Tuesday afternoon, 2nd week

20 reps, with 20 minute intervals... it does wear you down. Just 12 more sets to go before bedtime though!

Coldwood hits the deck

So this is where it all begun -- Coldwood Interactive, up in the north of Sweden, during a lovely Monday morning.





Magnificent. Just magnificent.

Morning Glory

Ah, the aesthetics of it all -- the idealism, the friendship, the brutal power displayed -- brings tears to my eye. Notice the people standing around in the kitchen who have no idea what's going on... Also, one of the gentlemen at the far end of the table joined us the next day.

Ninjastyle

Our resident ninja knows how to do it with grace. And yes, he can do seventy-six of those in a go. While whistling Sweet Home Alabama. Ok, so I made that last bit up. But he is a badass.

Latecomers? no problemo, everyone is welcome!

A few people wanted to join the program a day late. No prob, just get down and give it all you got... and then follow the schedule! You're in for a treat :)

Done in our company gym, for once.

Working out

It's a beautiful day, so why not do a set outside?

Notice the dude who's chugging down a quick banana before it's time for action.


*grunt* *grunt* *grunt*


Not to worry, that vein on the side of my forehead is not due to pop in a while yet.

Program details

The program itself is detailed at http://www.funbeat.se/programs/show.aspx?TrainingProgramID=1494.

It takes two weeks. At the beginning, middle and end, you do a max-test. During the rest of the week, you do a reduced number of push-ups, at regular intervals.

For instance, let's say that you manage 25 push-ups during the first max-test. For the rest of the day, you are then going to do 30% of max -- that is, 7 or 8 push-ups -- every 60 minutes, until you go to sleep in the evening.

Keep it up like that, changing percentage and interval each day, until the second max-test. The result of the second max test is used for all calculations during the second week.

Finally, you end the program by doing a third max-test. You should hopefully fare better than at the beginning of the program... or if not, then at least I hope you had fun doing it :)


Thanks to Olof Häggström at Coldwood Interactive for being the source of inspiration to all this!



Some tips:

• Do it in groups. If you work in offices with several people per room, try to have 2-3 people per room participating. It's much more fun ... and the others will call you out on it if you try to skip a set!

• Gather everyone in the morning, and do the max-test or one set together; that's when you switch over to the new day's Relative Intensity and interval (see the linked training program for details). Makes it easier for people to coordinate, and it works wonders for participants' morale.

• The most important thing is to do all the sets. Exactly how the push-ups are done, or whether you're doing exactly as many as the program prescribes, that's secondary. Are the regular push-ups getting too heavy? Do them on your knees! You are still approximately 1700% more sporty and insane than any non-participating coworkers!

• There are two levels of participation: either you follow the programme during office hours... or you follow it during all your waking hours.

• When the watch says it's time, it's time, no faffing about. The only good excuse is that you're doing some other form of training. Being at a restaurant and trying to impress the parents of your newly found love with your classy manners is not an excuse. Neither is having a beer down at the pub with the mates. During my first three days, I had to do sets in meetings, on the subway, at restaurants, and even in bars. I hardly feel embarrassed about it by now :)

• Most importantly, HAVE FUN while doing this!