Skip to main content

Push Up Up And Away

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I enjoy a good short workout.  I'm all about HIIT workouts.  Get in, get out.  You can follow @triplethedad over there if you want to see my recommendations and what I use.  Or look for the #dadfit tag.

If you followed the former version of this blog, you know I love push ups.  In fact, on at least two or three occasions, I've done the 100 push up challenge.  The idea is that if you follow the six-week program, you'll eventually be able to do 100 push ups (surprise).

Push ups are awesome and underrated both as a workout and as a health measure.  Here are some of things being said about push ups:

  • NY Times: the ultimate barometer of fitness.
  • HuffPost: If I could only do one exercise for the rest of my life, it would be the pushup.
  • LiveStrong: Of all the exercises you can do, though, pushups are one of the most effective. They are accessible, scalable to your fitness level and beneficial.

The people over at Lifehacker.com are doing push ups every day in February.

I've never really been able to get above 45, but I've never failed to drastically improve when using the program.  One of the great things is the program is scaled based on how many you can do at the start, so I don't really blame the program for my failure.  While I'd love to think I could go from doing 20 push ups to 100 in six weeks, the reality is I probably need to do it several times.

And then my wife got me an Amazon Echo for Christmas.  You might wonder how this all ties in.  Well, I'm here to tell you!  I'll be honest, I was hesitant about it first for lots of reasons.  But I've found 100 reasons to love it.  Turns out, the Echo has a 100 push up challenge app.

Bingo.

I started out doing 22 for my initial test last month.  After a couple weeks, my second test turned in 32.  I'm in week 4 Day 2 as I write this, and I performed 130 push ups over 5 sets with a approximately a minute rest between each set.  I had to take some extra rest to get there, sure, but I'm happy with that result.  Heck, the fifth set alone was 35 push ups.  You read that right: after having already done 90 or so push ups in five minutes, I did my previous max in the last set.

[UPDATE]: Since I wrote the above, I had another test day, and I'm happy to say I'm up to 40 consecutive push ups.  Figuring out just what that means as far as how good I am is somewhat hard, but generally, 40 push ups puts a male well above average, and nearing military acceptance levels.  So, yeah me!

Are you going to jump on the Lifehacker daily push up goal, or maybe take on the 100-push up challenge?  How are you getting your exercise this February?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NIGHTMARE: Three Kids; One Invite

Its a triplet parents worst nightmare, really. I only have triplets, so most of what I;m about to say about singletons is conjecture and assumption, but here goes: I imagine that when you have three kids of different ages its easy when only one of them is invited to a birthday party. Any younger child is probably interested in where an older sibling is going, but is easily refocused. Older children probably just don't care what a younger child is doing, but to the extent they are invested, I'd think its easy to explain to them. After all, they are probably in different schools, or at least different grades. They have different teachers, different classmates, and while they may share some friends, those are largely different as well. Not so with triplets When you have three kids all the same age they attend the same  school; often in the same class (as ours do). So when only one of them receives an invite, as our daughter did, its hard not  to feel slighted. After all, ...

Yesterday Was A No Good, Very Bad, Day

Yesterday was a no good, very bad, day. Not just yesterday, the last two or three days, really. I'm not even sure why. I am sure I have not been a good Dad or person these last few days. Maybe I'm not sleeping well - though I think I am. Maybe I'm not happy - though I think I am. Maybe I'm stressed out - though I have no reason to be. Heck, January was the best month for this blog by nearly any measure. The Robes broke up shortly after this show. Our piano player was moody. I've been short with the kids. Little things that  really should  roll off my shoulders have dug claws in me, edging me toward irritation. I've snapped. I've raised my voice. I've been very, very short. To the point my daughter has had to remind me to "take a deep breath, Daddy." A short aside: I'm so, so very proud of her for that. Because it really does defuse the situation; it really takes me out of the moment and allows me to reset. But when your 4-year-old ...

My Kids Believe Some Wild Things

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. It is the holiday season, so this is going to be a quick and fun post. If you want something more serious, you can look my struggles with my daughter's self esteem  here , my blah attitude about the death of cursive here , and why I'm a very bad person here . All kids believe in some clearly wild ideas. Santa. The tooth fairy. Heck, some parents believe vaccines cause disease, so its hard to blame the kids. But mine might be taking it to new levels. For instance, my one son will repeatedly tell me how I'm the best Dad he knows. Its sweet. And gosh, its hard to deny. But I'm also pretty much the only Dad he knows. I guess his other point of reference is the Dad from Peppa Pig. Have you seen that guy? He's a half shaven, rotound pig with the manners you might expect of such a guy. Its a bit surprising he isn't usually adorned with a can of beer in his hand and food stains on his clothing. This suddenly sounds li...