To answer your question about designing the push ups program:

I read about a similar plan (www.100pushups.info) on a UK friend’s blog (http://www.goforarun.co.uk/) last June. I followed the plan for 7 weeks, managed to do the magic hundred and then promptly forgot about it and lost most of my hard earned strength. I liked the simplicity of the plan, the progressive nature of the workouts and of course the end result of being able to do one hundred consecutive push ups.

A few months later I featured details of the first 4 weeks of the plan on my other blog (cymru66.com) after deciding to take the challenge again. Can’t remember the reason why but I didn’t complete the six weeks this time and the blog posts trailed off to nothing.

I guess the original push ups web site (100pushups.info) went down several months later and out of the blue I started receiving emails asking if I had copies of weeks 5 and 6 of the plan. Luckily I had something saved locally and was able to reply to all the requests. I attempted to contact the 100pushups web site owner to find out what happened to the site, but never heard anything back.

One of the many emails I received asked if it was possible to post weeks 5 and 6 online, which gave me the idea of creating the new push ups web site. The basic principles are the same, but the look, feel and content is completely different. I’ve been staggered by the response to be honest. Most of the initial traffic came from StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.hundredpushups.com/) and I guess a few key people latched on to the idea, blogged about it and the rest is history as they say.

Anyway, it’s great to have so many people on board with the notion of challenging themselves and doing something to make them stronger/fitter/healthier.

PS “Girl” push ups are fine. The plan is all about making progress and developing strength, and you’ll do that no matter what style of push up you perform. Good luck!

First of all, Happy (belated) Father’s Day!

And secondly, OMG, the idea of doing 100 pushups makes me sore just THINKING about it! LOL. No wonder your pecs are sore.

OK, admittedly, Week 1 doesn’t sound extremely daunting, if you’re a guy — it’s not like you’re doing 100 push-ups right off the bat! — but for most of us ladies, it might be another story! That’s not said to be sexist, but men do typically have more upper body strength than women. But then again, I wonder if it’s easier to do pushups when there’s less to push up & down?

It’s weird because I can lift a lot of weight over my head, but have trouble doing push-ups. I know it’s probably different muscle groups in each case, but even so, I can barely do 20 consecutive push-ups, & at that, they’re girl-style push-ups!

BTW, did you yourself design the 100 push-ups program? It looks like you designed the website, but I was just curious if the 100 push-ups plan was also your original creation as well?! If so, that’s very cool! I love it when people design their own workout plans. Kudos on a great idea!

Now, I’ll have to bite the bullet & take your initial test. So, can we start out doing girl-style push-ups, or do we have to do regular ones? If the answer is that we can only do regular push-ups, the count is going to be humbling indeed.

-C

As for posting your Garmin tracks online, I use a web site called MotionBased (www.motionbased.com). Sign up is free (although there is a paid option too), and it’s relatively painless to upload all your workouts. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

I plan on starting to train for Richmond in a couple of weeks time. I’m looking forward to the pain and pleasure of marathon training again – I’m ready for another challenge.

Keep up the good work!

–Steve

It is an interesting thing, but I end up doing so much work on a treadmill that I think it hurts me when I get outside. I am doing my Thursday speedwork outside as well as my long Sunday run and hope this will help me in the fall. I finally got a Garmin (305) and tracked my 18 miler last weekend over a quite hilly course. Not sure exactly how to post it online yet, but even a computer illiterate like me should be able to figure it out eventually. Ended up with a 6:56 pace overall which wasn’t bad considering I started out the first 6 miles at 7:07 total pace. But as always I have a ways to go to get even close to where you are. Best of luck and I will be watching your training all the way up to Richmond. BTW, it looks like I am going to do the inaugural Indianapolis Monumental marathon.

Best of luck with everything and hoping that smoke goes away for you.

Not quite as sore as yesterday which is a relief….

–Steve