How to Do 100 Push-Ups

January 20, 2012, By Jim Higley 1 comment

Jim Higley

Upper body strength has never been high on my list of attributes. I've been told I have nice teeth. Some people like the color of my eyes. I remember my third grade piano teacher telling me I had long fingers. Lousy practice habits. Nonetheless, she liked my fingers.

But I've never been known for having an awesome chest.

So that's why, a couple of months ago, I was excited to find—during one of my apps-oholic binges—an app for my smart phone that promised to have me doing "100 Consecutive Push Ups" in six weeks.

The app description reeled me in:

"If you're serious about increasing your strength, follow this six-week training program and you'll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups! Think there's no way you could do this? I think you can! All you need is a good plan, plenty of discipline and about 30 minutes a week to achieve this goal!"

I should also mention that I tend to buy magazines sporting headlines that claim, "Five Easy Ways to Lose Ten Pounds in Two Weeks!" so I'm an easy target. But this app had over 4,500 ratings with an average score of 3.5 out of 5.0. And after quickly scanning the first twenty reviews, I was convinced this thing had promise. Plus, at $1.99, I told myself I'd just skip tomorrow's cup of java at Starbucks and I'd be even-steven.

According to Wikipedia, a push-up is "a common strength training exercise performed in a prone position, lying horizontal and face down, raising and lowering the body using the arms." Push-ups are a basic exercise used in civilian athletic training or physical education and, especially, in military physical training and will develop the pectoral muscles and triceps, with ancillary benefits to the deltoids, serratus anterior, coracobrachialis and the midsection as a whole.

Within an hour of downloading the app, I was taking the initial assessment to calculate my baseline. I did take a quick detour to the "Good Form" section to make sure I knew how to do a legitimate push-up (and offered up a little bit of thanks when I confirmed that I wasn't expected to touch my nose to the ground as part of executing acceptable form).

Initial assessment: 27.

I actually thought that was decent. Apparently, the application thought so, too, because it instantly suggested that I start out at week three.

"Heck, ya," I thought. "Let's get this chest moving!"