How to Figure Out Your Fitness Level

Teammates, how many of you got the Perfect Pushup this holiday? How's it going? I'm going to re-run a blog that will answer some of the questions I've been receiving. Great picture of rock climber extraordinaire Beth Rodden! Check out her thoughts on Perfect Fitness. AMM

Question: Steve from Tucson, AZ asked, "How do I figure out my fitness level when I first start using the Perfect Pushup?"

Answer: Great question! Begin the entire program by determining your fitness level with a one set MAX. This means, using the PPU in Regular Position, do as many pushups as you can. Next, move to the schedule to see what you need to do each day. The first day shows as you noted:

MAX Regular
1 Wide
1 Close

To conduct a one set Max - simply position your arms in the REGULAR Position - that is hands should be one hand width wider than your shoulders. Get into the pushup positions (see the Perfect Pushup checklist on the calendar or Power 10 workout cards for proper form). Now, push out as many Perfect Pushups as you can while rotating through the pushup movement - hands should rotate out on the way down, and rotate in on the way up. The moment you start losing your form STOP doing pushups and record the number you did.

Let's assume you were able to do 12 Perfect Pushups - 12 is your One Set Max. Now, take your one set max (12) and round to the nearest 10 - in this case 12 is closer to 10 than it is 20, so use 10 as your one set max fitness level on the PERFCT PUSHUP workout chart or Power 10 workout cards. Locate the "10" row on the workout chart and read from left to right to understand the number of reps required for each position - REGULAR, WIDE, and CLOSE.

In the case of the 10 row - REGULAR, WIDE, and CLOSE repetitions are: 8,6,4,2 - this means do 8 reps,followed by 6 reps, followed by 4 reps, followed by 2 reps in two minutes. Go to your knees if you have to, but do your ABSOLUTE best to complete all the reps in one two minute time period. Depending on your pace during the two minute drill - assuming you have time - you can drop to your knees and shake out your arms for a few seconds before attacking the next set of reps. Remember, you don't have to do all three two minute drills back to back - you can space them out throughout the day.

CHARLIE MIKE -- ALDEN