BeastieGuides · Challenges and games
100 Push-Ups a Day Challenge: How to Make It Last
The 100 push-ups a day challenge, honestly: splitting 100 into sets, what counts as a rep, rest days that pause, not reset, and running it against a friend.
The 100 push-ups a day challenge is a simple dare: do 100 push-ups every day, usually for 30 days, split into as many sets as you need. There are no official rules, so set your own: full reps only, rest days that pause instead of reset, and ideally a friend doing it with you so someone is checking.
The idea spreads because it fits in a sentence and needs nothing but a floor. It stalls for the same reason most solo challenges do: by day nine, nobody is checking, and 100 quietly becomes 70 with some short ones mixed in. This guide is about keeping the number honest and keeping the challenge alive past the first week.
Is doing 100 push-ups a day good?
Honestly, it depends, and anyone who promises a specific result from 100 a day is guessing. How it goes depends on where you start, how you recover and how strict your reps are.
What we can say:
- The research doesn't give a daily push-up number. The American College of Sports Medicine's position stand on resistance training says its recommendations "should be applied in context" and depend on a person's "target goals, physical capacity, and training status". For beginners it recommends training 2 to 3 days a week, not seven. That's guidance on resistance training in general, not a verdict on daily push-ups, but it's a reason to build rest days in.
- Whether your numbers move is something to measure, not assume. We're not going to promise you a result, and nobody else honestly can either.
So measure it. On day one, do one max set of clean push-ups and write the number down. Do the same once a week. That one number, counted the same way every time, tells you more than any promise on the internet. If anything hurts, stop. A day off costs you nothing.
Will 50 push-ups a day make a difference?
Same answer: it depends on you, and the weekly max set will tell you. Fifty a day is not a lesser version of the challenge. It's often the version that's still running on day 30. Pick the number you can do every day with every rep full, not the number that sounds best when you announce it.
How to split 100 push-ups into sets
Nobody does 100 in one set on day one, and nothing says you have to. Pick a split and keep it for the whole challenge so your days are comparable.
| Split | How it works | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 | Ten sets of ten, anywhere in the day | Busy days and short breaks |
| 5 × 20 | Five sets of twenty | People who can already do 20 clean |
| Morning and evening | Two blocks of 50, each split however you like | Fitting it around work |
| Ladder | 1, 2, 3 and up until you reach the total | Making it feel like a game |
| Max first | One max set, then fill the rest in smaller sets | Tracking your best set without a separate test |
The max first split doubles as your weekly measurement. Write down that first set once a week.
What counts as a rep?
This is where most 100-a-day challenges quietly fall apart. By set eight it is tempting to let reps get shallow, and shallow reps are easy to count. Agree the standard on day one:
- Start with straight arms.
- Lower until your elbows bend past about 90 degrees.
- Keep shoulders, hips and ankles in one line. No sagging middle, no hips in the air.
- Press back up to straight arms. That's one.
Miss any of those and it doesn't go in the total. The full definition, with the edge cases, is in what counts as a push-up. If you're tempted to keep the half reps "because they still count for something", read half reps vs full reps first. Eighty full reps is a better day than 100 with twenty short ones in it, because the number still means something.
Knee push-ups are a separate category
If 100 full push-ups isn't realistic yet, knee push-ups are a fine way to play, as long as you keep them in their own count. They're a lighter exercise, and mixing the two makes your total meaningless. Knee push-ups vs push-ups explains why they don't compare rep for rep.
Two clean ways to scale:
- Lower the number, keep the standard. 50 a day, 30 a day, full reps only.
- Change the exercise, keep a separate tally. A knee push-up challenge, scored only against itself.
Why rest days and pause-not-reset rules keep it going
The classic rule is brutal: miss a day, back to day one. It sounds tough. In practice it ends challenges. One missed day for a cold or a late shift, and the whole thing is gone, so people stop.
Swap it for these:
- Rest days are part of the rules. Agree a number up front, such as one a week. Taking one isn't failing.
- A missed day pauses, it doesn't reset. Your total and your day count carry on from where they were.
- Hurt means stop. Not "push through". Stop, and pick it up when you're fine.
That's how streaks work in Beastie: miss a day and your streak pauses. It never breaks.
Make it a head-to-head
The 100-a-day challenge survives longest when someone else is doing it too and the reps are counted the same way for both of you. A few ways to turn it into a rivalry:
- Daily duel. Everyone does their 100 however they like, plus one max set. Highest clean max set wins the day.
- Weekly max. Only the weekly max set is scored. Most weeks won takes the month.
- Beat your best. If you're far apart, each of you races your own day-one number. Biggest improvement wins.
- Knee vs full. One person on knee push-ups, one on full? Use beat your best, never raw reps.
Keep a scoreboard you both can see, and agree the house rules (rep standard, rest days, deadline) before day one. Write them down where you'll both see them.
Running it in Beastie
Beastie is a rep duel app for iPhone and Android, and it's built for the part of the 100-a-day challenge that people argue about: the max set. Prop your phone with your whole body in frame and the camera counts only clean reps. A skeleton is drawn over your body, and a rep that falls short is refused with the reason ("chest lower!"). Processing happens on the phone; video is never uploaded or stored. See how the counting works.
- The scored set: do the other reps of your 100 however you like, and do the set that counts in Beastie.
- Same time: a live duel is 60 seconds, both of you at once, each in front of your own phone, both counts on screen.
- Different times: do your set and send it as a challenge link. Your friend opens it, sees your number and answers on camera. A sent challenge stays open seven days.
- Far apart: pick "beat your best" when you send, or the handicap rule that cuts the sender's count by 5% to 50% at the verdict.
- After: the verdict shows a receipt with reps, form score and best clean streak, and a rematch is one tap with roles reversed.
Who pays. Your first counted set is free. Sending duels comes with Beastie Pro, which starts with a 7-day free trial. Answering a challenge a friend sends you is always free. No ads.
Honest limits. Beastie doesn't track a daily 100 for you or run a month-long league: keep the running total and the overall score yourselves. It counts push-ups, squats and jumping jacks only, and you need a spot where your whole body fits in frame.
Beastie is a general fitness product, not medical advice. Check with a professional before starting a new exercise routine, and stop if you feel pain.
Name the number. Send the link.
Do your set and Beastie turns it into a challenge link. Your friend opens it, sees your number and answers on camera. Only clean reps count, on both phones.
- First set free, no card
- No account needed to try it
- Video never leaves your phone
- Counts with no signal
your phone
One set takes about a minute. If the number disappoints you, nobody else ever sees it.
Questions people ask
What is the 100 push-ups a day challenge?
It is a self-set dare: do 100 push-ups every day for a stretch of time, often 30 days. The reps do not have to come in one set. Most people split them across the day. There is no official version, so you and anyone doing it with you decide the rules, including what counts as a rep and what happens on a missed day.
Is doing 100 push-ups a day good?
It depends on where you start and how your body handles doing the same movement every day. Nobody can promise a result. A fair way to find out for yourself is to do one max set of clean push-ups each week and write the number down. Build rest days in, keep every rep a full one, and stop if anything hurts.
Will 50 push-ups a day make a difference?
It depends on you, and the honest answer is that you will only know by measuring. Do a max set of clean push-ups on day one, then once a week, and compare the numbers. Fifty a day is a perfectly good version of the challenge, and it is easier to keep going for a month than a number that wears you out in week one.
Do the 100 push-ups have to be done in one go?
No. Splitting them is normal: ten sets of ten, five sets of twenty, or sets spread across the day. What matters is that every rep you count is a full one, with straight arms at the top and elbows past about 90 degrees at the bottom.
What happens if I miss a day of the challenge?
Decide before you start. Resetting to day one is the fastest way to quit for good. A better rule is that a missed day is just a missed day: your total carries on and you pick up again tomorrow. In Beastie, a streak pauses on a missed day and never breaks.
Do knee push-ups count toward 100 a day?
Only if you agree they do, and then keep them in a separate count. Knee push-ups are a lighter exercise, so mixing them with full push-ups makes the total meaningless. If one of you does knee push-ups and the other does full ones, compare each person against their own starting number instead.
Your move, beastie.
Push-ups, squats and jumping jacks, counted on your phone. Video is never uploaded or stored.
your phone