I decided to repeat Week Four of the 100 push ups programme due to my poor performance last week.
Day 1 (17th November 2008):
The sets are 18, 22, 16, 16 and at least 25, with at least 60 seconds of rest in between.
The first four sets were not too bad, but I didn’t breeze through them. I struggled to complete the last set of 25 but could not manage even one more after.
However, I would say I struggled through this week’s less than I did the first time around.
Will I proceed to the fifth week next week? Or will I have to repeat it again? Only time will tell.
Day 2 (20th November 2008):
If you notice that the 20th isn’t a Wednesday, you’re right. I forgot to do the push ups. Something as easy as this three times a week is too difficult even for me to remember!
So the sets this time are 20, 25, 20, 20 and at least 28 with at least 90 seconds of rest in between.
As I was doing the push ups in between writing, I had huge breaks between the sets. This enabled me to do all relatively easily. Indeed, the last set I managed to put out 31 push ups.
So maybe that’s the key. Maybe I’m not resting enough between the sets for my fitness level.
But if I want to follow the programme properly, maybe I shouldn’t be taking such long breaks. I’m merely cheating myself.
So this week’s Day 3 will have to take place on Saturday, if I don’t forget again. I will try to be more careful about the time between the push ups and see where that gets me.
Day 3 (22nd November 2008):
I concluded Week 4 with sets of 23, 28, 23, 23, and at least 33 with at least 120 seconds of rest in between.
I tried to stick to the rest period as closely as possible, but I was so sleepy that I actually fell asleep between the 4th and 5th set for 10 minutes while waiting for the 120 seconds to lapse.
The final set was a killer and I barely managed to finish it.
Weekly Conclusion:
I wasn’t particularly pleased with my performance but I decided to push on to the fifth week.
Before I can begin Week Five of the programme, I had to an exhaustion test again.
You recall the previous exhaustion test at the end of Week Two I performed 22 push ups. I am glad to announce that this week, I did 33 push ups!
I wish at my previous attempt of Week 4, I had gone on with the exhaustion test just to see where I was and compare it to the results after giving Week 4 a second go.
Anyway, even though an additional 11 push ups after 2 weeks seems like something, for the first time, I’m moving to the first column in Week 5. I feel a little disappointed that I could not continue in the same column. But I shall push on. Week 5 promises to be quite interesting.