Note to self: Do not wear pajama bottoms with a dangling waist string while doing push ups so that cat will not get under me and attack said dangling strings.

This is my fifth week. I did Week 4, Day 3, Column 2 this morning. The total attempted last time was 120 and this time was 130. That increase worked better for me than jumping to 140.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	23	23	0	2 mins
2	28	28	0	2 mins
3	23	23	0	2 mins
4	23	23	0	4 mins
5	33	33	0
Total:	130	130	0

I did take a longer break again before the last set. I'll probably repeat this round again on Friday, but with shorter breaks, before increasing the total again next week.

Chocolate ice cream was my reward before going to bed. My reward for knocking out 50 push ups in a row. This morning I did another round of push ups in my quest for 100. I repeated the same thing I did on Friday - Week 4, Day 1, Column 3 - though I got a little closer to the plan total of 120.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	21	21	0	1.5 min
2	25	25	0	1.5 min
3	21	21	0	1.5 mins
4	21	21	0	3 mins
5	32	29	-3
Total:	120	117	-3

From some other blogs I've seen and from my brother Greg's updates in the comments, it seems getting past week 4 is a pretty good challenge in itself. I put together a spreadsheet that details all my push up workouts against the attempted plan day. At the end of the week I'll put it up as a pdf for historical reference and just in case anyone is interested.

Being able to do 50 is a bit of a confidence booster. I remember doing 60 in one minute back in college. Basically one per second. I may be getting close to that again.

Three days in a row of running, with plans for a fourth. I ran Wednesday morning, Thursday after work and today (Friday) after work. Tomorrow morning I plan to run with Tim and possibly the group run after that.

This morning I did another round of push ups. I attempted Week 4, Day 1, Column 3, with my own arbitrary rest breaks. I was doing pretty well until the last set and then could not reach the target of 32. I do feel like I am doing better, just taking the progress at a slower pace than the Hundred Push Ups program.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	21	21	0	1.5 min
2	25	25	0	1.5 min
3	21	21	0	1.5 mins
4	21	21	0	3 mins
5	32	25	-7
Total:	120	113	-7

I found a Twenty Five Pull Ups program that I may try to do also. That way I would complement my huge chest and tricep muscles with huge back and bicep muscles. "I'm huge, Jerry."

This is my fourth week of doing the 100 push up challenge. More specifically I have done eight of the routines since starting on January 26. I am not progressing according to the schedule, so I am going to bounce around different routines and advance as I see fit. Today I did the middle column of sets for Week 4, Day 2. Although I fell 3 short on the last set, I feel pretty good about it. I'm still taking a longer recovery time before the last set too. Based on how I felt doing set number four, I know I wouldn't get anywhere close to the max if I did not rest longer before set five. I did these after a good morning run.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	20	20	0	1 min
2	25	25	0	1 min
3	20	20	0	2 mins
4	20	20	0	5 mins
5	28	25	-3
Total:	113	110	-3

Wednesday I think I will either repeat this workout or possibly go back to Week 4, Day 1, Column 3 and see how that goes. Baby steps...

I fell asleep during the Olympic athletes marching in and did not wake up enough to try day 3 on Friday. Saturday morning was the trial (and error) for Week 4, Day 3. I think the jump from 120 total for all sets on Monday to 140 on Wednesday to 160 today is way too much for me. I think I need to take smaller steps. Looking ahead to Week 5, it jumps up to totals of 170, 185, and then 200. I don't think I'm ready for that. Perhaps going back to Week 4, Day 2, the middle column that has a total of 113. Then jump back to Day 1 with the total of 120, then up to Day 2, third column with the total of 140.

I'll have to figure out a new labeling system as I'll be jumping around. Technically this was my second week of doing the challenge. I had been doing some push ups before starting and I started with Week 3 per the instructions on the web site, but maybe I shouldn't have started there.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	29	29	0	2 mins
2	33	33	0	2 mins
3	29	29	0	2 mins
4	29	23	-6	5 mins
5	40	25	-15
Total:	160	139	-21

I went for a 5 mile run after work. It was during a high wind warning, but it wasn't too bad for me. The wind made it chilly so I bundled up a bit more than I would have for 43 degrees. I mainly ran through a neighborhood with two story houses that did a pretty good job of breaking the wind. I only fought it head on a couple of times. It seems that mainly it was either a cross wind or tail wind. It felt good to get out since I had skipped Monday and Tuesday.

For the push up challenge, it was definitely a struggle again. I did more than what the mid level has, but short of the highest level. Oh well, I will keep at it anyway. I did a few weight exercises last night at the apartment workout room. I focused on biceps and lat pull-downs to help with my pull ups. I also did two sets of dumbell bench press, just to see if the push ups have helped. I definitely feel about as strong in that area as I have in previous years when I went to the gym to lift regularly.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference	Post Rest Time
1	25	25	0	2 mins
2	29	29	0	2 mins
3	25	25	0	2 mins
4	25	22	-3	5 mins
5	36	26	-10	7 hours :)
Total:	140	127	-13

The challenge plan for today did not increase the number of push ups, but instead decreased the amount of time between sets from 2 minutes last Friday to 1 minute. I did these before going to bed last night. I fell short on the fourth set and then took about a 4 minute break before attempting the 32 on the fifth set. I fell short there too.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference
1	21	21	0
2	25	25	0
3	21	21	0
4	21	19	-2
5	32	26	-6
Total:	120	114	-8

I just took another look at the plan. I have been attempting the highest level as directed based on the number of push ups I could do at one time. There are two other levels below this that do fewer push ups per set. Presumably those levels also get you to the 100 final goal. I think I'm going to stop sweating the fact that I couldn't do the full number per set and consider repeating days. The numbers that I did last night are higher than the mid level. I figure as long as that holds true, I can keep going. I will still attempt the numbers on the highest level, but not worry so much about falling a bit short on a couple of sets.

My wife has been encouraging as I do these, but last night while watching me struggle she asked why I am doing this challenge. I didn't have a good answer. The same reason we climb mountains, run marathons, or jump out of airplanes I guess. Because it is there. Because it is a challenge. Some challenges like this are ones you can pick and choose for yourself. Those are usually more fun than the ones that you don't pick, but happen in life.

I survived, but again only with a bit longer break before the last set - probably about 5 minutes again. The 2 minute break between each set definitely helped. Longer breaks mean a better recovery. We will see what happens as I start Week 4 on Monday, where it is 120 total again, but only 1 minute break between the sets.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference
1	22	22	0
2	30	30	0
3	20	20	0
4	20	20	0
5	28	28	0
Total:	120	120	0

Mixed feelings about this one. The first set of 15 (set 3) was not easy. And the second set of 15 was even tougher. I knew the last set of 25 minimum was not going to happen. The suggested break between sets is 90 seconds. I did that for the first 4 sets. But after set 4, I took about a 5 minute break. Does this day count? I'll go with it for now, but I know that to continue the challenge progress I will have to do better.

Set	The plan	What I did	Difference / Notes
1	20	20	0
2	25	25	0
3	15	15	0
4	15	15	0
5	25	30	+5 / Took a 5 minute rest before attempting.
Total:	100	105	+5

Last night I did some chin ups (under-handed grip); not as part of a challenge but just because I want to. I started doing these a few weeks ago and could only do about 3 at once. I started doing three sets and have built up to 5 or 6 chin ups. I am going to start doing five sets and also alternating between chin ups and pull ups (over-handed or palms facing away). Last night I did five sets of chin ups: 5, 5, 3, 3, 3.

Here's to progress.