It’s stretching out into a long chain of continuous effort.

The first 106 aren’t so bad.  (Who ever thought I’d be saying those words?) The last set is always the kicker.  Since I wasn’t able to manage the 45 in a straight set, I did what I could, waited 20 seconds, 14 then 20 seconds and the final 11.  I figure it’s better to keep up the momentum somewhat to get to the end than to just stop at the 20.

Why I figure this, I don’t know.  I just do.  *shrug*

151 pushups tonight.  Weee

Just in case I haven’t said it recently, I love that I am doing this.  It makes me feel great.  Wanna try?

I rolled out of bed today and almost immediately began doing pushups.  Week 6 is intimidating to look at.  I still have the mental conditioning that says to me “25 pushups?  In a row? You’re crazy. Shut up.”

Regardless, I began and soon found 25 complete.  45 seconds later. “30 pushups now?  Shut up.”  30 pushups later I was impressed with myself again.  I may be accused of dwelling on the following but….when I started I could only do 8.  I love it.

20 and 15 were a breeze after doing the first two.  Admittedly the last set, a recommended 40 minimum sort of got the better of me.  I managed 30 before having to stop, but not wanting to be beaten by a number in a table I took a 20 second rest and completed another 15 before falling in a heap.

135 pushups before setting foot outside my room.

Now for a quick note that upon thinking about it seems like common sense but nonetheless took me a while to come upon…

Take it slowly.  For some reason and by some strange logic on my brains part I had this funny idea that if I had a lot of pushups to do, doing them rapidly would make me finish quicker and thereby make it easier to accomplish.  Silly brain (Or body?).  Need to run a marathon?  Oh, I’ll sprint, then I’ll be done exerting myself sooner. Thinking about it and spelling it out really makes it seem silly but that is what I found I was doing at times; I don’t really think I realized I was doing it to be honest.

I don’t point it out to insult anyone’s intelligence; I just thought that maybe someone else may keep it in mind when they are doing their pushups and perhaps find they have fallen into the same habit for some inexplicable reason.

Slowing down to a more relaxed pace has helped me immensely!

Good luck to you all.

Despite past breaks and being a touch off schedule, I had a good night with the pushups tonight, ending with a good run of 35.

I think I’ll be ok for starting week 6′s program finally.

Ok, after my week off I’m going back for a three-peat of week 5.  Feeling better this week, but I’m in no big rush to move on to the last weeks program.  I want to be comfortable with this one.  But not too comfortable.  Must. Keep. Pushing.

I had a dream a couple of nights ago that I was in some sort of school doing a math test.  I was my current age and concentrating very hard.  There was a woman there trying to chat me up and distract me but I told her to be quiet because I didn’t concentrate enough the first time through school so I really wanted to do better this time.

I consider this a good sign.  My subconscious seems to want to get things done and stick them out to the end as much as my conscious mind does.  It can’t imagine it hurts to have your dreams reinforcing your waking goals.

I threw an extra set of 10 on the end of the last 25 because I just wanted to do a few more.

This week is a little bit of an intermission by necessity.  Last week I mentioned that I was sick but muscled through my routine.  That was fine.  Saturday I managed 42 consecutive pushups, a personal best.  Still a bit short of where I would like to be but again, a fantastic improvement from my starting point.

This week however, I’m not sure what’s wrong.

Perhaps I have a caught a bug or something, but I am way off my game this week.  Yesterday for example I attempted some pushups but after only 20 i could physically not do any more.  I was at full exhaustion before I even reached the half way point of what I had accomplished only a few days before.

Given this development, I am sort of taking it easy this week.  I’m not pushup free this week; this week I am doing what I can (50 or 60 a day in total) and will continue with the official program on Monday.  Perhaps a threepeat of week 5.  We’ll see how I feel.

Keep pushing yourselves!

I’m sick.  Nauseated, headache, sneezing…You name it.  So why I ask myself did I insist on doing my pushups today?

The answer: I don’t know.  I do however have a theory.

Finishing things has always been a tough thing for me.  Seeing things through to the end is a personal struggle that I have been trying to tackle in earnest lately.

Maybe it’s because I’m turning 35 this year and I think if I’m going to improve myself I’d best start now.  Or maybe it’s because I am a full time role model to my daughter and I want to make sure I am setting a great example for her.

It’s a combination of the two for sure.

So afraid of losing momentum today I decided to muscle through it.

On my first pushup I thought I would never do two.  On my 5th, 13 seemed far.  But as I kept going, set after set, it almost got easier.

The pounding of my head from the exertion was getting worse, but I was surprised that I managed to keep it up.  By the last set as I was shooting for 30 my stomach started to churn but my arms kept moving.  15…20…25….26…..

That’s all I could manage.  My stomach is still churning.  But I followed through.  I’m going to finish this thing.  I’m going to do 100 pushups dammit.  If I can do this, who knows what’s next.  A few weeks a go 100 pushups was an urban legend, now it’s in reach.

But for now, so is the couch and a bad movie. I earned it. 116 pushups today.

Take care.  Push yourself.

Well in line with my absent mindedness I completed half of day 2 of week six before remembering that I was re-doing week 5

113 pushups in total for today’s routine and I feel pretty good afterward.

I think next week should be fine for progressing to week 6.  The key will no be overdoing the junk food this weekend when my friend and I take our 2 year old daughters away for the weekend.

A dad and daughter day at the Great Wolf Lodge indoor waterpark.  Weee!

So this weekend I was supposed to do an exhaustion test and then move into week 6 Starting monday.

I didn’t.  Over the weekend I was not feeling very great, and had an extreme lack of energy and motivation.  I did make an attempt on the weekend at the exhaustion test but after 15 or so I just couldn’t keep it up.  I’m not sure what was up but I was under performing by a great margin and decided to just take it easy instead of injuring myself.  I’ve felt like I’ve been getting sick the last few days, maybe that’s it.  Maybe it was just because of the long weekend and my desire to do absolutely nothing.  Either way…

Here I am at the beginning of week 5(b) because I have decided to repeat week 5 and make sure I am comfortable with my performance before moving onto week 6 of the program.  This will also help me keep in mind that this is a training program, not a race in itself.

I did my set last night and despite still feeling pretty tired, it seemed easier than the same set last week.

I will keep on keeping on until I reach the 100.  I still feel progression.  Not as fast as I would have perhaps liked, but progression just the same.

Go me!

Yet another week over.  I can’t believe I’ll be starting week 6 next week.  It seems  like I just started out.  That is, I will start week 6 if I am able to successfully manage at least 45 consecutive pushups tomorrow afternoon during the exhaustion test. 45  sounds intimidating.   But not out of reach which I still find impressive in itself.

I was a few short this morning, but I’m to too broken up about it.  The first 7 sets were not too bad, but the 30 on the last was just a bit too much for me today.  No worries.

In theory by the end of next week I should be in the one hundred pushups range, but at the risk of sounding defeated before the end, I’m not too confident that I will reach 100 by the end of next week.  If I don’t, I will be repeating week 6 until I make it there.

That kind of makes me think, what do I do afterward?  Just keep doing week 6 until I can do 100 pushups without a second thought?  That sounds like a good enough plan.  I’m sure I could continue and extrapolate the progression for the hundred pushups formula and push into the +100 territory.  Or maybe start doing pushups with small children sitting on my back…

I still need to get into the rhythm of the 200 crunches routine.  I have done a few but can’t quite get the steady routine worked out like I have with the pushups.  Time is pretty limited in the morning so it’s not quite feasible to do both.

On another stream of thought entirely…LET GO OF THE TREADMILL.

It drives me nuts to see people with an incline of 10° on the treadmill and then grabbing the console and leaning back 10°; effectively canceling out any possible benefit from the incline.  They may as well be walking flat!  Then there are the others who will straighten their arms and lefitate themselves above the conveyor and ‘walk’ at ridiculously fast speeds by just brushing their feet on the conveyor.  This makes no sense.

I think people may be too preoccupied with speed on the treadmill and will use their arms to take on the workload that their legs cannot manage at high speeds.  But this really serves no purpose.  You are better to go at a slower pace and actually exert yourself than to pretend to.  I can get my heart rate every bit as high by running a 6° incline at 5mph as I can by running flat at 8mph.  (While I am a metric Canadian, I am using mph as that’s what my treadmill uses.)  Hell, I can get my heart rate just as high by walking 3mph and walking at a 15° incline.  Speed is not the key to a good workout.  Exertion is the key.  Actually using your legs to hold you up and provide your balance will yield far better results.

Please note, I am not a professional at all, but I have read a fair bit on the subject and have compared the methods personally.  Holding on to the treadmill, unless some medical condition dictates that you should, is only fooling you into thinking you are doing well.  It’s also quite likely a reason that you may not be reaching your goals.

100 pushups in today’s routine.  8 sets with shorter 45 second breaks in between.  Looks like we are transitioning into an endurance building routine to prepare for the 100 consecutive push-up goal.

It was a challenge today, but I finished with a healthy struggle and a satisfying collapse by the end and no significantly extended rest periods.  (There may have been a few seconds here and there due to my short attention span and bad morning math…

Speaking of bad attentions span and thinking about how on my last exhaustion test I lost count half way through my test…I had a brainstorm this morning and realized that I can record my next attempt with the webcam so that I can always go back if I forget how to count midstream again.  Once again technology fills the deficiencies of my brain.

In the “things I have learned” department.  I’ve adopted the idea that if my mind says stop, I should keep going.  If my body says stop, I should listen.

The reason for this is that my mind is quite devious and has a habit of lying to me when it comes to what I am capable of.  “You can’t do 10 more minutes on the step machine, stop and go home!” it says.  To which I reply “Quiet you! Or I’ll stab you witha  Q-tip!”  I prefer to listen to what my body is saying and follow it’s cues.  It doesn’t seem to be capable of lying to me.  If I need to stop it tells me in no uncertain terms, it doesn’t waffle about at make excuses.

I find it interesting how one part of my brain can bombard me with negativity while another part entirely seems to be able to objectively listen to the cues from the rest of my body.  Then there is a third aspect of the mind that can consciously make a decision regarding which of the other two parts to listen two.

Funny things we humans are.

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