100 Pushups a Day for 60 Days Challenge (Honest Results)

Many people have done 100 pushups a day for 30 days. That’s genuinely awesome! I did, too, and then I kept going. I wanted to know what would happen if I did 100 pushups every day for 60 days in a row.

More importantly, I wanted to do this challenge without the temporary and extreme before-and-after results that come with crash diets and unsustainable workout routines.

I’m just a normal dude who goes to the gym 3-4 times a week and eats reasonably well. These results are as typical and real for an Average-Joe as you might hope to find.

Without delay, here are the results you came to see:

YouTube

Watch the results on this link to my YouTube video. The rest of this article contains much more information than the video, so be sure to finish reading after watching the whole video…

Results Analysis

This is a chart I made on Excel to track my daily weight in kilograms (apologies to my fellow Americans) and the total number of pushups that I can complete on my 1st set of the day:

Two months of data. Weight at the top. Pushups at the bottom. Hard to read, I know.

Here are the results in chart form. This chart includes data Day 1 of the challenge, where I ended up on the last day of Month 1, and where I ended up on the last day of Month 2. It’s also easier to read and follow than the image above:

Month	Beginning	Month 1 Results	Month 2 Results
Day	1	30	61
Weight (kg.)	90.0	84.0	83.7
Weight Loss (kg.)	—	6.0	6.3
Weight (lbs.)	198.0	184.8	184.1
Weight Loss (lbs.)	—	13.2	13.9
# Pushups 1st Set	17	28	34
% Strength Increase	—	64.7%	100%

In case you were wondering about the isolated data from only the end of Month 1 through the end of Month 2, here it is:

Month	Month 1 Results	Month 2 Results
Day	30	61
Weight (kg.)	84.0	83.7
Weight Loss (kg.)	—	0.3
Weight (lbs.)	184.8	184.1
Weight Loss (lbs.)	—	0.7
# Pushups 1st Set	28	34
% Strength Increase	—	21.4%

The Elephant in the Room

OK, you caught me… this is actually 61 days of data! That’s how many days were in these two months. I took an artistic liberty in the title of this article and the accompanying YouTube video. Deal with it!

Weight

As you can see, my weight went down for the 1st month of the challenge, increased a bit, went back down again, then stayed pretty stable around 84 kgs. / 184.8 lbs. to finish the 2^nd month. I have found a nice balance in the amount of food I need to eat every day to maintain my weight, still make strength and muscle size gains, and to feel totally satisfied. That’s nice.

Pushups

So, by the end of the second month I could do 34 pushups in a row. I had doubled the number of pushups that I could do on the 1st set of the 1st day. That’s awesome! Imagine any investment where you could get a 100% return in just 2 months! That’s how I feel.

The number of pushups that I could do on the 1st set grew almost linearly until I reached Day 46, when I did 36 pushups in a row. At that point, I intentionally decided to be a little more prudent and safer with my pushups. I began to focus even more on form and less on cranking-out as many pushups in a row as possible irrespective of injury risk.

Strictly speaking, I did complete 36 pushups on two separate occasions, meaning I did have a strength increase of 111.8%, but I did not complete these 36 on the last day so it does not count.

I probably could have gone to total failure with non-optimal form every 1st set and been at 40 by now, but after speaking to experts like Dr. Daniel Jaffe and researching pushup form and safety more, I did not want to risk long-term injury and prematurely end my pushup challenges. I also wanted to get the best results possible.

A New Pushup Resource

I found yet another YouTube video by Jeff Cavaliere at ATHLEAN-X about pushup form. In this video he focuses on increasing the range of motion in the pushup and slowing down the tempo for optimal results.

This guy is a legend! Binge-watch all of his videos without feeling guilty.

Despite this, I openly admit that the number on the 1st set still matters to me and my ego. What can I say; it’s nice to see the numbers increasing every day.

However, now I usually stop at about 30 pushups on the 1^st set even though I could do more if I sped things up. After the 1st set I do focus entirely on quality, form, tempo and rest. A typical pushup day for me looks something like this:

1-30: decent form, but still thinking about that number.
31-40: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
41-50: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
51-60: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
61-70: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
71-80: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
81-90: focus on quality with plenty of rest between sets.
91-100: add another smiley face sticker to my calendar.

4 typical days, with 1 challenge day for myself to see how few sets I might need to finish all 100 pushups!

If you are interested in completing a 100 Pushup a Day for [insert number of days] Challenge, I suggest reading these two articles first:

They will give you some background information on how to do this challenge safely and effectively.

Challenge Rules

Step-by-step, from June 15, 2019 through August 14, 2019, this is what I did:

I did 100 pushups a day, every day, for 61 days… period. End of story.

All joking aside, here are the most basic rules:

Complete 100 pushups every day.
Do the pushup variation that best suits your abilities and needs.
Track your progress.
Use proper form to avoid injury.
Record yourself on video and compare to proper form videos on YouTube.
Rest as much as you can between sets.
Never go to total failure.
Stretch as often as possible.
Give yourself a reward after completing your 100 daily pushups. I put smiley face stickers on my calendar. Do not underestimate the power of rewards on habit formation.

I have written a much more detailed list of challenge rules in my Month 1 Results article. Be sure to read it for more information.

Health Disclaimer

I am not a doctor, physical therapist, nor a personal trainer. I’m a pushup enthusiast and experimenter. There are risks associated with performing 100 pushups every day. If you are considering beginning a challenge like this, I encourage you to do so as safely as possible. Consult whoever you need to consult, do as much research as you feel that you need to do, and enjoy it!