100 Push-Ups In 6 Weeks: Week 1, Day 3 - Failed

Monday was Week 1: Day 3 of the "100 Push-ups in 6 weeks" program (using the free Android App because I'm cheap and it was out there).

Week 1, Day 3 had the following - each with a 120-second rest in between:
8 push-ups
10 push-ups
7 push-ups
7 push-ups
10 push-ups (or more to max out - my max was 5)

I did the first 2 sets in the bedroom like I usually do. 120-second rests are long and boring, so after I'd picked up the bedroom from the first two sets, I decided to finish the remaining sets in the living room where Sweetie was watching television. Then I had the brilliant idea to have Sweetie watch a set to make sure my form looked okay. I was pretty sure it was good but figured an outside set of eyes might see something I couldn't feel.

Right at the start of my first push-up, Sweetie guffawed. My back was dipped, my arms were too far in front of my shoulders, and I wasn't going down to a 90-degree angle. Well shit. So I corrected and tried to finish the set. It was a struggle. I barely eked out the last push-up without dropping.

After another rest, I felt confident that I could push out another 7 with no problem. I got 2 done and then started struggling again. It took almost a minute to get the last 5 done and my form started to break on the last one.

I was doubting myself for the final set. The 120-second rest alarm sounded and I got into position. Right off the bat I was having trouble pushing back up. I managed to get 5 finished before I really could not do another push-up.

I was pretty down about this "failure". I set the program to repeat the day for the next workout.

On Wednesday, I attempted the sets in Week 1, Day 3 again. That time, I did the first set of 8 in front of a video camera and watched the playback during the 120-second rest. My back was dipped again but otherwise my form was good. I concentrated on keeping my back rigid (which felt high and humped but I knew it wasn't) and couldn't complete more than 5 in the second set. I decided I'd already "failed" the workout again so I thought about what to do about it.

I came to realize that my entire workout plan is based on the program's input that I could do 10 good form push-ups, but this was incorrect. Those weren't 10 good form push-ups. I tried a final set and found I can realistically do 5 good form push-ups. Granted, this was after 18 push-ups with rests but I still felt like 5 was my max number without stopping. So I reset the program and set the new Initial Test result as 5.

I will do Week 1, Day 1 (with the new baseline number) on Friday.