As of: March 5, 2024, 7:04 p.m
By: Alexandra Grauvogl
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Even very fit athletes can challenge themselves with push-ups © IMAGO/David Munoz
If you're looking for a challenging fitness challenge, you can try the 100 push-up challenge.
With the 8-week training plan you can prepare specifically.
100 push-ups in a row?!
Some shake their heads in disbelief: no chance!
For others, the challenge sounds downright tempting.
The fact is: with the right preparation you can overcome the challenge.
You can find a training plan that will get advanced users to their goal in eight weeks in this article as a PDF download.
An expert also shows alternative challenges that push even push-up professionals to their limits.
100 push-ups in a row: How useful is the fitness challenge?
Let's look at the 100 push-ups challenge from a sports science perspective: How useful is it to do 100 push-ups in a row?
Prof. Dr.
Dr.
Jürgen Gießing teaches and researches at the University of Kaiserslautern-Koblenz with a focus on HIIT, health-oriented muscle training and training at different ages.
He looks at the challenge from different perspectives.
“Some people love the challenge and for them it’s a great incentive.
You want to see: can I do 100, can I not do it?
If I make it to 100, I'll be in a very elite circle because only a few achieve that.
I wouldn’t want to stop these people from doing so,” explains Prof. Gießing in an interview with merkur.de.
On the other hand, according to Gießing, from a training perspective, there are certainly more interesting challenges for athletes who can already do more than 40 push-ups.
“From a training perspective, it would be much more interesting to see how often can I do 40 repetitions?” says the sports scientist.
For example, after the first 40 repetitions (or 50, depending on your individual level), you take a break for two to three minutes, then do the next set of 40 repetitions and take a break again.
The whole thing continues until nothing works anymore.
The more pre-tired the muscles are from the previous sets, the more people get into their training range who are so good that these 40 push-ups are hardly a challenge anymore.
Gießing: “That would be a challenge that I would recommend: How many times can I do 40 or 50 repetitions?” That is hard even for those who are really well trained.
“When I've done 50 repetitions twice, it starts to burn after a short break and I have to fight to make it to the third set.
In the end it’s only 150 repetitions, but you’re done.”
Here you can download the 8-week training plan “100 push-ups in a row” free of charge after registering.
Tip: Pay attention to nutrition and regeneration!
“If you want to increase your performance – whether in the area of strength or endurance – you should not only focus on targeted training but also on the right nutrition and regeneration.
If you want to build muscle and strength, you need above all enough protein.
But that doesn't mean you have to consume protein powders, shakes or bars.
As a rule, you get enough protein from a balanced diet.
Strength athletes are recommended to consume 1.6 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
For optimal regeneration, it is also important that you drink enough water.
What that means exactly is very individual.
The color check of the urine provides a clue: If it is bright yellow/orange, you should drink more!
If it is clear as water, a little less is enough.
“Champagne” is trump!
And sleep also plays a crucial role if you want to recover well in order to master physical challenges such as a push-up challenge.
Make sure you get enough, high-quality sleep!
As a rule, it should be seven to eight hours for adults.”
Alexandra Grauvogl, former competitive athlete and certified fitness trainer
Can everyone do 100 push-ups in one go?
Doing 100 push-ups in a row is a legitimate fitness challenge for well-trained athletes, although not the most sensible one from the perspective of training science.
And what about less fit people – are 100 push-ups an achievable goal for them?
In principle, anyone can do 100 push-ups in one go.
However, if you have a lower fitness level, you should allow significantly more time than eight weeks to complete the challenge.
The basic requirement should always be that every single push-up is carried out correctly.
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In addition, if you have health problems, you should definitely check with a doctor whether it is safe to undertake the 100 push-ups challenge.
For people with high blood pressure, for example, it may make more sense not to do the 100 push-ups in one go, but rather with short breaks.
This means that the cardiovascular system always gets short breaks and blood pressure is not raised unnecessarily.
We have already explained in another article how many push-ups you should be able to do so that you can speak of a certain level of basic fitness.
And also why the push-up is an effective whole-body exercise.
So it's always worth incorporating a few repetitions into your everyday life, even if you don't follow a strict training program like the one below.
8-week training plan for 100 push-ups in one go – download PDF now
The following training plan is aimed at athletes who can do 20 clean push-ups in a row.
If you are not ready yet, we recommend that you first complete the 6-week program for push-up beginners and then work your way up.
When training, you can use the different push-up variants for beginners, advanced users and professionals.
How is the training plan structured?
Three training days per week are planned for the 100 push-ups challenge.
In between there are one or two days of rest to give the muscles the opportunity to regenerate.
Each unit contains 5 to 8 sentences.
The repetitions increase from unit to unit or the total number of repetitions increases from week to week.
The rest between sets is 60 seconds, or 90 seconds for more than 5 sets.
Try to respect the break and only extend it in urgent cases, e.g.
B. if correct execution would otherwise no longer be guaranteed.
Each unit ends with a set in which the maximum possible number of repetitions must be completed.
Training to so-called muscle failure - especially with bodyweight exercises such as push-ups - is a method of achieving sufficient training stimulus for building muscle.
A training period of around 45 minutes is achieved per week - including warm-up/mobilization beforehand and cool-down after the workout.
Example warm-up: 50 jumping jacks, circling wrists for 30 seconds, circling shoulders for 30 seconds.
Example cool-down: stretching for chest, arms, shoulders and neck.
Ready for the 100 push-ups challenge?
Simply download the PDF training plan and get started!
100 push-ups challenge – download the training plan now!
100 push-ups in a row © IMAGO/David Munoz
After registering for free, you can download the eight-week training program “100 push-ups in a row” here.
Have fun!
Important note:
We recommend that people who are new to sports and those returning to sports, but also everyone else, have their fitness for sport checked by a doctor before completing the training program.
Anyone who experiences sudden pain
or feels ill
while performing the exercise should stop training immediately and have the symptoms clarified medically.