Here we go again with Day 1 of the second week of the hundred push ups plan.
Last Thursday I was able to finish Week 1 quite strongly and felt quietly confident about my chances of getting through Week 2 without too much of a problem.
The plan had me sticking with column 3 of the workout as follows –
Required: 12, 12, 9, 9, at least 10
Here’s how it went. First of all I gave myself 10 or 15 minutes recovery time after a 10k run in the heat. The run went well, but I was a little dehydrated – luckily my thoughtful wife (who incidentally is taking the initial test today and will start the push up plan this week) had an ice cold bottle of Mandarin-flavored HEED waiting for me which really helped. Thanks!
The first 12 were tough; tougher than I expected them to be. The clicks and creaks of my joints and bones told me I should have warmed up a bit first, but too late to worry about that now. 60 seconds later I was on my second set of 12 – much better this time around. The couple of nines were fine and after another 60 seconds rest and a quick chug of HEED I ploughed right in to the final set. I was determined to beat my initial test (18) and my max from Thursday (21) and somehow I gutted out 25 before calling it a day! Good times…
Actual: 12, 12, 9, 9, 25
After another five or six minutes rest, I completed Week 2 of the Essential Abs program – another progressive 6-week plan to improve core strength. I like the way this one is turning out too.
How’s everyone else doing on the plan?
Impressive! I just did the same day, though without such an awesome finish. It’s a good plan. Each day seems challenging but turns out to be possible, and I’ve been surprised by my progress.
One question — hundredpushups.com has Week 2 Day 1 at 12, 12, 9, *7*, at least 10. So on that fourth set either you’re working too hard, or the rest of us aren’t working hard enough.
i did week 2 day 1 yesterday, and i actually did better than i expected! yay!
Nick: yeah my mistake – not sure where that *9* came from. good catch! Glad you’re surprising yourself…
Laura: excellent news! day 2 for me tonight. will post about it later…