A More Reasonable Hundred Pushup Challenge Program

A couple weeks ago, I found out about the Hundred Pushup Challenge, that has been taken up by a few friends at the iLike office.   Since then, a number of other friends have taken up the workout routine, with the hopes of increasing their upper body strength, and eventually reaching the goal of 100 consecutive pushups.

The Challenge consists of an initial all-out test, to see where your starting point is, then 3 workouts a week, consisting of 5 sets of pushups, and an all-out test every 2 weeks.   It’s a 6 week program, and there are three levels of training programs, depending on what your initial start point is.

I was immediately attracted to trying out the program, because that’s just me.  Since the program has been popularized online, and it’s short with a low commitment, I see it attracting a lot of individuals who haven’t done something similar before, or have been out of the competitive athletics arena for quite some time.

That’s why I was disappointed when I started looking ahead in the program and saw that it really doesn’t make sense for a majority of the population.  I should caveat my complaints by mentioning that I’m not at all following the program anymore.  I started off with a max of 50, and found the initial weeks too easy, so skipped to week 3, and have been following my own schedule since then, using the schedule online at www.hundredpushups.com as a rough guide.  Since I’m not a good average candidate, my points below are based less on my personal experience, but more based on the general workout philosophy apparent in the program.

The 3 days per week have a ratchet down set, where you start off with a set close to your max, then each subsequent set is less, and the final set of the 5 for the day is to exhaustion. So, for example, on Week 4:

Week 4 Sets

There are a couple of complaints I have with the program.  First off, if you’re doing strength training 3 times a week, with at least a day in between each workout, you should be recovering fully from each workout in time for the next. (Possibly with the exception of the all-out tests every two weeks, which might require 2 days to recover.)

Therefore, I don’t see the point of decreasing the number of reps per set as the week progresses, while at the same time, increasing the amount of rest you get.  Ideally, you’d want to either keep the number of reps the same all week (Day 1,2 and 3), but decrease the amount of rest between sets.  The other options would be to decrease the reps on Day 1, compared to the previous week’s Day 3, but increase reps throughout the week, while increasing the rest between sets.

The other complaint I have is the unreasonable jumps between weeks.  If you look at week 5 and 6 below, you’ll notice that there is a large drop off from Day 1 to Day 2 and 3, but Day 1 from Week 4 to Week 5 jumps by 40-80%, depending on your level.  (and 80% is for Level 1!).  There are similar jumps from Week 5 to Week 6

Week 5 Sets

Week 6 Sets

 That’s just crazy, and really not a reasonable program as you move forward in the quest for upper body strength.

So should people participate in this program?   Sure, but be careful of following it too closely and thinking you should be able to keep up.  Also, if you haven’t done any upper body strength work in recent memory, take it really easy for a few weeks, to avoid shoulder problems.  Then, focus on doing pushups three times a week, and doing 5 rachet down sets per day, with a max on rep 5.

A generalized set may look like this:

(Rest should be as little as required to finish the sets.  Doing more than last time?  More rest.  And vice versa if you’re doing the same or less.)

• Rep 1: 80% of last all-out test, stop as you start to tire
• Rep 2: less than rep 1, not to exhaustion
• Rep 3: less or equal to rep 2, not to exhaustion
• Rep 4: less or equal to rep 3, close to exhaustion
• Rep 5: (most important) To exhaustion, aim for close to Rep 1.

Do this three times a week, with a general guideline of listening too your body, and doing the best you can on Rep 1, then use it as a baseline for the rest of the reps.  I believe this is a healthier, more realistic way of reaching your max number of consecutive pushups, whether that’s 100 or any other number.   It also applies to a wider range of individuals, no matter what your starting point is; although you may not reach 100 pushups in 6 weeks, you can get there, and in a healthier fashion.

I’m posting my progress on my Twitter feed here:  www.twitter.com/craigmd, and am currently at 42, 30, 27, 27, 35.  I’ll do my next test tomorrow…

Tagged as: hundredpushups