Can I do one hundred pushups?

Is this all really worth it? I'm 8 weeks into a 6 week program and have only done 50 so far.

I started typing a simple response to a couple of comments and thought that it's a big enough topic that it needs to be addressed with a full post.

So, here's my take on it. I understood a lot of this going into it. (ref: Starting Out)

1. Did I really think I could do it?
I did a bootcamp style workout a couple years ago for 6 months. During that time I ran around and did a lot of push ups, sit ups, dips, squat thrusts, and so on. It was a really strong workout program that probably put me in the best shape of my live since college. After six months I managed 65 consecutive pushups.

Well short of 100 pushups. Did I really expect to get to 100 after only 6 weeks? NFW.

2. Achieving a goal
But, as I mentioned, being able to do one hundred pushups has been a goal of mine for a long time. Seriously, I got the idea in mind my head some time ago (like 10-15 years ago). I thought I'd get there with bootcamp, but I ended up stopping that program for a number of reasons.

After going through week 5 once I'm certain I could get up to 60 consecutive and I'm still doing better each workout.

3. Other Considerations
Here are a couple of other more simple points;

• Time: It's a pretty good workout for the time required. I'm not sure if it takes even 30 minutes. Probably more like 15 or 20.
• No Equipment: It's simple. Just drop and give me 40,32,30,25, max (at least 40).
• No health club: I did some of week 3 in Mexico City, and Kansas City hotel rooms.
• Why not?: What else do I have to do? It's only a few minutes of pushups. Why not keep going.

4. Boredom & Frustration
Am I getting bored? Not really. I was getting really frustrated in week 3 after repeating it a number of times, but I get it now. It just took the workout program up a notch, and my abilities up as well.

Look at that W3D1 workout. It was such a challenge for me back then but I could do it easily now. That's a feel good.

So I'm going through the same thing for week 5. It may take a while, but eventually I'll be able to knock out the 167 pushups required for W5D1. I'm still improving with almost every workout. With documented visibility to that kind of improvement it's not at all boring.

5. Tenacity
Sooo... What happens if I complete week 6 and still can only do 90 pushups? What happens if I level off and stop improving? Well, if I get to that point I'll figure out how to add more pushups into the program. Either do the program twice a day, or pile on extra sets, or something. I intend to keep making it harder until I hit that 100.

The main key to this, in my perspective, is tenacity. I've briefly mentioned it in a couple of posts (ref; initial trial, Week 2 Trial). If I can't do it, I'll change tactics and figure out how to do it. It's kind of a psychotic fixation with achieving my goal.

A friend once called me a pitbull because I tend to grab a hold of a problem and not stop trying different tactics until I've licked it. (or maybe he was just saying I'm ugly;-)

6. The Best Benefit
Not everyone really cares so much about doing the push ups. Maybe they get a few weeks out of it and move on to something else. I get that and it's ok.

I noted early that very few of the blogs went past week 2, and fewer still passed week 5. It's a hard program in a few different ways.

I've developed some nice relationships from the readers of this blog and I suspect others have too. That's been a really cool part of all this.

Me, I'm going to keep at it and I hope they'll stop by and read my blog when I hit the hundred. Even if it is three years from now after I finally complete W5D1 successfully.