Good Evening Hundred Push Ups Challengers!

It's been several weeks since my last update, so figured it was time to send another. Hopefully the push ups plan is still fun, still challenging and your significant strength and fitness gains are here to stay!

If you're one of the success stories who recently completed the hundred, no longer on the plan, or simply not interested in receiving sporadic email updates, just send a quick reply and I'll take you off my personal push ups people list right away. As mentioned on the Hundred Push Ups web site, I will never sell, barter or rent your email address, so rest assured your information is not on any other mailing lists aside from my own personal database of people that sent a request to be added to the "Take The Challenge" page.

Last time I mentioned that the initial response to the training program had been staggering and that since its launch on June 9th, the Hundred Push Ups web site had received over 1.1 million unique visitors, comprising more than 3 million page loads. Today the stats are even more amazing; over 2.4 million visitors made up of 6.3 million page loads! Thankfully, my unlimited bandwidth web hosting account has taken care of any access issues you may encounter.

So, on to the site updates:

1. Earlier today I added a new push ups logger page: http://hundredpushups.com/logger.html The Push Ups Logger is a great online tool created by Swedish developer Viktor Nordling; the purpose of which is to allow people who take part in the challenge to log their results and be inspired by others. Feel free to take a look at Viktor's web site (http://www.pushupslogger.com/) and while you're there, why not sign up and start logging your workouts?
2. The Take The Challenge page has continued to grow at an alarming rate and now boasts well over 700 challengers. I would guess I'm still adding about a half dozen new challengers every day at the moment.
3. The initial CafePress store seems to be growing in popularity with several more orders over the past couple of weeks. I've received several requests asking for merchandise and apparel that can be worn after the challenge has been met, so with this in mind I created a second store called "i did the hundred". You can find a link to both stores on the Merchandise page.
4. The number of challengers that have officially "done the hundred" is now up to 44. Remember to send me an email when you're ready to be added, and don't forget to download the shiny orange badge to proudly display on your blog or web site.
5. The biggest change I've saved for last. Based on the enormous amount of feedback received over the past two or three months, I've spent many an hour fine-tuning, tweaking and updating the six-week program. Many of you felt that the plan had too many "tough" spots and the jump to certain weeks were too severe. Along with several very helpful push ups people, I've personally spent the last four or five weeks creating and testing a better six-week challenge. The rate of progression should be smoother but the results just as impressive. Remember, attempting the hundred push ups challenge is no mean feat, and it will definitely test you to your limit. Hopefully the improvements will be well received. If you're halfway through the program and looking for the original plan, Weeks 1 through 6 are still available for a limited time at the following locations:

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week1.html

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week2.html

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week3.html

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week4.html

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week5.html

   http://hundredpushups.com/o_week6.html

   Thanks for understanding and please continue to provide feedback on both the new and old six-week programs.

On a personal note, I achieved the magic hundred back in the middle of August and have maintained my new-found strength by testing out the new plan and constantly challenging myself: http://www.runbulldogrun.com/push-ups/guess-what-i-did-the-hundred-push-ups-that-is/

Thanks for reading this update and I wish you every success no matter where you are in the program.

Happy Push Ups!

--Steve Speirs