My exhaustion test at the end of Week 5 was not good enough. I needed 45 to get me into Week 6, but I only managed 40.
The instructions say I need to repeat the week. But I think I will make it difficult for myself. Instead of just repeating same column in the week, I’m going to move to the middle column this time. By right I should be fitter.
So let’s see how it goes.
Day 1 (Ist December 2008):
28, 35, 25, 22, and at least 35 with at least 60 seconds rest in between.
Why do I get into this? The second column is a lot harder than the first that I did last week!
The first set of 28 was not a problem. But 60 seconds later, attempting the second set of 35, I almost died. About 60 seconds later, I did the third set and then I felt so hot, I went to have a bath, came out, wrote some emails before I realised I’d not finished my push ups for the day.
So the set of 22 was pretty easy. Then I sent off more emails – so the break was about 5 minutes. And the last set, I made it through 38 push ups.
I just had a peek at the next day’s table. Oh boy. I’m in a lot of trouble. It looks as though the difference between column 1 and 2 is a lot greater than that between column 2 & 3.
Day 2 (4th December 2008):
As you may have noted, it’s the 3rd, not 4th – yes, I forgot again to do my push ups due to a whole day meeting yesterday.
Today, I’ve done 18, 18, 20, 20, 14, 14, 16 and at least 40 with a 45 second break in between.
As you can see, this second column is a lot more challenging than the first. I kept mostly to a 45 – 60 second break in between the sets. However, for the last one, I rested for 5 minutes before I attempted it. By that 7th set, my arms were aching and tired.
For the 8th set, I managed 41 push ups.
Heart is pounding. Feel like dying. Why oh why didn’t I keep to the first column? Too clever lah.
‘Til the next session…
Day 3 (7th December 2008):
Is this a sign of old age? Or avoidance? I again forgot to continue my tortuous journey toward 100 push ups.
So here we are, Sunday, one day too late again. And the set is 18, 18, 20, 20, 17, 17, 20 and at least 45, with at least a 45 second break in between.
The first two sets are comfortable and I got a bit still at the end of the 4th set. Still, I kept my rest to 45 – 60 seconds and finished up to the 7th set.
I took at 3 minute break before continuing on the 8th set of 45 push ups. Clearly, the rest wasn’t long enough. I stopped for a few breaths after the 31st and 35th push up. I could barely complete a push up by number 43, and only made small push ups.
It seems I am worse off than when I did the first column last week and completed 35 push ups for the final set without any break.
It’s interesting that in the first column, the greatest number of push ups is in sets 3 & 4. In the 5th & 6th to 7th set, the number of push ups decrease. In contrast, in the middle and last column the 5th & 6th set decrease, then increase again in the 7th set.
Weekly Conclusion:
Well, instead of following and repeating the first column like I should have, I went ahead and moved on to the second column.
Boy do I regret it. The second column is a lot more challenging than the first and I could not finish it. It is quite demoralizing. But you could say, I asked for it.
I shall proceed on with the exhaustion test tomorrow and see where I am compared to last week. The number of push ups to beat is last week’s 40 and hopefully, I get to beyond 45 – the absolute minimum that’ll take me to Week 6.
9th December: So I waited two days till today to complete my exhuastion test. I did a total of 51 push ups. If you remember, last week, I only managed to complete 40 push ups.
With this result, I barely made it into the second column of Week 6. A quick glance shows that the difference between Column 1 and Column 2 is quite big and that makes me feel like taking Week 6 through Column 1 instead.
Well, I’ll give it a think. I shall start Week 6 mid-week this week, since I messed up last week.
Week 6, here I come. I’m excited. The end seems so close.