At West Side we hold pushups with the highest of regard. Pushups are a key component of strength training and we have been doing them, lots of them, since Day 1. As a coach, I do not always get to do them with the team as I am typically mustering the group to do 20 or 30 more after they have already done a 100. That alone requires a concerted effort. I do think it is a critical component of coaching that the coach be able to do what the swimmers are doing at any time, or at the very least, have done what the swimmers are doing in the not too distant past. It ensures that, at least from a technique perspective, that what you are doing as a coach is actually working and not just something you perceive to work.

So I had been falling off on my pushups for a bit always finding a reason NOT to do them. It was back in November that one of my swimmers showed me an application on his iPhone called “100 Pushups”. The concept is simple…you do as many pushups as you can do, plug that number into the iphone and it designs a program to get you to be able to do 100 pushups in <3 months. 3 times a week is all that is required. I figured what the heck and so spent the $1.99 on the application and got to work immediately. That was on December 1 and I was only able to do 15 perfect pushups in a row on that day. I could do a lot of crappy ones but only 15 perfect ones. So I plugged in 15 and started the journey.

Now I am starting Week 5 and can do 50 in a row with ease. I would love to do more but the program is only asking for that amount so no complaints here. Its an excellently simple motivational tool and I highly recommend it if you have an iPhone. The website is here for more information: http://hundredpushups.com/.

Its cool to know that in about 5 more weeks I will be able to crank out 100 perfect pushups.