The title of this blog is misleading. I don’t really have an update. I completely lost track. I was doing my squats on a daily basis. I hit 202 on most days, fell short sometimes. I quit journalling them and lost track of what day I was on. I stopped when I thought it had been about 30 days. End results: My pants feel like they fit better, but I don’t see a visual difference.
202 Pushups A Day
One of my favorite movies is The Pirate Movie, made in 1982, starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. Ted Hamilton played The Pirate King. I recently learned he was 45 when he played that role, the same age I am now. There is a scene in that movie where he’s flexing his muscles for Mabel, Kristy McNichol’s character, and he says, “202 … push-ups a day.”
Wednesday, August 7th, I woke up and decided I was going to do 202 push-ups a day for a month.
On that first day, I did a set of 30 when I first woke up, and another set of 27 just before leaving for work. On first break, I used the private phone room and, wearing my backpack, which weighs about twenty pounds, I did a set of 20 when I went on break. Then I walked two laps around the parking lot, and did another set of 20 before going back to work.
I did the same thing on lunch and last break. When I came home, I did a final set of 35 without the backpack, finishing out at 212. I’d surpassed my goal on the first day. I was extremely sore, and expected to struggle to get to 202 the next day.
Thursday, August 8th, day two: I did a single set of 40 before leaving for work. My sets on breaks and lunch varied from 25 to 35. My final set before bed on Thursday brought me to 247. My entire chest felt like one huge bruise. I doubted I’d be able to match that number the next day. I was worried I’d barely be able to do ten my first set of the morning.
Friday, August 9th, day three: I didn’t feel sore in the morning. I did a set of 40 when I woke up and another set of 40 before work. Unbelievably, there was an unmistakable change in the general shape of my shoulders and chest. I stared at myself in the mirror, running my hands along my chest, and decided I wasn’t imagining it. It was only day three, but I was already seeing results.
I continued my pattern of two sets per break in the private rooms, bookending laps around the parking lot. I had 275 total reps in by the time I left work. By 6:00pm I had 310 reps in and I thought it would be silly not to go for double or nothing. I got a total of 404 before bed.
Saturday, August 10th, day four: Unbound by the workday schedule, I was able to just drop and do as many push-ups as I could every hour or two. I didn’t wear the backpack for any of the reps on this day. I still struggled to match Friday’s numbers, and forced out 405 before bed.
Sunday August 11th, day five: Skipped the backpack again for the day. Able to do sets of 45 more regularly. Did one set of 55 after waiting four hours between sets. My last set before bed brought me to 417 reps total for the day.
Monday, August 12th, day six, today: My polo shirt fits differently than it did before. Fabric is laying against skin that’s not used to having fabric against it. My clothes feel weird on me. This seems insanely impossible on day six, I really didn’t expect to notice any results until later in the month. I managed a set of 50 when I woke up, and another set of 50 before leaving for work. I detoured to the private room on my way to the restroom at around 9:00am and did a set of 45. Two sets on break, with the pack on, a set of 40 and one of 35. So I was at 220 by the end of first break. I took some time off today and left before lunch.
By 5:30pm I had 370 reps in. I managed a full set of 50 at 6:00pm. At this point, I was at 420. It would be silly not to go for 505.
I was expecting this to be a 202 push-up a day challenge. I thought it would be difficult to do 202 push-ups every day for a month, and I thought, at least for the first week, it would be hard to hit the number daily. I’m surprised by these results, but I’m going to roll with it. The new challenge is to continue as I have been, seeing how many push-ups I can do each day. The new expiration date on the challenge is whenever it stops being effective.
As of 7:30pm, I have my 505 reps in for the day. I’ll do more before I go to bed. I also loaded a backpack up with 40lbs of weights wrapped in a bath towel. I’m going to strap that on and see if I can do a set of ten. I’ve been doing squats with it. The funny thing is, even with the backpack on, I still weigh less than I did a little over a year ago.
Some notes: I have been eating a lot. I’m constantly hungry. I don’t know how many calories I’ve been eating a day because I haven’t been counting. The only thing I really try to do is avoid an excess of carb calories, especially simple carbs, especially processed sugars. But I haven’t been doing a good job of avoiding those the past few days. I’m not taking any protein supplements; I’m not taking any performance enhancers.
I have been eating a lot of meat, nuts and beans. My diet has been high protein, high potassium, high iron, b vitamins, and vitamin C.
