Week 5 Day 1 - Repeat 4

I didn't do the trail/stress test this weekend. Even though I know it would be good to do routinely, I just didn't make myself do it.

Loving week 5... Let's do it again!
I almost completely forgot to do the workout. The day was hectic and I realized just before bed that I didn't do the pushups. Oops. Needless to say I wasn't highly motivated at that point.

Program: 40,32,30,25, max (at least 40)
Actual: 40,32,30,20, 18
Daily Total: 140
Overall Total: 3526

I should have crushed this workout, but didn't mostly because I had a poor mindset going into it.

The first two sets fell without much hassle. The next two sets each ended with me doing pushups one by one to grit them out. Ouch.
I did the final 18 before just bailing on the workout. Had I been more motivated I probably could have push out 5 more.

Whatever. Not a stellar workout, so I get to do week 5 a couple more times.

BTW. I broke 3500 total pushups. Think about it. That's alot.

Week 5 Day 3 - Repeat 3

Good workout tonight. Did it while watching "Invincible" staring Mark Wahlberg. Not that it helped much with pushups, but its a decent movie.

Program: 18,18,16,16,14,14,12,max (at least 40)
Actual: 18,18,16,16,14,14,12,41
Daily Total: 149
Overall Total: 3386

Going into this workout I had very little doubt that I'd complete it. After doing it three times I recalled that it was only 148 pushups. I've been crushing that. I keep my mind off the push ups and just knocked them out one set at a time.

I didn't even pause going through any of the individual sets.

The last 40 where definately a challenge. I got through the first 20 without pausing, but came to a halt at 25. I managed the next 5 and then worked one-by-one up to 41. Not easy, but I can't complain ;-) Not at all.

I haven't decided if I want to do another trial tomorrow, or just head straight into week 5 again. I'm really thinking it's going to be my last time through week 5. Hooray!

Week 5 Day 2 - Repeat 3

Another good workout. This is the first time I've actually completed one of the week 5 workouts. I'm hoping next week will be my last time through week 5. I just need to keep making progress!

Program: 20,20,18,18,15,15,14,max (at least 40)
Actual: 20,20,18,18,15,15,14,41
Daily Total: 161
Overall Total: 3237

This whole workout went down fairly easily. Once I got through the first four sets without slowing down my confidence went up considerably.

I slowed during the second set of 15. While I hurt a bit during the set of 14, it wasn't too bad. Only 14 after all.

Finally, I had to psych myself up for the final 40. I just thought, "only 4 sets of 10". Unfortunately, I started feeling it somewhere around 15, and had to pause in my twenties.

The final 10 I counted out one by one, but at that point there was "no way" I wasn't going to finish the workout.

And then, of course, I threw in one more for good measure.

161 pushups, my best workout yet!

Week 5 Day 1 - Repeat 3

So I've eaten pizza and cheese cake for two days in a row and have the gut to prove it (my kids bday). I wasn't feeling really well today, but managed to keep a good PMA.

Program: 40,32,30,25, max (at least 40)
Actual: 40,32,30,20, 28
Daily Total: 150
Overall Total: 3076

I cranked out a pretty good work out.

Like last week, I started slowing during the last ten of the1st set. However, this week I did a decent job knocking out the next 32. It went down a lot easier than last time, and that helped to keep me positive. I just didn't think about it too much and pushed them out.

The next 30 were tough. I ended up pushing them 1 by 1, and could only manage 20 on the next set.

I took a bit of extra rest for the final set, but only about 20 seconds extra. I'm always surprised at how much that matters. I knocked out 2 sets of 10 and then counted them out one at a time.

BTW, somewhere after the 2nd set my chest and arms got pumped full of blood and I looked huge. (or at least felt that way ;-)

I finally completed 150 in this workout. I'd been shooting to complete that many for a couple of weeks. It's nice to hit an interim goal.

Today I completed 36 more pushups than last week at this time, so it shows there's still a mental aspect to this whole thing. I'll shoot for 160 on the next workout.

I also crested over 3000 total pushups since I started this fit of insanity. Cool.

Week 5 Trial

Ouch. Good one. It might be good to do that more often.

Today: 65
Overall Total: 2926

So I knocked out 65. I moved through them fairly quickly, counting by 10's. The last five or 6 were counted one by one.

Just to point it out, this is 15 more pushups than I did in the week 4 trial in August. Just as noteworthy, it also ties the most pushups I've ever done. Had than been noted during the workout I would have likely pressed myself for at least one more. Several years back when I was working out routinely I did 65. So this is a decent accomplishment for an older, fatter me ;-)

Part of why it might be a good idea to do a trial more often is that it would get me "used to" doing long sets of continuous pushups. The whole thing, rythm, breathing, counting. It's all good practice for the hundred.

I've been trying change from counting by sets of five to sets of 10. It's part of getting my head in order to think bigger numbers. When the goal is to complete 20 pushups it's ok to think "it's only four sets of 5." It's a different story when your shooting for 60-80, or 100. "It's only 12 sets of 5" doesn't work as well for me.

Think of it like this;

1. Aiming for 150 pushups each day
2. Counting by 10's instead of 5's
3. Consciously focusing on cardio and continuous, rythmic breathing

These are all things I'm doing to try to mentally set myself up for doing more pushups. Of course the muscle development has to get there.

Week 5 Day 3 - Repeat 2

I really hammered this one out. I just kept looking at the number of pushups in each set and individually they're not that much. Mindset; It should be easy.

Program: 18,18,16,16,14,14,12,max (at least 40)
Actual: 18,18,16,16,14,14,12,30
Daily Total: 138
Overall Total: 2861

I burned through the entire workout a lot easier today than last week.

The first four sets were a slam dunk, although I did feel it a little in the last set of 16.
From there I just had to knock out 14, 14, and 12. No problem. I did slow a bit during the last set of 14, and the final 12 were a bit tougher.

After that, I needed to psych myself up for 40. I've been approaching each workout this week with the goal of hitting 150. To complete the full final 40 would bring me to 148. Also, I did 141 yesterday right? All of that PMA only got me to 30 pushups for the final set.

But that was a 9 push up increase from last week. The last two workouts this week (day 2 & 3) have been pretty good (141 & 138). I'm fairly pleased with that. They're two of the top 4 workouts I've accomplished. I was feeling that I started leveling off, which is not good.

I think I will do a push up to failure trail tomorrow. I haven't done one since completing week 4 at the end of August, so it'll be nice to see where I end up. I did fifty in August, so I should be able to do at least 60 (90% confident). I'm shooting for 70. We'll see. That's a lot of pushups.

Week 5 Day 2 - Repeat 2

I've been traveling for the last two days, so I'm really wiped out. For some reason that seems to translate into a pretty good workout. Who knows...

Program: 20,20,18,18,15,15,14,max (at least 40)
Actual: 20,20,18,18,15,15,14,21
Daily Total: 141
Overall Total: 2723

I didn't get the 150 I was shooting for, but I'm please with the 141. I thought I was going to get there, but my arms were zapped with the last 21.

Everything else was pretty straight forward. I knocked down the 4 sets without to much trouble, and grunted out the rest.

I've already determined that this has got to be the most boring blog ever. Particularly if you're not doing pushups. I'm contemplating writing another. "Watching grass grow; a day by day account."

Obviously I'm really tired, that's why I'm typing all this stupid stuff. G'night.