hundredpushups dot com
At the end of December, Nate, the coach from swimwestside.com, wrote a little about his coaching philosophy and the need for a coach to be able to do what he’s asking his athlete’s to d0, and to have done it fairly recently. I couldn’t agree more.
Getting in the tank and practicing what I preach has made me a more effective preacher. No doubt about it. There’re several other coaches around who will confirm the unquestionable benefit of getting in the water and practicing what you preach.
Anyway…. Nate wrote about his need to practice and an iPhone app that was recommended to him. He spent the $1.99 and started using the app called 100 Pushups. Read Nate’s article here. Look at the hundred pushup web site here. From his accounts of using the app, it sounded like a reasonable way to do a crap load of pushups , so I also spent the $1.99 and download the app.
I had been doing some pushups in my normal workout and was able to do enough on my initial test to end up at Level 3 workouts. It took about 2 of these workouts to realize I needed more rest that the app was giving me. Evoking the master’s athlete tenet of, I’ll do it if I feel like it, I extended the rest. No problem, 4 weeks of pushups and I was up to a total of 152 reps for the workout. I could have continued at that pace if pushups were all I was doing.
I started to train for Harvard right before the end of week 4 and the added pressure on the shoulders was too much. There’s a max effort test scheduled for the end of every two weeks and I didn’t even try it at the end of week 4. Too sore, I probably would have cried.
Needing some serious relief from the mindless computer, I fudged the week 4 test. I put in the lowest score and ended up down on Level 1. Ahhhhhhh! Fewer reps done in more sets. Much more feasible now that swimming is in the mix.
Onward to Harvard and then Ft Lauderdale.
Second workout at Level 1 and up to 100 reps for the session. I figured the reps would go up quickly. Doing them in more sets is really working out. Shoulders feel good.
Third workout at Level 1 and up to 120 for the session. Adding reps too fast. Next workout is a max test.
Swimming at 5:00, we’ll see how the shoulders hold up.
Did the max test today, 38 reps. Still on the lowest range. They want 120 for the next workout. 40 for the last set of five. Tell me how that works, 38 max and they want 40 on the last set of five. I honestly don’t see that happening!
Weights and Bridges today, all is good.
130 today, last set was 40, did it as a broken set :10/5 reps. probably would have been in the mid 20′s if done without the rest.
141 today, last set was 35, they wanted 44 for a total of 150.
Legs and Bridges yesterday, swam today, and pushups tomorrow.
Legs and pushups today. 170, most ever. They add reps too fast. I’ve already extended the rest and barely got through the 4th set. The last set was 50! Right! I did it as 10×5 on :15. I think I’ll be modifying the workouts from her. I don’t think I’m in such a rush to get to 100. Shoulders still feel OK.
Started 1/2/2010, 18 workouts, 1,823 reps total. Average of 1 workout per 3.5 days.
Scheduled to do a max effort today. Still can’t get past the mid-thirties. I’ve had a few days rest while traveling. Other than a copious amount of 12 oz curls, no training. Oh well, keep on doing pushups. Did legs after the max effort.
Weights and balls today. All is good after a few days off. Also started hitting golf balls yesterday just to see if I can overdue it. Probably can!
Swam today, ended up in a lane with 6 or 7 ANA women who have been training their butts off. Not all of them are swimming at Harvard, but the majority are.
Well, they give you 6 weeks to get to 100 and apparently, if you don’t make it to 100, you end up in week 6 limbo. Having never made it out of the 30′s, I’m in week 6 limbo.
Week 6 day 1, again. 130 reps did the last set of 40 as 8 sets of 5 on :15. Did 3 sets of crunches after the pushups.
Here’s video of the set of 30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xREibnYPJdQ
Well, It’s obvious I won’t hit 100 pushups in 6 weeks. I started to do a self modified workout today. I will be happy with 50 by 50. Did 89 pushups in 5 sets of 20, 20, 15, 10, 24. Much more like it. This felt like a good workout, not torture. Hit balls and did 3 sets of crunches.