I'm bringing back a challenge I did last year, the 100 Pushup Challenge. Yes, I said "pushups." Oh no you didn't! Oh yes I did!

It's easier than you think, especially when you adapt it like I had to. You won't believe how strong you feel when you finish the challenge - man, I was on fire! Me? Fat, wobbly walker, asthma pre-diabetes me made it through? Yeah, baby! Do a little dance, make a little... improvement in your fitness. ahem.

It's 6 weeks long, you work out three days/week, do three sets each time. It's super easy to toss in the workout when you're at home on the laptop, taking a break from loads of laundry, whatever. Mix it up. Here's the link: http://hundredpushups.com/

I have bad wrisonts and shoulders. Putting over 200 lbs of strain on them trying convential pushups made for disaster. Couldn't even finish ONE, and my rotator cuffs and wrists were seriously pissed off. I adapted the challenge by doing wall pushups. The only issue then was placing my hands on the wall at the right height and width so I didn't blow up my rotator cuffs. I switched positions every now and then, hands a little higher, little lower, little closer together, fingers rotated a little in or a little out. Basically I just lowered myself to the wall till my nose or boobs touched it - it was a race to see who'd get there first - then push back up. Lather, rinse, repeat. Wall pushups are still a workout!

Watch out Tony Horton. Fat girl's gainin' on you.

100 Pushup Challenge Progress
Week 1
Mon: 26 reps max/62 total broken up among the sets Wed: 25 max/63 total Fri: 30 max/74 total
Week 2
Mon: 33 max/81 total Wed: 24 max/78 total - ouch! Fri: 33 max/94 total
Week 3
Mon: 34 max/90 total Wed: Fri:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:

Thanks...I'm gonna do it...I'm reallllly gonna DO IT!!!

Should we report our progress here? That would be nice! Anyhoots...thanks for the link!

Hiya JoyfulLoser! Wow, congrats on your weight loss progress.

Check out the link. They've got a test you can do to help figure out how heavy your workouts should be. Great place to start.

Sure, post your numbers here. I'll update my signature with the max number of reps I can do at one time. That number better be creeping up over time! I'll also post that number and the total I did that day every time I check in.

I'm working out Mon-Wed-Fri starting tomorrow. How about you?

Ugh. No wonder my numbers today look good. I did some wimpy pushups! Gotta get my feet back further from the wall even if it's Monday and the last thing I want to feel is the burn.

Wednesday will be better.

Ooops...sorry I missed this! I want to get started this week, but not sure yet as to what my days will be. I'm gonna spend a little time on that website (I have it bookmarked) figuring out everything first. I'll post here when I have it all together.

Glad to hear your numbers are looking good! Keep up the great work!

Oooooh this looks scary but I want to try! And hi everyone!

Push ups are like my kryptonite. I have the WORST upper body strength in the world. Perhaps this will get my butt in better shape! I'll start tonight!

Hey there RomaineLettuce! Love your pic. Yikes - situps are my kryptonite. Give it a try, why not? you can always work on the wall till you're stronger. Girlfriend, you'll have so much fun you'll find yourself doing pushups in Walmart. Just pretend you're reading labels and forgot your glasses! Just make sure the display is actually backed by a wall, not air.

Ms. Joyfulloser, I'll be here whenever you get rolling.

I'll report again on Wednesday... with my feet spaced right this time. Ugh!

Hahaha, and thank you!

Soo.....initial test I couldn't do a real one. So for the first day I did them off the wall and ohmygod that was tough! Looking forward to sculpted guns at the end so I can tell people which way is the beach ;P

That'll be me in the distance with the mai tai! Way to get going, RM. Decided which days you'll do them, and whether you want to report numbers?

Ok...so yesterday I tried to do the "test", but was a little confused with the instructions. Maybe someone here can help.

Are we supposed to do as many pushups as we can in a certain amount of time (let's say 1 minute)? Or as many pushups as we can without stopping (during 1 set)? How many times should we attempt them to get a maximum amount pushups? Helppppp please!!!!

I just wanna start this off right. I'm excited and scared at the same time!

I'm in - I'll start Mondayish as I still have a niggling wrist issue and I'll be doing the wall push ups too as I couldn't perform one 'good form' push up. I'll let everyone know how I'm going.

Joyfull- I read it as doing good form push ups to exhaustion, just too see where your at

Hiya Focused Lani. See you Monday! So glad you've joined in. Ladies rockin' the wall! Ain't nothing we can't accomplish when we do it our own unique way. Whoa - fitness and life lessons!

JF - The test is to do as many "good form" pushups as you can in one set, wall or floor doesn't matter. The first try will give your best results - your arms are at their peppiest. Take as long as you want. There's no time limit. Stop when you can't possibly keep it together for another pushup. Sound like you already tried...?! How'd you do?

I have had this challenge in the back of my mind since last year! I have been "working" on it loosely ever since, but nothing hard core.

Let me tell you guys, I went caving this past weekend with 30 boy scouts. I was the only girl. To get into this cave you had to go down a hole under a tree root and basically rock climb your way down. There was no ladder! And then you had to get out! There was a lot of climbing and bending and commando crawling! It was awesome! And I thanked this challenge for my success on this trip, I really did. Ladies, I have some awesome upper body strength at this point.

Remember that you don't have to just do push ups to achieve this same effect. Other upper body exercises strengthen the muscles for pushups. And Losing 80, since you are already complaining about your shoulders, I urge you strengthen those along the way as well, gently. I had horrible shoulders a year ago and thought they were hopeless. I think I can credit their strength with lateral raises, front raises and maybe PEC flyes. For lateral and front raises I used small 3-5 pound weights for a long time, and though I'm pretty strong in other places, I'm still only up to 12 pound weights for shoulders at this point. But I no longer have shoulder pain at all. If you don't have weights you can use soup cans and work your way up to milk jugs filled with increasing amounts of water.

AND...I did 38 push ups in one minute the other day.

So I'm in for the challenge! I was considering starting it up official in the next few weeks anyway. In the mean time, I'm just doing three sets of 20 two days a week. But my workout routine is going to change at the end of April so I'm going to work in this challenge at that time.

Protect those shoulders ladies, and have fun!

Some people think wall pushups and wall push-uppers are wimpy. That makes other folks think, well, they'll just never be able to do any pushup at all. sigh. You know what I says to that, right? HAH! I will admit, though, it's easier to fake out pushups against the wall than prone on the floor. Whee, look at me, tee hee! No "precious pushups" here, okay? We're all about getting a real upper body and torso workout while protecting our joints and building up strength.

One key to getting a solid wall pushup done is the distance your feet are from the wall. Start out super simple with your toes about a foot away. Place your hands on the wall roughly in front of your shoulders, tighten your core, and come in to the wall till your nose touches (easy does it!) Using just your arms, PRESS your body away from the wall. Too easy? Scoot your toes further away from the wall. Keep moving back until a single pushup makes you say - huh! felt that one.

You might find out that you've moved back so far your arms don't touch the wall. That's cool. Lean your upper body in till your hands are flat on the wall, straighten and tighten your body, go up on your toes if it's easier, and let your body sink to the wall. Press up. Sink back down. Press up. Keep your body straight just like you're on the floor. Don't stop now chica, you're doing pushups!

More in a later post about positioning your arms to prevent shoulder and wrist strain.

So I saw your thread earlier and thought, "yeah, good luck to you all." But I decided this morning in my workout to give it a try. I do a workout video four times a week. In the video, there's four sets of four push-ups then four sets of squats with weights and repeat the whole thing again. If I follow the video, I'd get 32 pushups total. (You can choose to do the knee push ups or the toe push ups; all on the floor). For the last week and a half, I've added an extra push-up for each set (getting me to 40 pushups).

This morning, thanks to your thread, I did 48 pushups! Crazy. I never thought women could really do a lot of pushups. Seriously. Throughout k-12, all us girls would fake as little as possible to skate by without getting yelled at (and no one really ever got yelled at). I never saw any "normal" girls or women able to do any upper arm strength moves.

So, I'm committed to keep upping my pushups to 100. I will have to either stop the video or repeat the video section to get me up almost to 100.

I'll keep trying. Good luck to all the other chicks.