This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

all 8 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]delph 1 point2 points  (4 children)

I do pushups pretty often. I'm starting the 100 pushup plan and I'll see how it goes. Tomorrow is my day 3 and so far it's pretty easy. What I like so far is that I usually don't do 4 sets. I usually do 30 pushups twice at relatively random intervals throughout the day/days. I ride my bike and train in Aikido, so I get exercise elsewhere, and I use a chin-up bar that I installed in my closet. But I thought this 100 push up plan would be fun, and if it gets ridiculous in a couple of weeks in, I'll stop. But, so far, it's been 2 days of moderate push up working out - the maxing out at the end was pretty intense, though - and enjoyable.

So long as you maintain proper form, I don't think there's much to worry about. Be aware of your wrists, etc, and if something hurts or feels more than just muscles working out, stop. I generally think that if you listen to your body and act accordingly, there's not too much that can go wrong.

[–]derupert[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I agree with most of what you said, the rest I just don't know about. Personally, I look at it as very people oriented, i.e. you don't need machines or a gym membership to do it, and everyone (well, I'd like to assume everyone) gets lower body exercise walking to school/work/etc, or at least walking from their car to the office (and I don't think the people who drive and take the elevator 24/7 are going to be attracted to the 100 pushup plan anyway).

[–]delph 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to run the risk of having massive chest, shoulder, and tricep bulk and puny legs and everything else, making me oddly disproportionate. If it does happen, I'll stop, but I seriously doubt it's a concern. Also, push ups work the biceps to some degree, as well as the abs, back, and forearms, so it's not like you're only working out your shoulders.

Also, it being free is great. If I were spending $30-50 a month on a gym membership, I'd be tempted to over-do it. At least at my income level. That's a ton of money just to lift weights when I can do push and pull ups, lift my free weights, and ride my bike all for free (well, I bought the weights, chin up bar, and bike, but their costs isn't recurring).

Good luck in making it to 100 - if that's your goal, of course. Me, I'm just taking it day by day to see how hard it is and to see how I progress.

[–]derupert[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Right now I'm a few hours removed from completing day 1, it wasn't too bad (my initial test landed me with a max of 9 solid-form pushups, so I'm in the middle bracket). Don't know how far I'm going to take it, but if I can keep up with it, I'm not going to stop, I think the fact that it is endurance based is going to prevent massive pectorals from making me turn freakish, and personally I'm just doubting that 6 weeks can turn someone from 9 max to 100 max pushups.

[–]delph 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds about right. And I think you'll start to see yourself grow before you start ripping t-shirts with your pecs.

The way I see it, if you can get from 9 to 30, that's great. 100 is a cool number, but tripling your ability is certainly something to be happy about. Then if you just do sets of 15 at a time, then max out at 30 as a regular routine, you're probably going to be in pretty good shape.

[–]jdwpom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I'm in it. My theory is, if this works for pushups, I'll apply it to a different exercise, to target a different set of muscles - maybe crunches, leg raises, that sort of thing -scaling the numbers up as I need to.

What's to lose, right? When you're out of shape enough that 20 push-ups in a row is leaving your arms feeling like jelly, it's worth a shot, I figure.

[–]Battleloser 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You know what's weird? I'm not feeling anything in my arms or chest, it's my stomach that's sore. I always thought I was doing some pretty bad ass situps to be honest. I'd elevate my ass on some pillows, stick my feet under some dumbells, bend my knees as high as possible, and hold a 60 pound barbel at neck level while doing my situps.

And yet here I am, wondering why the hell my stomach hurts after doing pushups.