In addition to the various traditional techniques associated with martial arts like kicking, blocking and punching the martial arts school has a physical component in order to earn a black belt. One of those is to perform 100 push ups and 100 sit-ups. I’m assuming it’s supposed to be 100 straight, although we’ve never done more that 25 in a set in our testing. Regardless, I can’t do it at this point. Not even close.
From my years of weight training for football, I thought I had a decent start on this task. Further, the pitch the instructors use for making it seem more attainable is that a student only has to improve by 2 per month over the 4 year period towards becoming a black belt. Doesn’t seem so bad, really.
Well, I’ve been stuck at about the same level ever since my arm fully recovered from the surgery. And that level is about the same I was at prior to the surgery. I can complete about 35 for a single set, or I can manage a couple of sets of 25 before I run out of steam.
So, in order to try and make some progress, I’ve decided that over a 1 week period, I’m going to do 700 pushups- 100 per day. Today is day 3. I didn’t do push-ups per say yesterday, I used our Total Gym instead but managed to do the 100 reps in 2 sets.
My arms hurt. My chest hurts. Four more days to go. Yay.
5 replies on “700 Pushups”
And you’re doing this in ONE WEEK because . . . .
Just for the shock value.
I have to admit…100 in a straight shot is really tough…especially if you are being a stickler for full extension at the top and locking your elbows. I think that for a long armed person, with perfect technique, 100 straight is a Holy Grail.
I typically do sets of 57 or 77 with 250 to 300 sit-ups in between. I will usually do anywhere from 3-5 sets and I usually start with the push-ups. It gives you a really good workout and gets the blood flowing pretty well if you have to get up and get going. Perfect technique will usually bog me down around 49 and then the sit-ups give me enough recovery to knock out another set.
Good luck, it is all endurance and not really about strength, but figure a push-up is still putting about 70% (give or take) of your body weight on your chest, triceps and shoulders. Hand position is also key, it can totally change the muscle group taking the brunt of the work, so enjoy!
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How many times a week do you do that?
Depends on the week…but at the most three…in any given week and I try to mix up the sequencing, just to keep the counting interesting.
I have found that the counting matters. For instance, first set 77, then 70 then 63, then 56, then 49, then 35 with sit-up in between. Also, counting to 7 eleven times, then ten times…so on and so forth…it just helps to break up the process and messes with the mind enough to let you know when you are almost done.
The sit-ups I try to do 4-7 times a week and have been pretty good at it for a long time. I would say over the last ten years I average out at 5 times a week and 750-1000 of those each time. The push-ups depend more on how much time I want to spend in the gym or what other exercise I want to do on a day.