Two things I have never been very good at is push-ups and the plank. Even at my fittest, which would probably be junior and senior year in high school during soccer and basketball season, I could really only ever do about 30 or 35 push-ups without stopping. It wasn't until recently that I had ever even tried the plank. I thought 30 seconds is about all I could do.
I was thinking of doing an experiment. What better way to get better at something than to do it every day? So yesterday I decided every single day during February, just once a day, I would do push-ups until I couldn't do push-ups anymore. Sadly, I only made it 25. Then today I was thinking, why stop at push-ups? I suck at the plank too!
So every single day, I will do push-ups until I fail and then the plank until I fail, with a decent break in between. I'm just curious what I could be doing by the end of the month. 50 push-ups? 2 or 3 minutes for the plank?
What this is not, is a daily workout routine of killing my muscles day after day. Yes, I understand that you should not lift your arms for 28 days straight or run 5 miles a day for a month. Just once a day should be enough to improve.
So here are the numbers so far:
02/01: push-ups: 25
02/02: push-ups: 30 / plank: 54 seconds
Anyone else interested in doing this as well?
I wanted to make February "The Perfect Day of Food" month, but I never did the proper research for it. Maybe March?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Go Till Failure Month
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7 comments:
I'm so in, gathering my first day's numbers now....
By: Jacob on February 2, 2011 at 10:10 PM
1:30 on my first plank ever.
By: Jacob on February 2, 2011 at 10:13 PM
31 push-ups. Since I want to track my progress online (it makes good motivation) but I don't really want to blog, you can read my future updates at:
http://www.jacobandlynn.com/challenge.htm
By: Jacob on February 2, 2011 at 10:54 PM
Ash and I are finishing up week 7 of P90X so I'm getting plenty of push-ups in right now, but I'll throw this out there.
I would put money on you doing at least 100 push-ups at once by the end of the month. Also, I think there's a chance that when you do that last plank you'll get bored and stop before your muscles fail. This is assuming that you do it every day.
Once your muscles get used to doing that action consistently, you'll be able to catch a "second wind" so to speak and build your numbers and your times pretty rapidly.
By: Mike Brody on February 3, 2011 at 9:07 AM
haha!! 100 push-ups?! I'll take it!! who does 100 push-ups in a row? that's crazy. I think you're right about the plank. You could probably build that up to be able to do it a long time. I think at that point, I'd put a weight on my back or something.
We now have 4 people doing the challenge, it's pretty sweet.
By: Fulton on February 3, 2011 at 9:26 AM
I'm in. How are we doing all these pushups? Military, shoulder width, wide, etc? Set time between each or just crank them out?
By: Scott on February 7, 2011 at 7:25 PM
Nice! I was wondering how long it would take you to comment Scott. I figured this would be right up your alley!
For pushups, I am doing whatever is most comfortable, so about shoulder width. And you can do them as fast or slow as you want, I just try to crank them out as fast as possible. And go till you can't go anymore.
I'm doing the same kind of plank you do, in pushup form but with your elbows on the ground.
As far as how much time between pushups and plank, any amount of time is fine. I spread it out long enough that my plank isn't compromised by being tired from pushups.
By: Fulton on February 7, 2011 at 7:38 PM
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