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I’ve been lax about updating here, but that doesn’t mean I’ve slacked off (as much) in the real world. I’m still pushing forward with my pushups, still rowing, and still using the elliptical. The latter two have been a bit less regular than I’d like, but it is what it is. Soccer season has started. We have three kids playing and are coaching one team (plus helping with another) so the week is much more fragmented than normal.

Anyway, the point of all of this is to simply report that I’ve hit a plateau of sorts when it comes to pushups. I ran headlong into Week 5 and haven’t been able to make it through. I went through it (Column 1) in full the first time and fell short by a few reps on the max round each time. In hopes of rectifying this, I went back and added in my dumbbell routine on my pushup days (in the evenings following all other exercise). I also decided to repeat Day 1 a couple of times. I finally managed to complete it this past Friday, but that was by taking longer than the prescribed breaks, and a whole lot of struggling.

With that (minor) success in the back of my mind, I decided to tackle Week 5 again starting yesterday. Sadly, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I actually made it through, but I cheated by stretching the breaks and I ended up making it through the final thirty by raising my hips and arching my backside up for a brief respite on two different occasions (once at 20 and again at 25 reps). While I didn’t break down and touch the ground with anything other than my hands and my toes, I can’t help but feel as if I cheated.

Anyway, I’m sure I’m being too hard on myself, but it’s not much fun to get stuck in a rut and keep repeating the same thing without any real progress. Kinda reminds me of this…

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

- Benjamin Franklin

Perhaps the days of rapid progress are over with. Maybe I’ve come so far so fast by simply training the muscles that I already had. Assuming that I’ve reached my “natural” limits, perhaps I’ve slowed down because I need to start growing additional muscle to proceed any further. Who knows.

Like I said, it’s not a whole lot of fun. But what’s a guy to do? I think I’ll start by mixing things up a bit to see if I can break through. I’ll probably continue with the prescribed pushup workouts, but get a bit more creative with the dumbbells in hopes of making some progress.

This week, I’m embarking on Week 5 of the one hundred pushups challenge.

Required: 30/24/22/20/30+

I breezed through the first 30, had no problems with the next 24, started feeling it in the 3rd set (22), and managed to make it through the 4th set (20). Throughout the early sets I stuck tightly to the 60 second breaks, but I ended up taking an extra 30 seconds prior to the final set. I managed to make it up to 24 in the final set, but couldn’t squeeze out any more. But still, that’s 120 pushups.

Actual: 30/24/22/20/24

Looks like I’ll be repeating Week 5 again next week.

Long time, no write… We’ve been quite busy around here, and I decided that it would be best to focus on things like actually working out as opposed to simply writing about working out. The most noteworthy occurrences over the past couple of weeks have been a short, end-of-summer beach vacation and then the kids started back to school earlier this week.

Body weight

I missed my most recent Monday weigh-in, as we were on vacation. Prior to that, I was holding steady at 234.6 pounds. I’ll have a better idea where things stand on Monday morning.

Hundred pushups

My pushup performance is improving slowly but surely. When last I wrote, I had finished Week 3, Column 1. Since then, I successfully complete Week 4, Column 1. However, I struggled enough that I decided to drop back and repeat Week 3 and Week 4, though I jumped up to Column 2.

This strategy worked out quite nicely, as I made it through Week 3, Column 2 on my first try, and I also experienced my first 100+ pushup workout. I then proceeded to Week 4, Column 2. Once again, I successfully completed the prescribed workout, though my schedule was a bit out-of-sync due to our beach vacation.

I ultimately decided to do Week 4, Column 2 a second time, and… I just completed the third workout of the week, and felt quite good. I outperformed the prescribed number every day, including an extra 10 pushups on Day 2. For the week, I did 300 (!) pushups. Details for all recent workouts can be found on my 100 pushups log page.

Food

Still nothing to report here. I’m mainly keeping this section in for future motivation, but I haven’t done much in terms of modifying my diet.

Other exercise

I’m still struggling to accommodate rowing and pushups at the same time. I’m trying to limit my rowing to strength training days so I get a true rest in between workouts, but things don’t always work out this way. Ideally, my strength training days would include pushups, rowing, and some dumbbell work. The interceding days involving either the elliptical or nothing at all.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it’s been working out, so my rowing has been suffering. It’s not all bad news, though, as I’ve increased my use of the elliptical over the past few weeks. Of course, while we were on vacation, everything went out the window. I stuck with my pushups, but didn’t do much else. Of course, we spent a lot of time in the ocean, so I got a good bit of unintentional exercise swimming in the surf, boogy boarding, etc.

Here’s a quick look at my fitness exploits this past week:

Weight

As usual, I started out the week by weighing in. For the second straight week, I weighed 236.4 pounds. I’ll be interested in seeing what tomorrow brings. I suspect it might be up a bit, as lived it up all last weekend and early in the week with friends from out of town. On top of that, I slacked off a bit on the workouts (more below).

Hundred pushups

I survived all three “Week 4” workouts this week, though Day 3 was a bit rough. For the week, I did 217 pushups. Once again, I stuck to the prescribed 60/90/120 second breaks. The nitty-gritty details can be found on my hundred pushups log page.

Given that I’ve been languishing way back in Column 1 since the last exhaustion, and that I barely made it through the week, I decided to skip the exhaustion test this week and repeat Weeks 3 and 4. There’s no real reason for this beyond a gut feeling that I need to build up a stronger based before moving forward. In the interest of continuing to push myself along, I’ll be bumping myself up into Column 2.

Food and drink

Not much to report here. I packed my lunch a couple of times this week and hit the cafeteria for fish (albeit fried) on Friday. Dietary changes haven’t figured very prominently into my plans thus far. Time will tell if that changes.

Other exercise

I got off to a slow start this week cardio-wise, as we had friends in town and I missed both Sunday and Monday. I got back on track Tuesday with a 1 km warmup row and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I then worked in a 7 km of rowing on Wednesday plus some free weights afterward (plus my pushups earlier in the day). I skipped Thursday and then really hit it on Friday with a 30 minute elliptical session before work, my pushups around mid-day, and then 7 km of rowing plus free weights at night. No formal exercise Saturday, though we spent a few hours at the pool.

Oh, I almost forgot… Saturday night I spent some time playing Wii Sports — I’m still undefeated against the computer in boxing (not really a huge accomplishment) and have now worked myself up to “Professional” level (1000+ points).

Busy week, busy weekend. I’ve been meaning to get this update written, but just haven’t found the time.

Hundred pushups

First and foremost, I successfully completed Week 3 of the hundred pushup challenge. I previously posted my Day 1 results. On Wednesday, I successfully completed Day 2 with the following numbers:

Required: 16-14-14-12-Max (at least 15)

Actual: 16-14-14-12-16

And then on Friday, I completed Day 3 with the following numbers:

Required: 20-15-15-12-Max (at least 16)

Actual: 20-15-15-12-18

Best of all, I did this while sticking to the prescribed breaks (60 seconds on Monday, 90 seconds on Wednesday, and 120 second on Friday). It was tough, but doable. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’m still languishing back in Column 1, which means that I’ll probably end up repeating some weeks before I actually “do the hundred.” Nonetheless, things are moving along nicely.

Food and drink

While I’m not willing to tackle an entire month of drinking only water, I managed to make it through a couple of days this past week drinking nothing but water. Not a huge deal, but it cut out a good bit in the way of calories on those days. I also packed a lunch twice, which two more times than normal (pathetic, I know). Going forward, I’ll probably experiment with more “water only” days and will also work to decrease the frequency of eating out — as I noted previously, this is probably my biggest health and fitness vice.

While I made some progress with Vice #1 this week, I succumbed to Vice #2 (tequila) this weekend, as we had a few margaritas on both Saturday and Sunday evening. It’ll be interesting to see what my weight looks like at my weekly weigh-in tomorrow morning.

Other exercise

In other news, I rowed Friday night for the first time (other than some short warmup sessions earlier in the week) since I tweaked my back. I did a 1 km warmup, did some stretching, and then did a fairly easy 6 km. I can tell I’ve fallen out of the rowing groove (due to vacation and my back injury) as my heart rate was up throughout the workout, and I was a bit sore the next. Regardless, it felt good to get back on the horse.

I’ve also been using our Life Fitness X5 elliptical for some cardio work while trying to rest my back. In fact, I managed to squeeze in three or four 30 minute sessions in the past week. It gets the heart pumping, but doesn’t do much for the upper body, so I coupled it with some dumbbell work on Monday/Wedesday evening (after my pushups).

Oh, and we’ve had friends in town this weekend (which partly explains the tequila), so I spent a good bit of time playing Wii Sports today. Mostly boxing and tennis. Fun was had by all, and pretty much everyone worked up a sweat.

A week after failing miserably on the first day of Week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge, I’m pleased to report that made through W3D1 this afternoon (while at work, no less!). After failing last Monday, I fell back to Week 2 and focused on obeying the time limits for the rest periods and really pushing myself on the max rounds. I ended up finishing the week strong (aside from a minor back injury sustained while rowing) and was ready to tackle Week 3.

So… How did I do?

Required: 15-12-12-10-Max (at least 15)

Actual: 15-12-12-10-16

While my arms were getting a bit shaky by the end, I ultimately managed to complete all five rounds. I also managed to keep my breaks to a tight 60 seconds, so I think that I’m officially back on track.

As a side note, I’ve also created a log page to keep track of my progress as work through the challenge.

As I noted earlier in the week, I experienced a setback in the 100 pushup challenge when I passed the Week 2 exhaustion test, but failed on Day 1 of Week 3. I think a couple of things factored into my failure.

1. I didn’t really push myself on the max rounds during Weeks 1 and 2. In every case, I exceeded the required number, but I probably could’ve squeezed out one or two more reps. I think that pushing myself a bit harder would speed my progress.
2. I didn’t pay close enough attention to the clock. More than anything, this challenge is about endurance, and I’m convinced that you have to stick fairly close to those “minimum” rest times if you want to succeed in the long run.
3. I did my exhaustion test on Sunday and then picked up with Week 3, Day 1 on Monday, with no rest in between. In the future, I’ll either do the exhaustion test on Saturday (following a Friday workout) and then rest on Sunday before launching into the new week, or I’ll do the test on Sunday and then take a day off before doing the next week on Tu/Th/Sat.

So… How did my workouts go the rest of this week?

I ended up dropping back to Week 2 so I could pay closer attention to items 1 and 3, above. Here’s how it worked out:

Week 2, Day 2 (Again)
Required: 11/9/7/7/Max (at least 10) — 90 second breaks
My Results: 11/9/7/7/16
Comments: I’m pretty pleased with this performance overall, in that my max reps went up from 11 last time to 16 this time.

Week 2, Day 3 (Again)
Requirement: 10/10/8/8/Max (at least 10) — 120 second breaks
My results: 10/10/8/8/20
Comments: Here again, I’m quite pleased with my progress. My max reps went up from 15 to 20. In fact, my max round, which was done following 36 pushups spread across the preceding four sets, was 2 better than my exhaustion test this past Sunday. Hopefully I’m now ready to tackle Week 3.

When last I wrote about the Hundred Pushup Challenge, I was two-thirds of the way through week two, and hoping to finish strong. Week 2, Day 3 (completed this past Friday) was challenging, but I made it through. Upon our return from vacation on Sunday, I flopped down on the floor to do my “exhaustion test” and ended up cranking out 18 (vs. the ten that I did on my initial test).

All in all, this 80% improvement made me pretty happy. That is, until I realized that I had fallen back from Column 2 to Column 1. No matter, I told myself. I made it through the first two weeks, passed the exhaustion test, and advanced to Week 3. Success. Unfortunately, that success was short-lived…

The goals for Week 3, Day 1 were 15-12-12-10-Max (at least 15) with a 60 second break between rounds. As others have noted, this week is much tougher than the first two. Much tougher. So tough, in fact, that I failed. I made it through the first four rounds, but I was feeling it by the end. I then proceeded to fail on the “Max” round with a total of just 10 reps (vs. the minimum of 15) even though I stretched that last break out to 90+ seconds.

Now I’m trying to decided what to do… Drop back to the Week 2 workouts for Wednesday and Friday and the re-test at the end of the week before going on, or suffer through the remainder of the Week 3 workouts and then do them over again next week?

Right now I’m leaning toward repeating the remainder of Week 2, paying close attention to the clock, really pushing myself on the max rounds, and then re-testing. That approach just seems less de-moralizing than pushing forward with workouts that I know I’m doomed to fail.

Since we’re still on vacation, I’m not going to do much more today than put together a quick workout update.

Here’s the executive summary:

Short run on Sunday, pushups on Monday and Wednesday, and a three mile walk on Tuesday.

As for the 100 pushup goal, things are still going well. Monday’s schedule called for 9-8-6-4-Max (at least seven). I completed all sets with a 60-70 second break between each, and manage 10 reps on my max set. Wednesday’s schedule called for 11-9-7-7-Max (at least ten). Things were a bit more difficult on Wednesday, and I didn’t track my break as closely. The prescribed break was 90 seconds per set, and I’m pretty sure that I went well over that. In the end, I managed 11 reps on my max set.

So… Assuming that I succeed on my next workout, I’ll re-test after this week is done and then press on with Week 3.

In other news, I managed to develop a blister on the back of my right heel earlier this week thanks to a new pair of shoes. Nothing major but, combined with the fact that we’re on vacation, it’s given me a good excuse to slack off this week.

Since we’re out of town on vacation, I don’t have access to my usual workout gear. Thus, I have to make do with what’s available. In this case, I have the floor and the great outdoors.

I started out by flopping down and doing Week 1, Day 3 of the One Hundred Pushups training program. The numbers for the day were 10-8-8-5-Max (at least 10). I did this much earlier in the day than normal, and wasn’t really in the groove. Nonetheless, I powered through (including 12 in the “max” round vs. the required 10) for a grand total of 43 pushups.

For the week, I did 110 pushups and completed all three workouts without any problems. My back is definitely feeling better, so… Given these results, it looks like I’ll be advancing to Week 2 come Monday.

Next up, cardio. Like I said, I pretty much have just the floor and the great outdoors at my disposal right now. Unfortunately, I hate running (that’s a topic for another post entirely) but I wanted to do something a bit more intensive than walking. Thus, I opted for running hills. Yes, it’s running, but it’s a lot more challenging than plain old running, so I can get more intense workout in less time. Plus, the increased challenge makes it more mentally tolerable.

There’s a reasonably steep (albeit not terribly long) hill near here, so I headed over and proceeded to run up it (and walk back down) sixteen times. I didn’t push it too hard, as it’s been a long time since I’ve run hills, and I didn’t want to hurt myself. That said, I succeeded in getting my heart pumping and my legs burning.

That’s it for now. I’ll press on with the pushups in the coming week and will squeeze in whatever else I can. Since we’re on vacation, posting will probably be a bit sporadic until the end of June.