The fastest reliable way to improve your pushup numbers is a percentage-based program: test your two-minute max, then train five rounds every sixty seconds at 30 to 40 percent of that score, and retest every two weeks. February's 10,000 Pushup Challenge is coming back bigger than ever — sponsors, a cause, and a team option so a crew of ten can split the work at 33 pushups apiece per day. This is the program I have used myself to get ready, and it works whether your max is five or a hundred.
Watch now: press play on the video above, or listen in the player at the top of the page.
It is our annual February challenge: complete 10,000 pushups in the month, which works out to roughly 333 a day if you do it solo. It has grown every year, and this year we are adding sponsors, a cause, and a team division — a team of ten only needs 33 pushups per person per day, and teammates can split the total unevenly however they like. The goal is record participation, at every level.
After a warm-up, set a clock for two minutes and do as many quality pushups as you can until failure. When your hips sag, you are done; a brief pike to shake out and a return for a few more reps is acceptable. Hold a depth standard — a fist, yoga block, or lacrosse ball under your chest works — and use the standard of whatever test you are training for, because Army, Navy, and Marine standards all differ slightly.
Monday morning, test your two-minute max. That evening and again Wednesday, do five rounds every sixty seconds of 30 percent of your test score, finishing with one max-rep set at the top of the next minute. Friday and the following Monday, bump to 35 percent. The next Wednesday and Friday, 40 percent. Then retest, reset your numbers off the new score, and repeat the cycle.
Two-week cycles produce measurable jumps. In the example I walk through, a 30-rep tester retests at 40 after two weeks — a 33 percent gain — and because every session is a percentage of your latest test, the workload scales itself automatically as you improve. This is the same density-style training Ethan Reeves explained on this podcast, and it has worked for people prepping every military and first-responder fitness test.
Because the buildup is what protects you. You want a base of strength and, just as important, tendons and ligaments conditioned to the volume before you attempt 333 pushups a day for thirty days. Jumping off the couch into the full challenge is how people get hurt. Start where you are now — even if that is five pushups in two minutes — and let the percentages do the progression.
Yes — it is all percentage-based, so it self-scales. Whether your two-minute test is five pushups or a hundred, you train at 30, 35, then 40 percent of your own number and retest every two weeks. If the full 10,000 still feels out of reach by February, join a team, where your share might be 30 to 50 a day instead of 333.
This is the exact Monday-Wednesday-Friday program, using a 30-rep test score as the example.
The printable program document is available at tomrowlandpodcast.com, and I walk through every week of it on screen in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Three things: sponsors are coming on board, the challenge will support a cause, and for the first time there is a team option. A team of ten turns 333 a day into 33 apiece, and teammates do not even need matching numbers — one person can carry 200 a day while others take less. That changes who can participate, which is the whole point. I lay out the plans in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Because 10,000 great pushups and 10,000 bad ones are different challenges. Every test has its own standard — some put a fist under your chest, some require the shoulder to break parallel with the elbow — and if you are training for an Army, Navy, Marine, fire, or police test, you need to train to that exact standard. YouTube has demonstrations of all of them. I explain the fist-on-the-ground standard I use in the episode — press play in the player above.
It is density training, the approach Ethan Reeves went into extensively when he was on this podcast — frequent sub-maximal sets that accumulate volume without burying you. It is a tried and true method that has improved scores for countless military and first-responder candidates. The percentages look modest on paper; the two-week retests tell the real story. Go back to the Ethan Reeves episode after this one. Press play in the player above.
Start where you are and worry about February later. The program is identical whether your two-minute test produces five pushups or a hundred, because everything keys off your own score. A word of caution from me: go in slowly and build gradually — resetting your numbers every two weeks gives you big progress without the injuries that come from rushing. I talk about pacing the months ahead in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I would love to see everyone listening be part of the 10,000 Pushup Challenge this February. With the team option, the sponsors, and the cause attached, there has never been an easier year to say yes.
The document with the full program is at tomrowlandpodcast.com — put in your email and it is yours. Put in some honest work between now and February, and you will crush those pushups.
10,000 Pushup Challenge · two-minute pushup test · percentage-based training · density training · Ethan Reeves · EMOM sets · pushup standards · Army APFT · Navy PRT · first-responder fitness tests · team challenge · tomrowlandpodcast.com
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, healthy, and in the game for life — short, practical episodes you can put to work the same day.
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