do 15 REAL pushups in a row

anytime in the foreseeable future.

Dang my bum shoulder!

I just can’t figure out how to give up the challenge and not the goal. So I’ll re-add it in just a sec.

In retrospect, it was not a very realistic challenge, given the shoulder weirdness. Also, I’m happy with how I’m doing on my strength work overall, and that’s more important at this point.

ETA: dammit, that did not work. Oh well.

Did my sets of counter push-ups, but wussed out on the bridge practice. My arms are tired today from yesterday’s workout, and I don’t want to aggravate the sore shoulder too much.

I think it’s gonna be a long haul.

...that I can’t even do 5 “girl push-ups” at this time. Granted, I tried to do these at the end of my work-out (have challenged my upper body quite a bit up to then), so I may not be doing as badly as I think. Still, I am a long way from doing real push-ups and I really want to do them! 2 sets of 15 is the eventual goal, but I’ll start with 1.

First goal: I’m going to do 2 sets of 15 push-ups off the kitchen counter every day this week. I spend enough time in the kitchen waiting for things to cook or boil that this shouldn’t be too hard.

I’m also going to try something else: holding plank position for a minute at a time 5 times before bed every day this week. One thing I need to do a real push-up is increased core strength. I am not good at holding my body as rigidly as I need to be able to in order to do a good push-up. So, plank – to improve my balance and core strength.

Alright!!

Don’t really care. I’d rather be able to do a decent four-limbed staff pose…

But I think I’ve been inspired to start again based on, of all things, a rerun of Fear Factor that I saw last night. The first stunt was not scary, and didn’t seem difficult, but I was amazed at how hard it was for the women to accomplish it. They had to climb up poles with hand/footholds here and there; not too far apart, but while watching them I noticed that they had a very hard time pulling themselves up with their arms. When they had good footholds, they used their legs well, but two women in a row (I only watched that much of the episode) could not complete the stunt, and not because of fear, but because of a lack of upper body strength.

I started thinking about whether I would be able to complete the stunt, and I KNOW I couldn’t. Which makes me think that if I were ever in an emergency situation (say, dangling from a railing or some such thing), I would be totally screwed. I would be scrambled Nikki.

I know that pull-ups require different muscles than push-ups, but I’d like to potentially save myself someday, so I’m going to start work on this goal again with a long-term goal of increased upper body strength and the ability to do just one pull-up. ‘Cause one is all that stands between me and certain death.

Nothing like a little fear of mortality to increase the ol’ motivation!

Did 2 sets of 15. This time it burned quite a bit more. And today I definitely feel it even more. Still no real pain, but my pecs are quite tender. I’m going to give myself a day off today and then do it again on Saturday.

I really like the feeling, though. A LOT. So much so that I did some triceps dips as well after the sets of push-ups. Wish I could work my deltoids, too, but I have no dumbells. Maybe I should look into a set of those.

I was bored last night, so I decided to try a set of 15 “off-the-counter” pushups to see how difficult they were.

Result: not as difficult as I thought. In fact, easy enough that I tried a second set of 15. These were much harder towards the end, but I really started to enjoy the sensation of my pectoral muscles working – I almost never use these.

Today I feel some twinges in these muscles – I can tell they got some use – but no real pain or stiffness. Looks like the “off-the-counter” style of push-up is definitely a good place to start. I’m going to really try to build up my stamina using this style, and then “graduate” to a more difficult push-up. Maybe “girl-style” push-ups are the logical next step.

I found a place in my apartment that will work for doing “off the wall” (actually “off the countertop”; wall was too easy) pushups. I can do them fairly easily, but they definitely work my arms and pecs a lot more than I’m used to.

I’m going to start with 15 of these a day, and then increase by 5 every week. Sound good? After I can do 50 “off the counters”, I’ll try doing a real push-up, just to see if it’s any easier. I can only do about 3 real push-ups in a row, and they are not very deep ones.

Ultimately, I want to do these off my toes. I have NO upper body strength. So likely this goal will start out with ‘girl’ pushups. I am going to do 15 in the morning, and 15 at night. That’s about all I can manage right now, but it’s a start.