Advice, strategies, and thoughts on 1000 pushups in a week:

Anytime you think of them, drop and do 10. Do you know that 1000 pushups a week is only 142.86 pushups a day? Most of us are up for well over 12 hours a day. That’s only 11.9 pushups per hour! Totally possible!

My pushup numbers were recently questioned when competing in a pushup challenge. All contestants were supposed to complete 400 pushups a week. My lowest number of pushups in a week for the last five weeks was 700.

In the last five weeks, I have completed 4,036 pushups. An average of 807.2, although that’s a little bloated by this last week of 1000.

Moving back to strategies, anywhere is a good place for a pushup, even in the shower if it is big enough. I am 6’9″, a shower big enough for me to do pushups in is not in my house, nor have I seen one, but I have seen plenty of showers in which an average height male could drop and get 20 ups in.

Keep a note in your phone titled Pushups Completed Today. Every time you knock out a set, no matter how large or small, instantly record those numbers in that note. It’s great to look back through the day and see that number grow and grow, bringing a great sense of accomplishment to the day. Also, at the end of the day, when it’s time to enter your numbers you have a handy note on your phone to tell you exactly how much ups you pushed.

There aren’t many rules to a pushup challenge, other than you have to do a proper pushup. No wide placement of the hands, but your elbows don’t have to stay in contact with your side through the movement. No incline pushups either. Those are too easy. But yes, decline pushups would count. Decline meaning with your feet on a chair or up a couple steps while your hands are on the ground.

Pushups don’t require special athletic clothing. They can be done in a suit. They can be done in your birthday suit, although that does mean some parts of your anatomy may be touching the floor during every rep. This can be uncomfortable and certainly a bit awkward if someone else is in the room.

This last week I did 150 pushups a day for the first five days. I did 170 on day 6 and only 80 today (that felt nice). The upper body definitely needs some rest now, but I never did more than 40 pushups straight. I often did sets of 25, but more common were sets of 20, 15, and 10, making that 1000 in a week completely manageable.

And if thinking about doing 1000 in a week is too overwhelming, set a timer to go off every 30 minutes or 1 hour for a reminder to do 10 or 15 pushups.

After building up to 1000 pushups in a week you will definitely be able to do things with your pecs that you have never been able to do, or haven’t been able to do in a long time. If you squeeze your pecs together and flex, BOOM, pencil holding cleavage. Make your kids aware that you can “dance your pecs.” They will delight in that oddity and it’s even something that you can keep your shirt on for.

Get your kids involved. On my last set of 20 today, my son was motivated to do pushups with me so he dropped to the ground and did sit-ups, telling me he can only do ten at a time. That’s okay. If you are walking around the house and randomly doing sets of 20 pushups your kids are going to get the message, pushups are important, fun, a great workout, and you can do them anywhere! Okay, maybe not in the shower.

Keep pushing up!