball under each hand. Then he moved onto putting the medicine balls under his feet. Then he moved on to putting a medicine ball beneath each foot and each hand. I was chatting with him, and he said that it did not take too long to get used to doing the pushups with the four medicine balls. The real challenge, he asserted, was using one medicine ball for both feet and one medicine ball for both hands.
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Okolo over at Team in Training asked, “How many pushups can you do?”

I love pushups so much because they work so many muscles, and because after you master the basic pushup (can do about 50 without stopping) there are lots of variations to keep it interesting and keep different muscles working. Pushups work the arms (biceps and triceps), chest, shoulders, back, and abs.

So my challenge to the folks in blog land is how many pushups can you do? Please reply and post here.

Pushups are a great exercise, and it has been a long time since I have sat down and just done a lot of them in a row. I usually incorporate some form of them into my workout, but then I do 10 to 20 of them in sets rather than just doing a large set to exhaustion. For example, my current workout involves doing T-Pushups, where you go down as normal but then explode up to your right or left (switching each time) and point at the ceiling.
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How to perform assisted pushups with an animated image showing the move. Click on the picture to see the full sized animation.
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How to perform pushups with an animated image showing the move. Click on the picture to see the full sized animation.
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