The Pushup Project
I try to do something momentous with my life every year. Last year I ran my first marathon. This year I'm getting ready for a big move. Next year, I'm toying with the idea of getting in shape to be able to do 1000 pushups nonstop. For me that would be an amazing accomplishment. Not only do I currently have no upper body strength; I have never had any upper body strength ever.
I did some calculations this afternoon that looked promising. If I start out on January 1st, 2004 by doing one pushup and build up at a steady rate so that I finish the year on December 31st by doing 1000, that's a thousandfold increase. Let's see; that's about ten doublings (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024), so if I divide the number of days in the year (366, since it's a leapyear) and round down, that means my number of pushups will need to double every 36 days. That works out to just under a 2% increase every day. In the first two or three months, I'll have some weird decimal values. For example, on January 31st I have to do 1.84758881578 pushups.
I checked, and currently I can already manage 3 easy pushups, which means I'm well ahead of schedule and can already perform at February levels. But I do wonder if my overly-analytical mind may have missed something fundamental. I mean, this seems way too easy. And certainly few people would argue that the same rate of increase could be used for running. (Start out in January running one mile and end the year with an easy 1000 mile jog.) Of course, with running, there is the element of time. 1000 pushups could be done in half an hour. To complete 1000 miles within 24 hours, one would have to run at at least 41 miles per hour. (I don't think I could keep up the pace that long.)
I haven't decided yet if this is something I will actually do, but it is intriguing. I'm also curious to see what kind of muscle mass I would develop. Anyway, you can be sure that if I ever manage to do 1000 pushups, it will be blogged.
(Non-American readers can convert miles to kilometers here.)
