April 13  - May  2

2026 Push-Up Challenge

Welcome to the 110-in-20 Push-Up Challenge!

In 20 days you’ll attempt to do 110 push-ups in a row, and you’ll have a fighting chance with the daily training technique described below.

The first thing to do is find your preferred push-up style. A push-up works the chest, triceps, deltoids and back. Any of the four variations below will hit these muscles. Your job today is to identify which version works best for you at your current level.

  • Standard Push-up

    Hold the core firm and don’t let the back collapse. Use push-up bars if you have them to protect your wrists.

  • Knee Push-up

    Use the knees as a simple up-down pivot point, and not rocking back towards your buttocks when you come up.

  • Incline Push-up

    An incline reduces the amount of mass you have to move against gravity. As with the standard push-up, keeping your core engaged to create a stable, flat body line is key.

  • Wall Push-up

    Even less gravity to deal with! Stand about a meter from the wall and pretend the wall is the floor. Don’t let your lower back collapse, keep your torso solid.

To figure out which one is right, find the hardest version that you can do 10 of in a row. If you’re on the borderline, for example you can do 8 with knees off the ground but can’t make the full 10, that’s close enough.

If you can’t make it through 5 then the version is too hard and you should switch down to the next version. All versions are perfectly acceptable and will give you good strength benefits.

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Once you’ve chosen your version, you should stick with it for the rest of the challenge and avoid switching around.
This training uses a style called “pyramid training,” stretched out over 20 days.

On Day 1 of the challenge you’ll do 10 of your push-ups and be done for the day. Easy as that.

On Day 2, you do Day 1’s 10 push-ups again, take a short break at the “top” of the rep (without breaking form), then do Day 2’s quota of 9 push-ups, for a total of 19.

On Day 3, you do 10, short break, do 9, short break, and finish with 8 for a total of 27.

On Day 4 the pattern is do 10, do 9, do 8, then 7.

This continues all the way to Day 10, when you’ll do 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and finish with 1 , with small breaks in between each number. That’s the halfway point.

On Day 11 you do all that but start adding up again; 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2

You continue this all the way back up to 10, adding one more each day, so that on Day 20 your complete pattern will be: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 + 1 epic final push-up for 110!

You don’t need to remember all of this, each day of the challenge we’ll have an easy to follow graphic to help you keep track.

Now that you have the idea, let’s cover some frequently asked questions.

  • Your muscles need a few seconds to replenish fresh ATP and remove the byproducts of ATP breakdown. You give them these seconds by stopping for a few moments when your arms are locked out and you can rely on the structural support of your arm bones to hold your weight. It’s important that during these breaks you don’t leave the push-up position (such as standing up and stretching for a minute). Doing that will invalidate the challenge!

  • If you’re truly at a point of failure, then add in another small break, doing your best to not get out of position. If you’re so gassed that you can’t even hold the form, then take a longer break out of position and go back to finish up a minute or so later. In 20 days there will probably be a day or two like this, it doesn’t mean you’re off track, it just means your body is in a tissue repair cycle and weaker than normal. Persevere!

  • Every day you repeat your push-ups, you’re not only gaining strength in your chest and arms, you’re priming your nervous system to more skillfully go through the chain of muscle commands that creates an efficient push-up. This method of training is called “greasing the groove,” and it can account for a 40% boost in strength even in the absence of stronger tissue being formed. By doing the push-ups for 20 days straight you’re making time for both new muscle growth and nervous system boosting, which combined create a surprising amount of progress.

  • You don’t need push-up bars, but should switch to them if you’re feeling any pain in the wrist. If you do use push-up bars, you shouldn’t go all the way to the bottom near the floor. That depth of push-up done for 20 days in a row will strain the elbows and shoulders.

  • Shoulder width plus a hand’s width out to the sides. Don’t go too wide as it creates joint strain. Don’t go too narrow as that leaves out the chest muscle and makes the push-up into more of a shoulder and triceps exercise.

  • Do your best to exhale as you push your body from near the ground up into the air. The exhalation solidifies your core and makes a stable platform for your muscles to work with. Breathe in at the top of the rep when you have the least muscular activity.

  • Anytime is fine, just be sure to warm up your joints with some wrist stretches and shoulder circles, especially if it’s early in the morning and your body is still cold.

  • There are all kinds of bodies starting from many different starting points. We can’t guarantee that you’ll complete the final 110 push-ups, but we can guarantee that you’ll be able to do many more push-ups in a row than you thought you could with such a short period of time. Don’t get too distracted by the big number at the end, just do your best each day and remember that even 1 push-up is infinitely better than 0, which is how many most people do in a day!

    The 20 day limit here is a useful structure to work around, but of course you can extend the challenge longer if you’re not quite at the goal. 

  • On the final day, set up your camera and record yourself doing the 110 push-ups! Share to your journal and live forever in the halls of Valhalla!

    Work hard, keep your sense of humor, and HAVE FUN!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!