Last week was the fifth week of the 100 push up challenge and it was certainly a challenge. After making it through the fourth week with a reasonable amount of comfort in the end, I was unsure how the change in the personal fitness regime was going to work out. As I mention, session two and three from week five increased the number of sets from five to eight but with slightly lower repetitions.
Session one was a continuation from week four, still five sets but with all sets over 30 except one and at least 40 in the fifth. After getting through week four, this set didn’t prove too difficult and I managed to meet or better the minimum per set with 49 in the fifth for a total of 185. I’ve been trying to make sure I do more per set than required, which has been the plan all along to guarantee that I’d complete the next work out and its been successful, beating the previous peak total work output by 21 push ups.
Session two was the first of the eight set work outs in week five and as I mentioned in week four, I wasn’t completely sure if it’d go in my favour or not. As it turned out, my hunch was correct – more sets on a lower repetition count was definitely more comfortable as it was closer to the style of workouts I’d do at the gym. Set two required a minimum of 18 per set and not less than 45 in the eighth. I blasted through the eight sets, doing at least 20 per set and pushing out 65 in the eighth for a total of 220 – an increase of 35 from two days earlier and I was stoked.
The third session of the week was again eight sets, requiring at least 20 per set and not less than 50 in the eighth. While I managed to blow past the total work output in the second set compared to the first for the week, unfortunately I wasn’t able to accomplish the same feat in the third. I still beat the requirement for each of the eight sets but only managed 64 in the eighth for a total of 235. While not a bad effort, I was hoping to make at least 240-245 to put me in good shape for week six.
I’m looking foward to week six, first work out is five sets and the following two are nine! If I can make it through the third set, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to do the 100 consecutive push ups as the third session has a required total output of 274 push ups!