My last post on fitness was about how I wasn't actually doing much on that front. I'm happy to say that those days are over for now, and I intend to write more about that later this week. I'm also trying to write more about fitness in general, as my original intention was for this site to be about two things, and thus far it's been pretty one-sided. Hence, a few thoughts on one of the most classic exercises of all time: the pushup. 

The Athlean-X video I posted above got me thinking about pushups today, and how my relationship to them has changed over the years. If you had asked me about pushups when I was a kid (or any other exercise, for that matter), I would have told you that I hated them. That younger version would be stunned to know that he'd grow up to win a monthlong pushup contest with a bunch of online pals in a Discord channel. He'd probably also be stunned to learn what Discord is, but that's another matter.

I started working out seriously during the COVID-19 shutdown, although I'd made a few previous attempts at getting into better shape before that, including attempting the viral "100 pushup challenge" program. I never made it to 100 pushups in a single set, but I have done over 50 unbroken pushups a few times. I can, however, easily perform 100 or even 200 pushups with breaks. I've also learned, largely through Athlean-X programs, how to do challenging pushup variations, like clap/plyo pushups, archer pushups, and even one-handed pushups. One time, my wife and I were watching the David Fincher movie The Killer and there was a scene when Michael Fassbender's character performs fingertip pushups. She was impressed. I told her that they weren't particularly hard and showed her that I could also do them. Not that I looked as good as Fassbender while doing them.

Fascination with fancy-looking variations like the fingertip pushup and fixations on 50 or 100 pushup challenges has convinced me that most people don't have a very realistic idea about how many pushups a fit person should be able to do. The very existence of the 100 pushup challenge is proof. The numbers vary, but generally it is agreed that someone who can do 90-100 pushups is an elite-level athlete. I once saw a fitness expert on YouTube state that 56 pushups in one set puts a man at the 99th percentile of performance in any age category. 

And if you can actually do 100 unbroken pushups, they're probably not doing you any good at that point, other than as a party trick. You'd be far better off devoting that energy to building a solid bench press, because no matter how many pushups you can do, you're never going be lifting more than a percentage of your bodyweight. With a bench press, you can continuously add heavier loads. 

In other words, 100 pushups in one set probably isn't achievable for most people, and it shouldn't be. These nice round numbers like 50 or 100 pushups have always struck me as an unfit person's idea of what a fit person can do. I once read a book that featured a character who did 200 pushups in one shot every other day, which made me scoff out loud and proclaim "Pfft! No he didn't." 

Part of the reason I posted the video above is that it show both how perform a pushup-only workout that can actually build a big chest, which is far more about including multiple variations than shooting for a big number. 

This is all a fairly long way to say "Trying for 100 pushups is dumb. Focus on quality over quantity." 

But I have to admit, fingertip pushups, clap pushups, and one-handed pushups do look pretty damn cool.