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Last week I had commented that I needed to break the trend of not completing the third workout by the time that I wrote this recap post. Unfortunately, that trend is going to continue for at least one more week.

While I was on schedule to complete the third workout today, I was invited to attend the Chicago Cubs game. As soon as I heard that it was an afternoon game (meaning an early exit from work) and we would be on one of the rooftops surrounding Wrigley Field, I was in and accepted the invite.

Even though it is an afternoon game, anyone that has been to a Cubs game will tell you that you will most likely not be in any condition to perform five sets of push ups after an afternoon at Wrigley Field. As a matter of fact, I am writing this post a day early to avoid the possibility of missing the post entirely.

Week Four :: The Program

As a reminder from last week, here is the program for Week Four:

Day One

• 27 push ups followed by 60 seconds rest
• 20 push ups followed by 60 seconds rest
• 20 push ups followed by 60 seconds rest
• 17 push ups followed by 60 seconds rest
• Max (at least 27 push ups)

Day Two

• 27 push ups followed by 90 seconds rest
• 21 push ups followed by 90 seconds rest
• 21 push ups followed by 90 seconds rest
• 18 push ups followed by 90 seconds rest
• Max (at least 25 push ups)

Day Three

• 30 push ups followed by 120 seconds rest
• 22 push ups followed by 120 seconds rest
• 22 push ups followed by 120 seconds rest
• 20 push ups followed by 120 seconds rest
• Max (at least 29 push ups)

You’ll recall that the completion of Week Four also means that it is time for another exhaustion test in order to gauge your progress.

Week Four :: The Results

Repeating the Week Four workout was clearly the right approach for me, as I was able to complete the first two workouts and surpass the minimum requirements for the max set.

On the first workout of the week, I was able to complete 33 repetitions during the max set and I completed 31 repetitions during the max set on the second workout. While I had been hoping that I would be able to do more repetitions at this point, I am pleased that I was able to surpass the minimum requirement.

In a change from the last few weeks, I felt the best during the Day One workout this week. The Day Two workout was much more of a challenge for me this week.

As mentioned earlier, I have not yet completed the third and final workout for this week. However, considering that the third workout followed the same form last week where I was able to complete the first four sets but struggled on the max set, I am expecting that this week I will be able to finish strong.

Week Five :: Looking Ahead

The first order of business before reaching the fifth week will be to complete the exhaustion test. The exhaustion test will be used to monitor progress, as well as determine which column of workouts will be followed for Week Five. To maintain my position in the third column, I will need to perform more than 40 repetitions during the exhaustion test.

Once the exhaustion test is out of the way, I will be facing what looks to be the most difficult workout yet. Assuming that I am able to stay in the third column, I will be performing a minimum of 167 push ups across five sets. That is a lot of push ups!

As the week progresses, I will be doing less push ups during each workout but the amount of rest in between sets is also decreasing. On the Day Two workout, I will only be resting 45 seconds between sets and the Day Three workout only calls for 30 seconds of rest between sets.

At this point in the program, I really thought that I would be able to do more continuous push ups in one sitting. Seeing that I am about to enter Week Five and haven’t even surpassed 50 repetitions at one time, I have a hard time believing that I will be able to do 100 repetitions after only two more weeks.

How did you do this week with your workout?

As a reminder, it is not too late to enter the 100 Push Up Challenge Contest. As long as you start the program prior to the deadline and follow the contest rules, your entry will be considered valid.