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The 100 push-ups programme and the week-by-week chart

Six weeks, three workouts a week, five sets a workout. A max test before you start picks which of the three columns in the chart you follow. The Cornish Reps app can count your reps and call them out in your earbuds.

How the programme works

Six weeks, three workouts a week, with a rest day in between. Each workout is five sets, rising to eight or nine near the end of the chart.

The last set always goes to your max. There is no upper limit on it.

The test and your column

Before the first workout, do a max push-up test. The result decides which of the three columns you work from.

You retest after week two and week four, with a final test after week six. Every test recalculates the targets for your sets.

weekday 1day 2day 3total
week 1day 1
  1. 6
  2. 6
  3. 4
  4. 4
  5. 5+
day 2
  1. 6
  2. 8
  3. 6
  4. 6
  5. 7+
day 3
  1. 8
  2. 10
  3. 7
  4. 7
  5. 10+
total 100
week 2day 1
  1. 9
  2. 11
  3. 8
  4. 8
  5. 11+
day 2
  1. 10
  2. 12
  3. 9
  4. 9
  5. 13+
day 3
  1. 12
  2. 13
  3. 10
  4. 10
  5. 15+
total 160
week 3day 1
  1. 12
  2. 17
  3. 13
  4. 13
  5. 17+
day 2
  1. 14
  2. 19
  3. 14
  4. 14
  5. 19+
day 3
  1. 16
  2. 21
  3. 15
  4. 15
  5. 21+
total 240
week 4day 1
  1. 18
  2. 22
  3. 16
  4. 16
  5. 25+
day 2
  1. 20
  2. 25
  3. 20
  4. 20
  5. 28+
day 3
  1. 23
  2. 28
  3. 23
  4. 23
  5. 33+
total 340
week 5day 1
  1. 28
  2. 35
  3. 25
  4. 22
  5. 35+
day 2
  1. 18
  2. 18
  3. 20
  4. 20
  5. 14
  6. 14
  7. 16
  8. 40+
day 3
  1. 18
  2. 18
  3. 20
  4. 20
  5. 17
  6. 17
  7. 20
  8. 45+
total 480
week 6day 1
  1. 40
  2. 50
  3. 25
  4. 25
  5. 50+
day 2
  1. 20
  2. 20
  3. 23
  4. 23
  5. 20
  6. 20
  7. 18
  8. 18
  9. 53+
day 3
  1. 22
  2. 22
  3. 30
  4. 30
  5. 25
  6. 25
  7. 18
  8. 18
  9. 55+
total 650

The column comes from your max test. A plus means the set goes to failure: the number is the floor, not the target.

Missed days and breaks

A day in the programme is a workout, not a date. Miss a day and you pick up where you left off.

After a break of more than four days, the numbers stop going up. After more than ten days, the plan drops below what you actually did last time.

Sit-ups, squats, pull-ups

The same app runs programmes for 200 sit-ups, 200 squats and 20 pull-ups. The plank goes by time rather than reps.

There are easier versions too: push-ups on your knees and assisted pull-ups.

Counting reps in your earbuds

Cornish Reps counts reps with the motion sensor in AirPods and compatible Beats. The count is spoken into your ear, so the phone can stay in your pocket. You can say start, stop, plus a number or minus a number. Recognition normally runs on the phone itself, and falls back to Apple's servers only when the on-device model will not start.

The app runs on iOS 18 and later. The beta is in TestFlight: free, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions. Your workout history stays on the phone in a single file, with no account and no server.

In short

Which earbuds count push-ups?
The motion sensor is in every generation of AirPods Pro, in AirPods 3 and 4, in AirPods Max, and in the Beats Fit Pro, Studio Pro, Solo 4 and Powerbeats Pro 2. AirPods 1 and 2, earbuds from other brands and any speakers have no sensor. Quick check: if the sound stays put when you turn your head, the model has the sensor.

What if my earbuds have no sensor?
The 100 push-ups programme still works: the chart, rest timers, stats and manual rep entry.

The count is off. How do I fix it?
The detector thresholds are tuned on recordings of real workouts with AirPods Pro, and other models have had less testing. Export the session as a CSV from the counter screen and send it to hi@cornishreps.com.

How much does the app cost?
The app is free: no in-app purchases, no subscriptions. You need an iPhone running iOS 18 or later and the TestFlight app, where the beta runs.

Get it on TestFlight

iOS 18 and up. Free, no account needed. Still in testing, something may not work