Today marks a year since I started a challenge to complete 100 press-ups daily. I didn’t know it would end up being a year when I began but I am very pleased it has turned out this way. Here I reveal what I have learned from my 100 daily press-ups challenge.
It takes another person’s idea
On November 1, 2023, a friend Alan announced on social media he would be celebrating his 60th birthday month by doing 100 press ups each day to raise money for a charity close to his heart.
To support him, I said I would do the same. Without his idea, I would not have thought to do that first month and knowing I was supporting someone else kept me going.
It was tough at the start
I had been building up my press ups – full press ups! – over the preceding year as part of a regular circuits session with a friend. But 100 press-ups each day still seemed like a lot. I broke down the press ups into smaller chunks and aimed to do 10 to 20 in one go with lots of rest in between. The early days of the press-ups was a big challenge. But it has become much easier and I now do sets of around 30 to 40. I prefer to try to do 100 with short rests but sometimes I split the sets over the day.
Accountability is important to longevity
During the first month of the press-ups I mentioned to a running friend, Fraser, what I was doing. He said he was doing the same and so we started messaging each other daily to check that we had each done our press ups. For some reason, press-ups became “rods” and we would announce by WhatsApp that we had done our 100 rods.
At the end of the month, we agreed to carry on for another month – and then we simply kept going.
Being accountable to someone has been very useful in staying with the challenge. Sometimes I have forgotten about the press-ups and then Fraser messages me to say he has done his – and suddenly I remember to do mine.
Our messages include a short daily update of life and work, plus notification of the sets of rods that we have done. It has been a lovely way to get to know someone better and also have the incentive to keep going with the daily challenge.
On Fraser’s birthday I gifted him 100 rods, which meant I had to do 200 rods that day!
There have been days when I really have not wanted to…
…But I have still got down on the floor and got through the 100 press-ups. Even when it has been almost mid-night and I have been out for a drink with friends, or very busy with work, or had a full day in the mountains or skiing, or whatever has taken up my time, I have still managed to find the minutes to do the rods.
The power of a streak
A daily habit might seem a bit over the top and I expect it might be a better idea to have a day off for my arms to recover but sticking to a streak day after day has been very useful. I don’t want to miss a day because I know that if I do, it will break my resolve.
Even when I cracked/bruised my rib, I still did daily 100 rods but I did them on my knees instead of my usual full press-ups. I know that if I break a daily habit, it would be too easy to excuse myself on other days.
Press ups can be done almost anywhere, anytime
I usually do my press-ups while waiting for a kettle to boil or food to cook. I simply drop to the kitchen floor and do a set.
There have been many times when we have had friends staying at the house, or I have been staying at other people’s homes, and the press-ups still had to be done. Hubby G and friends have become very familiar with me suddenly pushing out set of press ups.
I have found a space to do press-ups in my van if I have arrived somewhere and I am waiting for a friend or for my running club to start.
I have done press-ups during walks and on a mountain summit, while hill running and at the side of a loch.
I once did 40 press ups at the GP surgery in a bid to try to warm up so they could find a vein to take blood from.
It turns out I don’t really care what people think – and most have been amused – when I decide I need to do my press ups and sometimes in the strangest places.
Press-ups are a good use of time – and a warm up
I often do my rods at any time of the day when there is a bit of a lull in my life. I have also used press ups to warm up if I have been sitting down for hours at my desk.
I am stronger
Of course, 100 daily press ups is likely to make me stronger but at my age – and as I go through the menopause – it is very important to maintain muscle. The rods target a few areas of my body – arms, core, shoulders and legs – and sometimes I add 100 ab curls each day, too.
I am definitely better at press ups and the daily challenge reminds me that I also need to be maintaining muscles across more of my body.
I feel better about my arms
In recent years, I have witnessed the aging of many areas of my body. I am fairly accepting of this because age can’t be defied, but I am keen to stay slim and strong.
The skin and muscle tone on my arms had been troubling me but now I feel like I have a habit that is preventing this from getting worse, or worsening more quickly. I don’t build a lot of muscles but I am keeping muscle tone.
I am doing this in memory of my mum
In my mum’s last years of life, she confided in me that she hated the skin on her upper arms. She said it had become so lose and wrinkly and it stopped her wearing short-sleeve tops and also going swimming.
She felt there was little she could do to change the look of her upper arms and that she had left it too late to do so anyway. I felt really sad about this.
So, every time I do my press-ups I think of mum. I say to myself: “I am doing these for you mum.” This might seem strange but it brings me comfort and it also keeps me going on days when I am am struggling to find the time or motivation.
I have inspired others
Friends have seen my daily press-ups habit and decided to try if for themselves. I like the idea that while I was inspired by a friend last November to start the challenge, I am now passing on the idea to others.
What next with the press-ups?
After a year, I thought I would probably want to stop doing daily 100s. But I don’t. I am going to keep going. Fraser tells me he might do the rods for the rest of his life. I think I will set a target of another year. I will also add in ab curls and other exercises daily, when I have the time but I will continue to always do the 100 rods.