Where I learned how starting with nothing can mean slower progress

Remember the 100 push up challenge Brian and I started last week?

We just did Week One Day 3, the end of the first week, of the challenge. The last two days, I'd managed to barely reach the minimum of the final set, where you are supposed to do as many push ups as possible before you can't do them anymore. 

Today I was supposed to do a minimum of 10 push ups for my max. I barely managed six. 

Brian said maybe we should re-do the last two days of Week One before moving on to Week Two. While he appears to have done the last few days beautifully, he said it has been a challenge for him too. But being male with a natural propensity toward upper body strength, it's to be expected that he doesn't struggle as much as I do. But since he's the only person I have to compare myself to, it's hard not to. 

He did point out that I managed to complete 38 push ups today (and 33 on Day Two and 27 on Day One) with breaks. Compared to my initial test, where I managed 11 before collapsing, I have to admit I have gotten maybe a little stronger. 

So we are going to backtrack a little on this and see if it helps. Since he does do a job that involves physical labor, he does have some muscle built up that I don't, Y chromosome aside, and I really appreciate him being so encouraging.

Actually, he told me if I finish this challenge with him, he would do the Two Hundred Lunges challenge with me next (maybe following the Two Hundred Sit Ups challenge, if we decide to work down the body gradually). He thinks that if we were do do a lower body-focused exercise, I would have the advantage. Because he has an athletic background and I do not, I think we would be evenly matched at best. The sit up challenge I feel would be a similar match. 

But, as disappointed as I am with how I'm doing in just the first week, it is kind of nice to have a physical project to focus on and a partner with whom to do it. 

By the way, we have only taken one progress-picture of our arms. We did not get a before picture, but we took a photo after Week One Day Two. We might do weekly photos to look at our progress, which should be fun to look at later.