The 100 Push-ups Challenge — Week 3 Revisited

Oops. I kind of dropped the ball on the 100 push-up challenge last week. First, the exhaustion test tired me out so efficiently on Monday that I didn’t do Day 1 until Tuesday — and after that, I was so off kilter that I completely forgot to do Day 2 until Saturday at the gym, and by then I’d pretty much given up on Week 3 entirely.

I call for a do-over!

Besides, is it me or is the jump from Week 2 intensity to Week 3 intensity a little harsh? From the end of Week 2 to the beginning of Week 3 the darn thing demands an extra ten or a dozen push-ups. Yeesh!

And hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you — what exactly is the definition of “rest time” between sets? I can sit and stare at my iPod counting down the 60 seconds between sets on Day 1, but the 120 seconds on Day 3 seems like an awfully long pause. Am I allowed to do anything except wish I were naturally muscular doing the rest period? I’ve taken to tidying between sets. Five sets with two minutes between each = 10 minutes of cleaning, which is more than I do on most days. (Not really. But every little bit helps!)

Or am I allowed to do some other exercise that doesn’t tax my already shaky arms? Leg lifts, maybe? What do you think? Or should I just lie on the floor in the child position and wait for the universe to send me more energy so I can get through the next set?

Week 3, here I come! Again.

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

6 thoughts on “The 100 Push-ups Challenge — Week 3 Revisited”

  1. ha! quit yer whinging and get back at it;))

    i wondered about the rest times too…and also have taken to putting away laundry while waiting for my chime to return to my touch;). and yes, some of the jumps are brutal ( week 5 to 6??? killer…)…but you will be able to do it.

    i started over again, and then forgot,lol! but i am being goodish this week so far – you will love the results. it was after week three where i really started appreciating the results of the shakiness!

    oh, i also do the 200 situp program on the breaks sometimes…

  2. LOL. What, you mean complaining about push-ups doesn’t count as actual push-ups?

    Damn.

    (Note to self: Never hire Angela as a motivational coach.)

    (Hahaha, just typed “motivational couch” instead. Now *that* would be fantastic — a sofa that turfs you onto the floor and won’t let you sit back down again until you’ve done five sets!! )

    (I think I need some more coffee now.)

  3. I usually lay on the floor and moan…

    Rest between sets usually means just that. Rest. As in, do nothing at all, except contemplate the stain on the carpet you just noticed. The idea is to let the muscles rest. However, the longest rest I’ve seen in other plans was a minute. But yeah, I haven’t been doing much except get water…

    Week three awaits…

  4. So, I did day 1 of Week 3 and that was it. So, I’m with you on the “do over”.
    I would agree that rest is rest… leg lifts will affect your ability to do pushups because when you are doing pushups you are using your core muscles to keep your body in that perfectly straight line :). I believe you even mentioned that you were noticing that your ab muscles were developing.

    So, that’s my two cents. Week 3, here we come (again).

  5. Basically you are supposed to do nothing during the rest periods. The way that the program is designed with the 60, 90 and 120 second rest periods is for pyramid training. Theoretically if you look at the graphs section of the app you will notice the following pattern which I’m going to use some made up numbers to illustrate things. Say on day 1, week 1 you do 10 reps, then day 2 you do 15 and day 3 you do 20. On week 2 you may do 13, 18, 23 reps respectively. You will notice if you compare the same day from week to week you are doing more push ups overall for that day. The longer rest times at the end of the week are to train your body to do more push ups for the start of the next week where the program will expect you to do more in less time.

    I’d recommend that on days you do the exhaustion test that you don’t do any other work. So if you do an exhaustion test on Monday wait until Wednesday until you start day 1 of the new week.

  6. I am SO glad it’s not just me who doesn’t know what to do with themselves during the rest periods! I sit there thinking that I should embrace this quiet time to sit and so nothing, it’s only like 5 min in a day….but I find myself wanting to get up and fold laundry, make the bed, do sit ups, anything but do nothing.

    I actually had to take a break as well when I got a bad cold and didn’t get back into it so tomorrow I am going to start over. And hope the germs stay away for 6 weeks. 🙂 I also downloaded the sit ups and squats app.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *