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  • 2 weeks later...

The best way to improve on your push ups is to do them several different ways. Do different types of push ups (wide, standard, military, incline, etc) and work the two types of muscle fibers by changing pace of your reps. Try sets of 4 count down, 4 count up; 4 count down, fast up; fast down, 4 count up; then do a few sets of fast down fast up. I find this strategy much more effective than just blasting out a bunch of quick sets.

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I improved my pushups from 40 to 90 by following the "one hundred pushups" method. It worked for me, maybe it can help somebody else too, google it up :)

 

Started this 9 weeks ago and I can say that afterwards I can do 130 in 2 minutes and 20 seconds... My 2 minute time is presently not that much !!! hope it helps

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Started this 9 weeks ago and I can say that afterwards I can do 130 in 2 minutes and 20 seconds... My 2 minute time is presently not that much !!! hope it helps

 

I also combined it with its sister program for the situps with similiar success but not doing nearly as many of those as pushups. In 2 minutes I can now do around 80 to 85 depending on the day... This is a LONNGG way from the 35 I could do 9/10 weeks ago.

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I also combined it with its sister program for the situps with similiar success but not doing nearly as many of those as pushups. In 2 minutes I can now do around 80 to 85 depending on the day... This is a LONNGG way from the 35 I could do 9/10 weeks ago.

 

That is insane improvement. Did you do it every day, every other day, or the "prescribed" 3-days-per-week?

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Yes it definitely works.. After completing the program i just keep doing the last week over and over so i stay at that level

 

To echo his response, it helps to have a coach/motivator... trust me , there will come a time where you will want to give up and someone saying 'pushhhh!' makes the world of difference...

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I've always found having training partners. It keeps you from skipping a workout and I hate to lose, I'll push harder when Im trying to win during a workout. Ita why I enjoyed crossfit so much.

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I just learned an awesome trick I thought I would share for those that regularly use a blender. A regular sized mouth mason jar will screw on the blender blades and replaces the whole pitcher. You don't necessarily have to use a mason jar, some spaghetti sauce jars and other similar ones will work as well. Makes for an easy single serving smoothie without having to wash the larger pitcher. Just fill your jar, screw on the blades, invert, and blend away.

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I just learned an awesome trick I thought I would share for those that regularly use a blender. A regular sized mouth mason jar will screw on the blender blades and replaces the whole pitcher. You don't necessarily have to use a mason jar, some spaghetti sauce jars and other similar ones will work as well. Makes for an easy single serving smoothie without having to wash the larger pitcher. Just fill your jar, screw on the blades, invert, and blend away.

Not a smoothie person, but I may have to try that on principle. That sounds cool.

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  • 1 month later...

Review: GoRuck Challenge

 

04-May-2013

Class 544, Louisville, KY

 

The Arrival

My GoRuck adventure began long before we got in the car to travel to Louisville for the event. Mentally it seemed like decades but in reality it was only twenty days prior that Adams and I had decided it would be our destiny to participate in the GoRuck Challenge on the May 4, 2013. Without any formal training or months of preparation, we chose to attack the challenge as a test of our baseline—or everyday—fitness.

 

Adams and I had chitchatted about things over dinner the Thursday before the event. Some topics related to training, others to the direction of MOAT (www.themoatgroup.us) . Of all things we spoke of, the uncertainty about what the event would hold for us took the top of the list for me. Perhaps I was worried that I wouldn’t be strong enough, or perhaps I was simply unwilling to embrace the unknown for the period of time before it occurred. Whatever feeling I had been experiencing was quickly expelled by the time we left at 21:00 from Bowling Green, Kentucky en route to the event the night of May 3rd.

 

Restless, alert, we talked about the event. Adams was beyond ready to tackle whatever the cadre would throw his way. I, however, attempted to keep my inner fears of failing reserved to myself. Again, the unknown was bothering me. Also in the vehicle was my girlfriend of three years who was to shadow us during the event, take photos, and serve us as a ride home the next day when we finished the event. Finally, after what seemed like a long drive, we arrived at Cherokee Park in Louisville and settled on the parking location near some others whom we had found preparing outside their vehicles.

 

Class 544’s Welcome Party

Very rarely does a GoRuck event have to switch starting locations once. Never before has the event had to switch locations twice. Due to both the Kentucky Derby and an unsafe part of town, GoRuck finally settled on Cherokee Park as the starting location. Our Cadre, however, had not received the final notification. So, after some waiting around and rumors of the cadre planning to jump out of a bush and scream at the team for having headlamps on, we finally received a phone call. He had gone to the wrong park.

 

While we were waiting on a teammate to bring our cadre to us from the other park, our team had a brief moment to come together while lying under the stars. From dinosaurs to dragons, to turtles, teammates called out what they saw the clouds as while also cracking jokes about the cadre being not only at the wrong location but an unsafe part of town. Completely to our knowledge, these jokes would soon be over and our lives hell.

 

As soon as the cadre arrived, we were in the grassy field at the starting point. After getting on-line, or shoulder to shoulder in a line facing the same direction, we received the command “On your faces!” from the cadre, Mike. “Up, down....Roll! Roll! Roll!” we were commanded, all of us frantically trying to do as he said. Quickly, Class 544 realized that individually trying to do what he commanded without communicating with our teammates served no purpose and that things would only get worse.

So, gradually, our team came together in the grass at 0300. Yelling to each other to let teammates know who needed to come up or stay back so that we were all together was vital. Making sure we all rolled the same way when given the command was vital. If we were to be on our backs, making sure everyone was on our backs was vital. Communication was the first lesson in teamwork that Class 544 received on the field that morning.

 

Though I will not fully describe all that we did at the welcome party, I will make note of one thing I surprised myself with. For years I had witnessed fireman carries (buddy carries). Never before did I think I had the strength to carry another man or woman. I reality, this uncertainty derived from a lack of know-how and inexperience doing so. With the help of Adams, we accomplished this together and I overcame that doubt in myself…even though I dropped him on his head a couple times.

 

Do not be intimidated by a lack in size of muscle. Overcome this with a strong heart and will to accomplish any task placed before you.

 

Go Ruck!

After getting smoked up in the grass, Adams and I had the great privilege of being Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader, respectively. We were given a few orders on where we were to take the team. The rest was our game.

 

Adams quickly took charge getting everyone lined up and we established a rotating pattern on the team weight so that no one would fatigue too quickly. The movement set up constructed by our leadership in the first segment of the challenge served our team the rest of the event. I am proud of anything other than completing the event, it was this. We recognized efficiency and pursued methods that we felt would bring us success. During our segment, Adam remained in contact with the Cadre and myself while I made sure people were rotating through the team weight efficiently and keeping pace. Any modifications that needed to be made to our route or our pace were quickly passed from me, to Adams, to the Cadre. By this method, we achieved our time goal with a fresh, warmed up team.

 

For the next many hours of the challenge, Class 544 endured so much together. The movements became longer and required increased pace under more stressful circumstances. From submerging in forty degree river water to carrying a thousand pound (plus some) log, we bled, sweat, and pushed through our pain together. Not everything was fun but everything we did had purpose and a real world application. Simulating casualties, we carried teammates and their gear. Simulating carrying medical bags, we lost the use of six teammate’s straps and were required to carry them by the top handle. These challenges brought Class 544 together more and more as the sun crept higher into the sky.

 

Twenty Five at Five

Though perhaps the most challenging, one thing I will always remember from Class 544 was our twenty five at five pushups at each location we travelled. Difficult by design, these pushups reminded us that no matter how bad the event was we still come together to sound of strong at every chance possible. Twenty five pushups together; no time clock, no requirements other than to do them together as a team. On every “Up” cries were let out, pain being excreted from the body and classmates shouting, “common’ we’ve got this!” These words of motivation to one another served as tools so that we all made it to pushup number twenty five together. The last six pushups were always the easiest. “Go Ruck 5-4-4,” we sounded off, word by word, letter by letter. The last pushup was always one, powerfully belted cheer from our team during the pinnacle of the repetition—“GoRuck 544!”

 

Reflections

Already the questions have poured in. What from here? Will I do the challenge again? What was harder, the GoRuck Challenge or Ironman? I think it is first important to note that GoRuck is an entirely different event from and other endurance event I’ve participated in. It is a true team event; you cannot make it alone. The trials presented before you during the challenge will test more than your physical and mental ability.

 

Perhaps it was miserable at times. Yes, it was very cold. Yes, it was very wet. The experiences Adams and I received with Class 544 are unique and will never be replicated. Ever. I guarantee we heard “DERBY!!!!” yelled more than five-hundred times during our challenge as we trailed behind Old Glory through the busiest parts of Louisville. We learned valuable life lessons from our cadre, Mike, who was a Recon Marine.

 

If I were to recommend anything to someone, it would be to prepare your mind. Prepare your mind to accept that no matter how high your fitness level is, the GoRuck Challenge will be hard. You will be faced with the thought of wanting to quit. And you will suppress it every time with the thought of finishing.

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