CyclePups: 6 weeks completed, on to the extended play version

[yellow]

Well, I suck!

ummmmm, that sort of 'tude is NOT ALLOWED! Drop and give me 10!

Seriously, give yourself time. I feel like I broke through some sort of a plateau this week, after 6 weeks of following the program pretty closely (I repeated week 5). It was really tough at times, but I stuck with it and the payoff has been worth it. I think the keys for me have been the 3x a week and regular progression, not necessarily the set configuration. I popped off the 8 sets of week 6 day 2 tonight like it was nothin'. Shocked myself. I'll be doing day 3 on Saturday (I have a dinner date with friends Friday so won't even THINK about doing pups after wine), so we'll see if I still feel good. And then...the next max test...

I have no idea if my arms and chest are more muscley or not...I have kind of bulky arms to begin with (ask SadieKate about my problems with the arm bands on short sleeved jerseys), so it's hard to tell. DH is out of town this week; I'll ask him if he notices a difference when he gets back.

[Smilie]

Thanks Oakleaf for the suggestions. Every time I feel a twinge of pain, I stop or modify what I am doing. So will start very easy, and do the everyday plan twice to strengthen slowly. Thanks for the links, they are a lot of help.

[mayanorange]

Glad we're keeping this thread going! I had wanted to join in but with the impending vacation, knew I wouldn't stick to it. Finally kicking the vacation cold (evil planes and/or cold damp England), so ready to get going!

Emily and those still struggling a little- you will all see an improvement after week 6 guaranteed. That's how long it takes for muscle memory to kick in so you're body understands what the movement is. In the meantime, comfort yourself with the thought that novel movements burn more energy (ie: fat) and help to build a good, strong muscle.

[jesvetmed]

So there I was, doing my umpteenth push up yesterday, when DH looks over and says, "You aren't doing those right!". Mind you he's on the couch with a beer at that time.

His point, which he eventually was persuaded to demonstrate, was that my arms are out too wide. He says I should keep them in farther towards shoulder width. So I tried this, and it feels completely awkward -- as if I were trying to do tricep pushups. I couldn't do but 4 his way (of course I'd done over 100 my way already).

What form do you all use? My elbows hurt if I don't go wider with my hands. But I'm not pushing my elbows behind me, rather more out to the side. When I'm down, my arms make one large part of a square -- 90 degree bends at the elbow. Does that make sense? Am I making it too easy?

[OakLeaf]

Wide vs. narrow stance are VARIATIONS, not errors.

As long as you're not stressing your shoulders, elbows or wrists, and as long as you're keeping your core engaged so you've got a nice straight line from your head all the way down to your fulcrum (whether that's toes, knees or somewhere else on a stability ball), do whatever variation you like.

I'm doing mine with a fairly wide stance, personally. I just measured about 21" between my thumbs - which I keep all my fingers somewhat splayed to distribute the load - vs. the 15" (38 cm) between the bony protrusions of my shoulders when I was measured for handlebars.

But maybe that can be another challenge - once we've done 100, go back and do it again with a different stance. yeah right

[OakLeaf]

or plateaux - I've definitely hit one.

I'm on my second run through week 5, column 2 and I'm still not making the last set minimum. Maybe I should step down to column 1.

Still, I'm doing more than I did last week. DH has the right attitude. "See? You're making progress!"

And since he's a photographer and incessantly taking my picture anyhow, I asked him to shoot me doing pups. My form actually looks pretty good to me! way better than I was afraid of, in those later sets when I'm getting tired

[katluvr]

I dont' even know what week I am on....of program or even doing program.
I messed up last week and only did one day.
I have done 2 days of this weeks....final day this weekend.
I have managed so far but barely...so I MAY repeat this week YET AGAIN!
So I understand. Yes, I am stronger...but 100 seems impossible.
To complete this week I have to eek out 35 in my last set. I do great set 1 and 2, weeken in the 3 & 4 set and then last one I am rubber arms. I could probably do a max in the 2nd set, but not after 3& 4.
But I plan to keep doing my pups!

[yellow]

I dont' even know what week I am on....of program or even doing program.
I messed up last week and only did one day.
I have done 2 days of this weeks....final day this weekend.
I have managed so far but barely...so I MAY repeat this week YET AGAIN!
So I understand. Yes, I am stronger...but 100 seems impossible.
To complete this week I have to eek out 35 in my last set. I do great set 1 and 2, weeken in the 3 & 4 set and then last one I am rubber arms. I could probably do a max in the 2nd set, but not after 3& 4.
But I plan to keep doing my pups!

kat, I really believe now after going through the entire program that doing the pups 3x a week as close to the schedule as you can is key. You won't hit the max some days, or be able to finish a set, or whatever. That's ok...just try to do pups 3 days/week and repeat weeks as needed.

I didn't get to the "ho** sh**, I can't believe I just did that many pushups" until after doing pups for 6+ weeks, and I was pretty AR about keeping on schedule. But I am now truly astounded at how many I can do. More than I've ever done in my life, for sure.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for all the support!

I finally got around to starting my repeat of week 2 today -- did Pilates class with some pups on Thursday, then helped DH pick up lots of wood yesterday so didn't need any more upper body work -- so today was finally the day.

I felt much stronger! I had my highest max ever on the fifth set -- still only 12, but each set felt much more solid, my form felt better, more in control, getting very low to the ground, etc. than last week.

So....perhaps when I finish this repeat week I'll actually "pass" the exhaustion test and make it to week 3! I'm definitely sticking with it!

[aka_kim]

I have to confess that, for the first time since beginning the program, I did not do all three days last week. My shoulders were really sore from the 160 pups called for on Day3 of the prior week, and bothered me all week. I did days 1&2 of Week 5 Column 1, but found I couldn't even use a floor pump to top off my tires without pain, so decided to take a few days off. I'll repeat Week 5 Column 1 this week.

[Grog]

Yesterday I felt too lazy after my 15 km run so I ended up doing my "day 3" (of the first week of my new, self-authored program) this Monday morning.

I did 11, 13, 9, 9, and 16, for a total of 58.

The plan for this week is to do:
10 - 12 - 9 - 9 - 15
11 - 13 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 15
and
12 - 14 - 11 - 11 - 16 (total 64).

Next week is a "rest week" where I will do two smaller push up workouts and, at the end of the week, aim to do 30 consecutive push ups.

(How organized can you get?)

[OakLeaf]

I'm just having a hard time facing the prospect of doing Week 5, Column 2 for yet a third time - even though I'm pretty sure if I do it that way, I'll finally be able to hit the minimums in the last sets.

It just doesn't feel like progress, even though I did more last week than I had the week before.

I'm about half inclined to go on to Week 6, Column 1 and call it a "rest week," since it's significantly less than Week 5, Column 2 with the exception of the last sets. I'm afraid to try Week 5, Column 3. Maybe Week 6, Column 1 this week, and Week 5, Column 3 next week.

I'll see how I feel later today.

[jesvetmed]

Well, you all are doing great. I have been VERY lazy the last couple of weeks, and managed 3 or 4 days in 2 weeks. So -- congrats to ANYONE who got in close to 3 days last week!

After 4 days off, I dropped this am to WEEK 4, COLUMN 2, DAY 1.
Because My arms just didn't want to do any more! My brain didn't jump into the fight at all, either.

So I'll work back up this week and see where I am. I'm ok taking several more weeks to do this. I think that WEEK 5 is QUITE a JUMP, and may just have to be repeated several times by most people. I would not be discouraged to do it multiple times. You are doing 150 to 180 pups each day with that plan! Show me others who can do that?! It's very impressive if you think about it that way!

My day today -- the "end" of my "week":
18, 18, 16, 16, 25 = 93 for me today! What a drop! Hopefully the rest of the week will be more energetic for me!
Jes

[jesvetmed]

Yike! Went to boot camp last night, and they had stations set up.
We did 3 sets, of two minutes each time through. One of them pushups.

So 6 minutes total of push-ups , distributed among other upper body workout stations. Wow -- I felt like I didn't do very well. Ended up on my knees a lot, but then when I looked around, even the guys were all on their knees. Maybe I did ok. But I was sure glad that I didn't do my regular sets earlier in the day!