As somebody that used to be gym rat, i can say that the 100 pushups challenge is a bad bad idea.
You will just exercise only some parts of the body, and forget the rest.
At some point, when I was working out a lot, i was obsesed with bench-pressing, and trained a lot of them. The result was an onverdeveloped chest, and triceps, while the rest was just more regular looking. It just made me look more bulky, but I don't think it made me anymore healthy.
I ignored my legs, and biceps, and at some point ended up injuring my knees, playing soccer, mainly b/c I just didn't exercise my legs as the rest of my body.
Lesson learned. You have to go to the gym, and do all the range of excercises, and not just one kind.
As another former gym rat, 100 pushups isn't a bad idea at all. The ability to do 100 pushups will not make you "bulky" at all. It isn't the same thing as the guys who can bench press 300 pounds and only squat 180. Push-ups are a "core" exercise and if you do them right you're working everything from your pecs to your psoas.
Now, I totally agree with you that neglecting the rest of your body is a bad idea. Most men who are prone to being "gym rats" totally ignore leg exercises. If you're sitting down all day programming, your legs eventually will get totally screwed up, so it is a good idea to do something with them. If you're totally fat and out of shape, walking for an hour per day is more important than doing a bunch of pushups.
I also disagree with the guys in the article. If they gained a bunch of weight, simply doing pushups (even 100 at a time) is not going to burn off what they put on. I don't want to discourage them, because pushups can contribute greatly to overall health, fitness, and self esteem. But, if losing fat is what they are after, they need to stop stocking the fridge with free beer and soda and start a track club.
Not necessarily true. If the only muscle groups that get worked out are your pecs and triceps, you're probably not doing them right. Being able to do 100 proper pushups consecutively is no easy task and requires a lot of work from supporting muscle groups (back, abs, deltoids, quads and hamstrings to a lesser extent). Your core has to be strong in order to maintain the rigidity necessary to control the motion. Granted, if you plan on playing soccer, you'd still want to work your legs directly, but don't think that the rest of your body didn't benefit from doing all those pushups / benchpresses. However, those other muscles won't necessarily get as "bulky", as tension-type exercises don't generate that kind of result (think pilates).
You will just exercise only some parts of the body, and forget the rest. At some point, when I was working out a lot, i was obsesed with bench-pressing, and trained a lot of them. The result was an onverdeveloped chest, and triceps, while the rest was just more regular looking. It just made me look more bulky, but I don't think it made me anymore healthy.
I ignored my legs, and biceps, and at some point ended up injuring my knees, playing soccer, mainly b/c I just didn't exercise my legs as the rest of my body.
Lesson learned. You have to go to the gym, and do all the range of excercises, and not just one kind.