One to One Hundred: Part Three (aka the part that ends with me giving up)

For anyone not familiar with the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge, it's a six week program designed to, as the name suggests, train you to do 100 push ups.

What's This all about? Check out Part One and Part Two.

The days below are all training days, not actual days.

January 3rd, 2010

Day 19, 20, 21 and 22
This week, the plan was to do four sets of 10 push ups, on three different days. What I ended up doing was 10 push ups the first day, two sets of 10 the second, 3 sets of 10 on the third and added a fourth day where I did five sets of 5 push ups. Although I didn't do what I'd set out to do, I'm still calling this a success.

Day 23
Alright, back on track and starting Week 3. Today's Sets: 10, 12, 7, 7, Max (9). Scary. I thought it would be much tougher, but apparently my catch-up-week last week really did help, because the set of 10 was a breeze, and the two sets of 7 felt like I hardly had to do any at all. The set of 12 was a little rough, but I made it through. AND THE MAX SET! Oh the max set. I only needed to do 9, but I did 12, because I rock.

Day 24

Day two. Today I need to do 10, 12, 8, 8, Max (12). This day was significantly harder then the first. The sets fo 10 and 8 were not too bad, but the 12s were very difficult.

Day 25

Last day. Today's sets: 11, 13, 9, 9, Max (13). I was not at all looking forward to this. I had planned to do it early in the day, but I put it off and put it off. But I did it. I did it and it was hard, but now it's over and I get to go on to week four.

Day 26

Week 4! I've never made it this far before. Not ever. When I checked out the sets I'd be doing today, I kind of had a panic attack. Ok, not really, but it is scary and if I was prone to panic attacks, I'd probably have had one. I need to do 12, 14, 11, 10, Max (16). Seriously, that's a lot of push ups.  I had trouble last week, when the most I had to do in any one set was 13. Oh man. Lets get this over with.

Ok, so I did it! 14 set and the 16 sets were rough. Really rough. But I did it, and that's all the matters, right?

Day 27

Alright, so I did that one set on Tuesday of last week, and then I did no more the rest of the week. So, lets try week 4 again. Today I'll be doing 12, 14, 11, 10, Max (16), Again. Somehow, it was three times as hard this time then it was last time. Could it be because of the 7 day sabbatical I took? I'd say so. But I did it, and it's done. Again.

Day 28

So, i took a few weeks off from push-ups, so that I didn't give up on this altogether. I switched to free weights instead, but now I'm back at it, and starting Week 4, day 1. Today's Sets: 12, 14, 11, 10, Max (16). It was tough. Really tough. But I did it, but that last 16 were close to not getting done. I got to 14 and almost fell over, but I pushed through it!

Day 29

Today: 14, 16, 12, 12, Max (18). Failed. Another case of too many days off in a row. I did four sets of 12, though. I'll try again in a couple days.

Day 30

Today's Goal: 14, 16, 12, 12, Max (18). Today's actual: 14, 15, 12, 12, 15.  Not too bad. All in all, I'm proud of what I accomplished today, and I'll try again in a few more. I feel sufficiently exhausted, which signals to me that it was a job well done.

Day 31

Today, I don't feel like doing any push-up at all. It's Friday and I'm exhausted and I want to curl up in my bed and sleep untill it's Saturday. Instead, I compromise, and instead of shooting for 14, 16, 12, 12, Max (18), I did three sets of 13, and two sets of 12.

Day 32 - March 9th, 2009

Today, I decided to quit. I am giving up on the one hundred push-up challenge. The differences between this time and the previous two attempts are that I was actually still seeing improvements and that this is actually a conscious decision to quit, rather then procrastination-turns-into-quitting ("Hmm, it's been three months since I've done any push ups. I guess I'm not bothering with it anymore..."). I mean, there was a lot of procrastination. Lots of too many days between training days making it harder then it should be. I just really really hate push ups. I don't hate exercise. I like going for walks. I loved playing soccer when I was in better shape. Even weightlifting, while it make not be fun, I don't hate it. Push ups, though. Push ups I hate. I always thought I hated them because they were hard. Because I couldn't do them. No. It turns out I just hate them. So I'm giving up. I think my fitness journey will be better off for it. I know my mental health will be.

I did one last exhaustion test. I made it to 18.

Good-bye Hundred Push Ups Challenge. I'd say it's been fun, but...well, you know.