One hundred push ups (er, sixty-six)
I've been amusing myself lately by doing the one hundred push up challenge that has been going around cyberspace. It purports to be able to transform you in the space of six weeks from a noodle-armed weakling into someone who can do one hundred push ups in a row. While the program is more than a little ambitious, it's not completely bunk.

I've always hated push ups. Actually no, I think I liked them before those stupid Canada Fitness Program tests in elementary school convinced me that they were all about failure and humiliation. (Now there was a government program that richly deserved its eventual death. But I digress.) Anyway, when I saw the Hundred Push Up program, I thought it was past time to sand off that particular emotional rough spot.

It turns out that the program works. I started by being able to do eight push ups and when I took the final test a few days ago, I could do sixty-six. So I guess I'm not a complete failure after all.

The pace of the program is somewhat ambitious, as I said. I often had to repeat workouts or even whole weeks in order to level up. It took me about nine weeks to get to the end of Week Six. I also think the workouts should be done in conjunction with some kind of pulling exercise so that you don't end up with imbalanced muscle development. Still, it's hard to argue with the obvious improvement in strength.

Now I feel kind of like the dog who caught the car. What does one do with sixty-six push ups anyway? It's kind of like having a degree in medieval studies.