I finished out day 6 with 520 total reps. Ten of them were with my forty-pound backpack on.
Tuesday, August 13th, Day 7: I did one set of 50 when I woke up, and a set of 55 before I left for work. I snuck in two sets before first break without my pack, and two sets with the pack on each break and lunch. I averaged 35 per set with the pack on, without it I did sets of 45. At the end of the work day I had 420.
I did several sets at home and finished the day with 550. None of those were with the forty-pound pack.
Wednesday, August 14th, Day 8: I did two sets of 50 and a set of 45 before leaving for work. I did two sets before break of 45 each. On break, with the twenty-pound pack, I did two sets of 40, bringing me to 310 at the end of first break. I did two sets of 50 on lunch with the twenty-pound pack, and on last break I struggled to bring my workday-end total to 505. I was trying to hit 520, but I collapsed onto my chest at 15 reps on the last set with the pack on. That was at 3:45pm. At 6:20pm I did a set of 30. I was going for 50, but couldn’t make it. At 8:00 I did my final set of the night. I managed to add 25 pushups, bringing my daily total to 560. The forty-pound pack was not used on the eighth day.
My chest, upper arms, and back were all very sore. They were mildly sore when I woke up and became increasingly sore throughout the day with each new set of reps. I am curious to see if this trend of steadily increasing my daily output can continue.
By doing an extra set of reps before I left for work, I was hoping to increase my maximum output for the day. But it seems that I’m only going to get a certain number of reps in for a given day whether I get them out of the way early or squeeze them in before bed. I just tire out more quickly and am able to do less and less reps per set as the day wears on when I do more reps early in the day.
Thursday, August 15th, Day 9: I had to pull back on the reigns on the ninth day. My last set of the night on day 8 was cut short by a sharp pain in my lower left abdomen during the pushups. I was hoping that would resolve itself overnight, but it did not. The sharp pain persisted into my morning set. Also, my upper arms and chest were still pretty sore. I limited sets to 30 on day 9, didn’t use either backpack, skipped extra sets. I finished the work day with 270 reps. I did a set of 30 at 7:00pm, and another at 8:30pm, bringing the grand total for day 9 to 330 reps. The first day I didn’t surpass the day before, and I fell short quite a bit. But, I’m still over 202, so I consider that a win.
Friday, August 16th, Day 10: I did a set of 40 in the morning. It was exhausting and aggravated the tennis elbow I’ve had in my left elbow since before I started the challenge. Previously, the push ups didn’t seem to bother it, but on the tenth day, it became bothered. I didn’t use the pack this day, did short sets, and finished the day with 303.
Saturday, August 17th, Day 11: The eleventh day was a fail. I didn’t hit 202. I only got in 125 pushups.
Sunday, August 18th, Day 12, the last day: I did more than on day 11, but I didn’t get to 202. I finished the day with 156.
So, it’s time to hang it up. My left elbow is killing me, my muscles are fatigued and won’t perform. It’s time to rest up, heal up, and try again. I went too hard, too fast this time. Next time I’ll start slower. I’ll stick to the plan instead of trying to push it every day, save my energy so I’ll have the stamina to go the full month.
