The Power of the Push-up

After Chloe was born, I took a Pilates class. I loved it, and when it ended I kept three moves with me. One was the basic push-up. I continued doing ten push-ups about three times a week, and I thought I was really doing well “for a girl.” Then I read that a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups. I can’t do that now! Time to step it up. I slowly got to where I was doing 12-14 push-ups two or three times a week. I knew I needed to do more, but I didn’t have the right inspiration. Then, a few months ago, I started to feel the pressure of my upcoming birthday. Thirty-five! I have a friend who wakes up each year on his birthday and does one push-up for each year of age. I got to thinking- could I do 35 push-ups by my 35th birthday?

I spent a couple of weeks trying to up my number, and was consistently doing 15 push-ups every other day. Then the same friend introduced me to the program at hundredpushups.com. The idea is that their interval training program can take you from zero to 100 push-ups in as little as six weeks of training. This kind of program is perfect for me- there are charts, specific numbers, and a definable goal. So I got started.

This isn’t news, since most of you have heard me talk about my push-ups over the last five weeks. But what is noteworthy is how good this has made me feel. I have loved seeing the results of the training- my arms look different, and I regularly do 100 pushups in the course of one workout. There has been something so empowering about doing this program- I highly recommend it to all of you, especially to the women. It’s nice to feel strong physically. It goes a long way towards feeling strong mentally.

Do I think I’ll be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups after another week and a half of this program? Probably not. The program allows for you to repeat weeks in order to get strong enough to do 100, but I’m not sure I need to do that. I just want to complete the program, and then figure out some level of the training to stick to in order to maintain the strength I’ve gained. I’m happy in the knowledge that tomorrow morning, I will easily be able to do 35 push-ups. Not a bad way to begin a new year.