# Does this seem like an effective plan for improving my push-ups count?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-seem-like-an-effective-plan-for-improving-my-push-ups-count/457352>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 22, 2008, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-seem-like-an-effective-plan-for-improving-my-push-ups-count/457352 "2008-07-22T09:08:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-seem-like-an-effective-plan-for-improving-my-push-ups-count/457352/1 "2008-07-22T09:08:19Z")

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A friend of mine recently sent me a link to the website [http://hundredpushups.com/](http://hundredpushups.com/)

The site claims that by following their program, in 2-3 months you can train up to doing one hundred push-ups. Now, this seems a little shaky to me. Going from maybe the 20 I can do now to 100 in a few months sounds a bit unbelievable.

I must say, however, that having done the first two days of the plan, my arms hurt more than they ever have from other workout methods I have tried. But on to the question:

Those of you who are in-the-know on strength training, does this plan seem to be worth a shot? Or would I be better served by just doing the typical “pushups to exhaustion 3 times a week” method? Does it seem feasible that I could get up to 100 push-ups if I followed the plan, or is that a bit unrealistic?

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**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-seem-like-an-effective-plan-for-improving-my-push-ups-count/457352/2 "2008-07-22T09:25:01Z")

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I’m not an expert but I’ve been on this program for a few weeks already. My perspective is:  
I’ve definitely improved the total I can do, but I think it’ll take a lot more than the six weeks mentioned in the website.

It has taken me two repetitions of week 2 before I could manage week 3 day 1. The jumps from week to week are pretty high.

Mrs GSV has noticed some improvement in my biceps and pecs though, so there are… benefits.

My suggestion: Do some crunches in the rest periods between sets. But do it in the “run your hands up your leg to the knee” style so you don’t tax your arms.