After completing Week Four of the One Hundred Push Ups programme the second time over, I did the exhaustion test and completed 33 good form push ups. As a result of the exhaustion test, I go into Week Five following the first column.
Day 1 (24th November 2008):
The week begins with these sets: 17, 19, 15, 15, at least 20, with at least 60 seconds break in between.
This time I followed the rest time strictly. The first four sets were okay. But the last set for me was a killer. I barely made it through to 20.
Tomorrow, the programme changes with the number of sets and less rest time in between. If I don’t make 45 for the exhaustion test, I will have to repeat week 5 or perhaps go further back and build up again.
Day 2 (26th November 2008):
Okay, this is going to get interesting. This time, a total of 8 sets: 10, 10, 13, 13, 10, 10, 9, and at least 25 with a 45 second break between sets.
Or at least that’s how I did it.
If you look at the chart, it lists Sets 1 & 2, then Sets 3 & 4 and so on. And above the instructions say “rest 45 seconds between each level”, not between each set.
Did I rest too much?
Perhaps.
Which may be why I managed to get 30 push ups in the last set.
But if that’s the case, why not list Set 1 as 20 push ups? And Set 2 as 26 push ups?
Rather unclear. So I’ll take my rest between sets, rather than levels, thank you.
Day 3 (28th November 2008):
Okay, the last day of Week 5 sees me doing 13, 13, 15, 15, 12, 12, 10, at least 30 with a 45 second break in between.
The first 7 sets I rested between 45 seconds to a minute. But before the last round I took a break of 2 minutes.
The second set of 12 was rather tough and I felt tired at the end of the set of 10.
The longer rest before the last set allowed me to do 35 consequetive push ups, five more than the minimum required. Had I continued with just a 45 second break, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it.
Weekly Conclusion:
I’m feeling pretty good about this week. I did not take as many liberties with the rest period as I did before. But then again, maybe I wasn’t supposed to be resting so much in the first place.
Still, I look forward to the exhaustion test that I guess I’ll do tomorrow. If I don’t make at least 45 in a row, I’ll have to repeat this week. Well, if I make just 45, I might still decide to repeat the week anyway.
29th Nov: I did my exhaustion test. I only managed 40 push ups. I guess it’s Week Five again. This 6-week programme has now become and 8-week programme!