Push-ups are probably the most widely performed exercise on the planet. People of all ages and fitness backgrounds do push-ups, from Olympic athletes to elite soldiers to kids in PT classes.
Despite this, a lot of people label push-ups as a beginner exercise, quickly trading up to things like bench presses, chest presses, and dips as they gain strength and experience.
However, despite my background in bodybuilding and powerlifting, the humble push-up will always have a place in my workouts. Also, as a veteran personal trainer with more than 30 years of experience, I’ll continue to prescribe push-ups to my army of clients for as long as I live.
Why?
Because push-ups are one of the best upper-body exercises you can do!
Despite their simplicity, push-ups work many muscles and, because they require no equipment, you can do them anywhere and anytime. Contrary to what many people believe, push-ups can be just as effective as lifting weights for building muscle and strength (1).
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Plus, there are lots of push-up variations that will keep you challenged for years to come.
Consequently, I do push-ups at least twice a week, and include them in many of my client’s workouts.
But, what happens if you do push-ups every day? Is that a good idea? Or will it lead to injuries and frustration?
In this article, I reveal what happened when I challenged myself to do 100 push-ups a day for three weeks straight.
100 Push-Ups a Day for 21 Days – My Starting Point
Along with pull-ups, push-ups are a cornerstone of my upper-body workouts. I typically do them twice a week, accumulating anywhere between 100 to 150 reps. Sometimes I do decline push-ups and other times I use push-up bars and perform deficits. Occasionally I’ll strap on my weight vest to make them even more challenging.
So, long story short, although I’m no push-up expert, I’m not a novice, either. Consequently, the idea of doing 100 push-ups a day was not especially daunting. However, I was very interested to discover how increasing push-up frequency would affect me.
To start preparing my body for doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks, I spent an additional week doing extra push-ups between my usual workouts. I kept this pretty casual but managed around 50 extra push-ups per day during this time.
I also used this week to perfect my push-up technique. After all, every exercise is more effective when you do it correctly.
At the end of my break-in week, I did a push-up test to establish how many reps I could do in a single set. My score was 35 which, according to the Fitness Volt Push-Ups Standard Calculator, gives me a rating of intermediate.
100 Push-Ups a Day for 21 Days: Week-by-Week Breakdown
So, how did doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks feel, and how did it affect my 56-year-old body? Keep reading to find out!
Week One – And So It Begins!
Day 1: My training week normally starts with an upper body workout so getting my 100 push-ups done was no problem today. I completed my reps as part of a circuit.
12 laps of the following:
- 5 pull-ups
- 10 push-ups
- 15 air squats
This gave me a push-up total of 120 reps for the day – job done, and no extra push-ups required.
Days 2, 3, & 4: No upper body workouts were planned for these days, so I had to perform the 100 push-ups in addition to my usual cardio, core, and lower body training. I tried a couple of different approaches to get my reps done:
Grease the Groove (GTG) – this day involved doing ten sets of ten reps performed every hour from dawn until dusk.
Related: Build Strength by Greasing the Groove
50 rep frontload and mini GTG – today I did two sets of 25 reps (one before and one after breakfast), and then five sets of ten spread throughout the rest of the day.
100 reps as fast as possible – instead of spreading my 100 reps throughout the day, today decided to get them all done in one go. This involved doing as many reps as possible, resting a moment, and then cranking out more reps. This continued until all 100 reps were completed and took me 12 pec-pumping minutes.
Day 5: Back to conventional upper body training today so I did my push-ups as part of my usual workout. This involved doing five sets of 20 push-ups with two minutes rest between each one. Other exercises today included chin-ups, inverted rows, and various isometric exercises.
Days 6 and 7: I don’t normally train at the weekend, preferring to give my body a bit of a break. However, I stay active and often go hiking or paddleboarding. And, of course, I had to do my push-ups!
Push-up intervals – getting today’s push-ups was a bit of a challenge because I spent most of the day walking in the mountains. I ended up doing 25 reps before breakfast and several sets of 10-20 reps during the hike itself, much to the amusement of my companions!
Grease the Groove – I felt a bit tired today so returned to GTG to make completing my 100 push-ups a little easier. As before, I did ten sets of ten reps spread throughout the day.
End of Week One: Thoughts
I started this challenge thinking it would be pretty easy. After all, I normally do more than 100 push-ups per workout. However, doing push-ups every day was more difficult than I anticipated.
Mentally, I always had push-ups on my mind, and physically I felt my push-up performance was deteriorating as my muscles were not getting enough recovery. But, on the plus side, my joints felt good, which is something I was worried about when I started the challenge.
Week Two – Maintaining Momentum
Day 1: Push-ups were part of today’s workout so doing 100 reps was no problem. I did a few descending ladders where you decrease your reps set by set to accumulate a high volume of work.
I did the following ladder four times and totaled 120 reps for the day.
- 10 push-ups (rest 10-15 seconds)
- 8 push-ups (rest 10-15 seconds)
- 6 push-ups (rest 10-15 seconds)
- 4 push-ups (rest 10-15 seconds)
- 2 push-ups (rest 10-15 seconds)
Total: 30 reps per ladder
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Days 2, 3, and 4:
Nine days into the challenge and the novelty of doing push-ups every day was starting to wear off. I was getting bored and struggled to find new ways to make push-ups more enjoyable and interesting, although I did try!
Dice push-ups – today I used a pair of dice to determine how many push-ups I’ve had to do per set. This varied from two to 12 reps. I kept rolling the dice and doing push-ups until all 100 reps were done. This took about 15 minutes.
Grease the Groove – GTG is proving to be the easiest way to accumulate 100 push-ups in a day. As before, I did ten sets of ten every hour or so spread evenly throughout my day.
100 reps as fast as possible – I was busy today so had no choice but to do all 100 reps in one go before going to bed. This took just over 11 minutes and felt easier than when I previously used this approach. I guess all those push-ups are finally starting to pay off!
Day 5: Push-ups were part of today’s workout, so it was no problem to hit my 100-rep target. I did a push-up medley comprising several push-up variations done back to back:
- Plyo push-ups x 5
- Decline push-ups x 10
- Conventional push-ups x 10
- Incline push-ups x 10
I completed this sequence three times and totaled 105 push-ups for the day.
Days 6 & 7: Bad weather meant no outdoor activities this weekend, so my push-ups had to be done around mundane activities like cleaning, cooking, eating, and watching TV.
TV push-up intervals – prolonged sitting is bad for your health, so I broke up a rainy-day Netflix marathon by doing push-ups between shows. This made it easy to accumulate the 100 reps I needed for the day.
Partner push-up ladder challenge – my wife joined me on my push-up odyssey today and because she’s a personal trainer, too, we decided to challenge each other with a partner push-up ladder.
It works like this: Both participants get down into the push-up position. Partner A does one rep, and then partner B does one rep. Next, partner A does two reps, as does partner B. You continue to go back and forth like this until one person is unable to continue. We repeated the challenge several times until I’d done 100 reps.
End of Week Two: Thoughts
All these push-ups are starting to take their toll on my shoulders. I have a history of shoulder pain and doing 100 reps a day is making my joints ache. I’m determined to finish the challenge, so I plan on pushing through to the end, but I’ve had to break out my massage gun and use it on my shoulders to ease the growing discomfort.
On the plus side, doing 100 push-ups a day is starting to feel like a habit, and I can definitely feel my performance improving.
Week Three – The Going Gets Tough (But the Tough Keep Going)
Day 1: By this point I was running out of ways to make push-ups fun, so I just did four sets of 25 as part of my usual Monday upper body workout. Despite being mentally tired of push-ups, the sets actually felt easier than usual, and I needed less rest between efforts to complete the reps.
Days 2, 3, & 4: Another day, another 100 push-ups! My aim for the next three days was to maintain my streak and not miss any workouts. Consequently, I kept things simple and used some of the tried-and-tested push-up methods from the previous two weeks.
Grease the Groove – Instead of ten sets of ten, today’s GTG involved doing 15 sets of 7 reps. More sets and fewer reps meant each set felt easier. This was very welcome after so many back-to-back days of push-ups.
Push-up intervals – I had an unexpected day off today. The sun was shining so I grabbed my dog and we headed out for a hike in the countryside. He probably thought I was crazy, but I punctuated our walk with several sets of 20 push-ups and then did one single set when we got home to hit 100 reps for the day.
100 reps as fast as possible – I’ve always considered this to be something of a benchmark workout and do my best to complete all 100 reps in 12 minutes or less. Today, I took just over ten minutes, proving that this challenge is making me better at push-ups.
Day 5: While I would have liked to do something other than push-ups today, I resisted the temptation and made sure that they were part of my upper body workout. To keep things simple, I just did a set of push-ups between every other exercise in my program. One hour later I’d done all 100 reps without really noticing.
Day 6 & 7: With only two days left to go, I didn’t try any new push-up workouts during the weekend. Instead, I just kept my head down and got them done!
More Grease the Groove – GTG has served me well over the last three weeks and is arguably the most convenient way to accumulate a lot of reps. I used this method all weekend to ensure I did 100 reps on both days. While not the most exciting end to my push-up challenge, it was effective.
End of Week Three: Thoughts
I was relieved that the push-up challenge lasted just three weeks and didn’t continue for the whole month. My shoulders were aching and despite my previous love of push-ups, I was now pretty bored of them.
However, all my hard work was rewarded, and I experienced some good results after doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks.
The Results from Doing 100 Push-ups a Day for 21 Days
Doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks had a significant impact on my fitness, physique, and mindset. These are the results of this challenge:
Improved Push-Up Performance
Doing 100 reps a day for three weeks boosted my push-up performance. In fact, one week after finishing the challenge, my rep PR (personal record) increased from 35 to 47, which is an improvement of 12 reps or almost 35%. That’s a big jump in a relatively short time.
Improved Muscle Tone and Definition
High-rep push-ups are not the most effective way to build muscle. However, doing 100 reps a day for three weeks noticeably improved the firmness and definition of my chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pec separation was visibly better, and my lower pecs looked more sculpted.
Increased Mental Toughness
I found doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks mentally challenging and was tempted to quit several times. To keep on track, I marked off the days on a calendar and focused on celebrating every successful day of push-ups.
Completing this challenge has given me renewed confidence and taught me that I am physically and mentally stronger than I sometimes think.
Shoulder Pain and DOMS
While the effects of doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks were largely positive, I also experienced some shoulder joint pain and muscle soreness. While the muscle soreness only lasted a few days, the joint pain was more persistent and took several weeks to clear up.
I have a history of shoulder problems, so I’m not surprised that doing so many push-ups for so long caused a painful reaction.
Related: Shoulder Tendonitis: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and Prevention
Conclusion
Doing 100 push-ups a day for three weeks pushed me mentally and physically. While there were days when I wanted to quit, the experience was largely mostly positive and rewarding. Completing this challenge made me better at push-ups and also improved my upper body tone and definition. I also feel mentally stronger and more disciplined.
Have you done this challenge or are you thinking about doing something similar? Drop me a line in the comments section below and share your thoughts and experiences!
References:
- 1 – Kikuchi N, Nakazato K. Low-load bench press and push-up induce similar muscle hypertrophy and strength gain. J Exerc Sci Fit. 2017 Jun;15(1):37-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jesf.2017.06.003. Epub 2017 Jun 29. PMID: 29541130; PMCID: PMC5812864.