100 Pushups--Try It!

A friend asked me to join her in the 100 Pushup Challenge. At first, I thought she was nuts. I've never had much upper body strength. As a former track athlete, I always trained my legs and forgot about the rest. That's fine when you're in high school and you take your athletic frame for granted. But after a couple pregnancies, some broken bones/injuries, a few surgeries, and a whole lot of life, you look at things a little differently. Now that I'm in my 40s, make that my very early 40s, I realize that it's important to work your entire body or you won't see results. And to be totally honest, the thought of being able to say I could do 100 pushups really spoke to my pride. The 100 Pushup Challenge is a 6-week plan and it's conveniently broken down into 3 simple workouts each week. All you're doing is pushups. Simple as that. You start with an assessment. How many good form pushups can you do before you reach exhaustion? And none of this "girl" stuff with the bent knees. It's both feet on the floor and press it out. I could only do 10. I was a little disappointed, but I realized that many women my age, and many women even younger than me, can barely do 1 standard pushup, so that's not a bad start. Never mind that my husband popped out 30 in a row like a hydraulic lift and I wanted to hit him in the back of the head with my shoe. Everyone has to start somewhere. By the end of the second week, I could crank out a set of 15 pushups like it was no big deal. I'm still working on it and I'll update you on my progress soon. Check out the link over in the Links section and see if you can do it. It's something the entire family can do and it's a fun, friendly way to get everyone working toward a common goal.