I love push ups.  They are some of the most rewarding exercises for me.  Plus, pull ups and dips, but we’re just talking push ups today.  I’m not sure if it’s because there was a time when I couldn’t do one on my knees, much less on my toes, and now I can do a few sets of 10-15 or maybe it’s because it’s one of those exercises that not just anyone can do without working up to it.  When I first started working out, I got involved with some gym peeps that did 95% weight lifting and fell in love with building muscle.  I loved getting stronger!  I don’t remember when I started getting strong enough to do push ups, but now I can easily do them on my toes (usually called boy push ups, but girls can totally do them too so I usually just call them normal or on the toes push ups!).

The thing I love about push-ups is that they can be done anywhere and by most anyone.  If you can’t do a full push up on your toes, maybe you can on your knees, but maybe you’ll have to start with wall push ups or stair push-ups.  Regardless of your level, YOU can do push ups too…you just have to build up your strength!

Seeing as it’s summertime, my motivation is seriously lacking.  I’m supposed to be training for a 5k next month and a 10 miler in September, but I’ve only been out running a couple of times for about 2-2.5 miles each time.  Plus, the kids are out of school for the summer so it’s much harder for me to get motivated to get to the gym since I would have to work it around when Eric was home.  Soooo, I decided to start up my 100 Push Up challenge again.  I started it sometime back, but only made it about halfway through.  I fell off the wagon and missed days and then at some point, I just said, forget it.  I’m telling YOU ALL this, so you can join in this challenge with me!  There is actually a website that lays it all out for you.  There’s an app too so you can do it on your phone!

Here’s the main website to get you started…

one hundred push ups

Make sure you peruse the website well and read about proper form and what not.  I’m a stickler for good form!  I overhear an occasional comment in the gym when I’m doing my push ups and other than the fact that I’m doing them on my toes, they are impressed with my form.  I figure it’s not worth doing, if you’re not going to do it right!  😉

For those who can’t quite do push ups on their toes, I found this video on YouTube that shows a couple of modifications.  She’s apparently a coach for BeachBody so she references P90X, but then she gets in to the modifications.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jM5y5nLHQg]

The first step in the challenge is to take the initial test to see how many full, good form push ups you can do.  I did my test today and made it to…20.  I was losing steam around rep 13-14, but I was able to eek out 20 without losing form.  I even video’d the test for you, but it was my first time video’ing myself for something like this and I was in a hurry because we were getting ready for the pool and I underestimated what all you would see on camera sooo…let’s just say, it’s not fit for blog posting.  lol.  I’ll have to try again when I’m not in a hurry and wearing more than my bathing suit top!

Once you read up on the challenge and do your initial test, come back and share your results! We’re all in this together!

(image source)