7 weeks to 100 push-ups

I am on week 2 of a 7-week program to do 100 consecutive push-ups.  The program is contained in a slim book by Steve Spiers, a runner, triathlete and fitness enthusiast.  Picked it up for $14.95 at Borders. The book is particularly effectively illustrated and it clearly explains the benefits of being able to do that many push-ups such as strengthening and 'sculpting' your arms, abs, chest, back and glutes.   Even if you can't do a single push-up to start with, the book can help you with a preliminary program which involves some less strenuous quasi push-ups such as against a wall, from one's knees and so on.  There is a 'test' to see where you should start (beginner, intermediate or advanced) as well as a very good warm-up sequence and some post-exercise stretches. Plain old push-ups not your cup of tea?  Don't worry.  The book illustrates and describes 15 more challenging versions of the standard push-up such as wide push-ups, narrow push-ups, fingertip push-ups, diamond push-ups, knuckle push-ups, clapping push-ups and several more.

So far so good:  I'm up to about about 50 push-ups in 5 sets, resting about a minute between sets. Sculpted arms?  Not quite yet but we'll see in 6 weeks time...

Recipe of the day is again from Vegan on the Cheap - Polenta Pizza with Roasted Vegetables. We pretty much always have corn-meal in the house, using it as a substitute for maize porridge ('pap') which is a staple of Southern African and East African diets.  In addition to some roasted vegetables (red onion, zucchini and portobello mushrooms) as toppings, I added some capers and pitted kalamata olives, on a homemade marinara sauce and of course a polenta crust.  One of my old Pampered Chef pizza stones happened to be just the right size for this.  It turned out quite well - and between the three of us there wasn't much left over for lunch today...