My buddy Dave and I have done the February 2,000 push up challenge for a couple years now and this year I suggested bumping it up. The actual challenge is 2,000 push in 20 days, but we were doing it over the full month. Last year I did 75-80 push ups daily in sets, sometimes just doing 4 sets of 20 or 3 sets of 25, sometimes less sets with more reps… With rest days.

This year I plan to do 120 a day. I only need to do that 25 days to hit 3k, so I’ve got 3 rest days if I need them. Yesterday I did 4 sets of 25 and one set of 20. Today I plan to do 4 sets of 30. This isn’t hard, it’s a fun challenge, and my buddy and I keep each other motivated to do them. Having small, fun goals like this keeps me focused, and gives me small incremental goals to do a few more per set as the month progresses.

I think challenges like this are great. Even if you struggle to do 5 pushups, you can spread sets out throughout the day and shoot for 1,000 pushups in the month. That would be 7-8 sets of 5 in a day, but the thing is that within a week your new maximum will be close to 10 and you’ll need less than 4 sets a day at that point. In fact, if you struggle with pushups, you’ll see more gains than someone who already does them easily.

It’s a fun challenge, find an accountability partner or just track your progress quietly… either way, go for it. You’ll love the gains and have nothing to lose.