Those of you who know me well know my background is pretty intensive in the area of strength and conditioning. I spent a number of years participating in speed and power based sports, training in the weight room, time as a strength coach, and read through thousands of pages of books, research articles, magazines, and web information on the topic. Oddly enough, it took a good friend, coaching colleague, and completely non-upper-body-strength focused Kiwi bike racer to remind me what a great exercise the push up is.
Having spent my most recent training years focused on the development of my aerobic engine through sports like cycling and trail running, I found myself drifting away from the task of moving heavy implements for upper body strength development and improved muscle composition. Most of my aerobic training companions will agree it takes a fair bit of training time to truly enhance our endurance capacity.
In any case, I found myself on a 4 day mountain biking trip to Moab Utah a few weeks ago with a number of aerobically supercharged friends who were looking to put the pedal to the metal for some long, strenuous rides. On one particular morning, my friend Mark emerges from his bedroom a bit out of breath. After a good natured wise crack, he explains that he's taken it upon himself to do 100 push ups a day as part of his overall training regimen. At no predetermined time or place, he simply drops down and does 20 push ups until he completes his hundred for the day. His rationale … a more well rounded training regiment for total body fitness and improved muscle composition. Touche!
After a lifetime of athletic pursuits, 20+ years of coaching experience, endless hours of classroom and research time, and several thousand push ups done in the Army, this single conversation reminded me how important a balanced training regiment truly is. Minutes after our conversation, I vowed to reinstitute this exercise into my day. I went back to my room and did my first set. I figured I'd know out two quick sets of 50 and get dressed for our morning ride.
It had been quite a while since I'd used push ups as a mode of training. In years past, many coaches, Sensei, and drill sergeants trained and tormented me with the dreaded exercise. I did traditional push ups, wide and close grip, clapping, one-armed, feet elevated, on a Fit-Ball, Bosu Board, and with people on my back. My personal record was in the vicinity of 110 straight in a two-minute period for a military PT test, pretty damn good for a spunky twenty year old. As I cranked out my first set, things were starting to get a little rough around 20 reps: 21, 22 .. 23 … 24 ….. 25. Wow, I only made it to 25 in a single set. Pretty pathetic for a guy who used to be able to drop down and do about 100 at the drop of a hat. Well, enough's enough! It's time to get back on track.
The push up is quite a brilliant exercise. You don't need a special time, place, equipment, or clothing to drop down and do a set. In most cases, a set of push ups to failure (the point at which you cannot do one more repetition) will not induce sweat, and only a minute or so of heavy breathing upon completion. This is something easily done early morning while you're getting ready for the work day, in the workplace behind closed doors, or at the end of the day in the comfort of your home. You can try this while you're watching television, performing one set to failure during commercial breaks. How about one set before breakfast, one before teeth-brushing, one before the shower … you get the picture. The point is to blast out those 100 reps before the day's end. Do half in the morning and half in the evening if need be, do them from your knees if you can't do the traditional form. Just get them done! They're a welcome addition to anyone's routine.
As you take my challenge and introduce the push up into your day, keep in mind the training concept of progression. At some point, your body is going to get used to 100 repetitions and call it "normal". You won't make additional gains until you further overload the system. And please, for the love of all that's holy, don't give me that line that you just want to "maintain". There is NO SUCH CONCEPT in general fitness, training, or athletic performance. We are either moving forward or stepping back. For progression and further improvement to occur, you either need to increase the repetitions you do to failure in a set (i.e. instead of 10 sets of 10, progress to 5 sets of 20, 4 sets of 25, etc.), do more reps that 100, or increase the variety and difficulty of the traditional push up (wide grip, close grip, feel elevated, etc.).
If you haven't done the push upon in quite some time, much like your author, you may experience a bit of soreness in the chest and arms. Don't fret … it's a sign that you're still alive. Don't shy away from the challenge and skip out on day two. Just drop down and do what you can. You'll eventually hit your hundred by the end of the day. Let tomorrow morning be the first day of your challenge. Write it down in your training journal and keep track of your work. Now, drop down and do your first set. Let me know how it goes.
You're better than you think you are … you can do more than you think you can!
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