The Texas Push-Up Challenge
Picture if you will a furniture store in Texas. The crew is on break, standing around comparing pick-up trucks and loose women. The conversation wanes, until suddenly one of the crew — Big Bubba from the loading dock — makes a wager.
"Hey, Billy Joe, I bet you five beers you caint do something I can do."
The Testosterone surges and Billy Joe bows up. Sure, he worked the showroom floor selling recliners and had to wear slacks instead of Wranglers, but dammit, he was a man, just as much of a man as Bubba standing there in his steel-toe boots. There was nothin' — nothin'! — Bubba could do that he couldn't!
"Oh yeah, Bubba? What's that?"
Bubba goes on to challenge Billy Joe to a little physical test... and I'll tell you who won the free beers in a minute.
When I first heard this story, I laughed at the idea of a bunch of good ol' boys wagering beers and challenging each other to feats of fitness. But after I heard the challenge, I was struck quickly by this thought: "Hmm, I wonder how I'd do on that bet?"
So I tried it. Then my buddy tried it. Soon, half my gym wanted to see how they stacked up. So I decided to write up the little test and see how TMuscle readers do on it. You ready for a challenge? You got enough pocket money for five beers?
Here's how it works:
1. Begin in a standing position.
2. Drop to a push-up position and do one push-up.
3. Stand back up quickly.
4. Drop back down and do two push-ups.
5. Stand back up.
6. Drop back down and do three push-ups, then stand back up.
7. Repeat this pattern until you do 10 reps on the last set of push-ups.
So, you'll end up doing a total of 55 push-ups, standing up between sets, and trying not to rest. Or barf.
The Challenge
Goal #1: Just try to finish all the sets, ya wimp. If you do, then congratulations, you're adequate. Whoopie.
Goal #2: Finish all the sets in under two minutes. Do that and you can brag. A little.
Goal #3: Now it gets personal. From this point on, try to beat your previous time. Or, get a few buddies together and see who finishes first.
Tips and Guidelines
1. Use a full range of motion on the push-ups. None of that halfway horseshit.
2. Push-up bars are fine if you want to use them.
3. Most people "hit a wall" around the 7th or 8th set. So don't get too cocky when set #6 feels easy. Pride comes before the fall, hoss.
4. If you have to rest more than a few seconds between sets, you fail. Try again another time.
5. Take the Texas Push-Up Challenge on an off day, or do it first thing on the day you train chest or upper body. You may want to truncate your chest workout a bit though since you'll be doing 55 intense reps of push-ups at the beginning of your normal workout.
