No running for me at the moment (gotta love the stress fracture), so I’m reduced to doing some core exercises and a little bit of strength work courtesy of the good old Hundred Push-Ups. The left foot is still too sore and swollen to put any weight on, so my only option right now is to do one-legged push-ups. Actually, the forced change is a positive one – the one-legged push-ups are definitely more challenging as they add an element of balance, core stability and increased strength requirement.
Last week I worked my way through Week 3 and I’m looking forward to the challenge of the tougher Week 4 starting tomorrow.
Wednesday: 14 18 14 14 max of 20 [total = 80]
Friday: 20 25 15 15 max of 25 [total = 100]
Sunday: 22 30 20 20 max of 40 [total = 132]
One-legged push-ups are easy to perform. Just follow the steps below to get a great upper body workout that also challenges your core too:
Starting position: assume the standard push-up position, but place one foot on top of the other so only the lower foot is in contact with the ground (see above).
Step 1: breathe in as you lower your torso to the ground, stopping when your elbows form a 90-degree angle and your chest is an inch or two from your hands. Keep your elbows close to your body.
Step 2: breathe out as you push yourself up using your arms. Think of raising yourself by attempting to push the ground away from you. The power for the push will predominantly come from your shoulders and chest.
One-Legged Push-Ups are actually one of the dozen or so “advanced push-ups” featured in my book. If you’re looking to purchase your own copy you can get a good deal at any of the following online merchants.
While my foot was still swollen enough that I couldn’t put pressure on it I tried the one-legged pushups and tried balancing on just my big toes (which wasn’t too painful) – but thankfully my swelling went down enough that I’m back to normal pushups now.
I broke my ankle 12 weeks ago. During my running hiatus I did the 100 pushups program, one-legged style. It was a great way to maintain some level of fitness during the time off!
OK, I finally caved and started tonight with my initial test. I was surprised – I did 15 (13 good ones, 1 struggling and 1 that nearly popped a vein in my head). I guess having a 23-pound 10-month-old baby helps. I’m looking forward to this and seeing what happens.
Love your book. Since I can already complete 35 push ups I started the week 4 Advanced 2 program last week. Tomorrow I will complete week 5. I suspect I will repeat week 6 a few times before moving to week 7. Completing 43+, 46+ and 50+ pu’s as my final sets will be my first real challenge.
Just to vary it up, I started doing these push ups without really knowing what they were doing for me. I could feel that they were harder but I wanted to see if that was good. This is an exercise I like and now reading about it, I’ll definitely keep it in my repetoire!