I’ve completed a 4000 push-ups challenge this month, together with about 30 others from my Crossfit gym.
I decided to apply the “Margin of Safety” principle and did 150 per day, so I finished a couple of days early.
It was a real challenge for me, as push-ups are one of my least-liked exercises. I applied my push-up checklist and made great progress over the past 4 weeks. Now, whenever push-ups come up in the gym, I’ll be ready. (But I still won’t like them.)
It took some experimentation to find the best setup. In the end, this one worked best for me:
- Do it (and complete it) first thing in the morning. No matter how you feel.
- Do a short warm-up.
- Do 3 sets of 10 push-ups, and then reward yourself with a couple of minutes of something (emails, social media etc.) Rinse and repeat.
- Never sacrifice your form. If you can’t keep proper form (chest touches the floor & proper plank posture), then scale it down (= do them on a bench or on your knees.) I did >80% scaled ones.
- Play an uplifting song and try to complete all three sets within this one song.
- Do different kinds of push-ups to mix up the muscles you need to use.
- Do a victory scream/dance when you are done (optional)
