Ok be honest, did the headline scare you? It scared me. Did you think Techlife did a 180 degree turn? Well we didn’t. We still sit squarely in the camp of “where the crossroads of technology and life intersect.” So again you ask yourself, why is Techlife covering a hundred pushups, two hundred situps and two hundred squats?
One word: Mashup.
We have covered mashups in the past, see the archives. Basically a mashup is taking two or more separate things and combining them. In our column we often cover technology mashups so today is something a bit different.
A little over a year ago, Steve Speirs created the website HundredPushups.com. The concept was simple to inspire and help people achieve a goal that seems difficult to most, to do 100 consecutive pushups. Wait, wait — don’t go. Don’t stop reading cause, ewww he mentioned fitness and feats of strength. I know this is the holiday season and Festivus is upon us. But you can do this.
Steve’s idea is something we often pass on to clients. When you are sharing information, keep it simple. HundredPushups.com provides an easy to follow six-week plan, some simple printable worksheets and that was it. The interest spiked enormously due to the simplicity.
Even better Steve’s community of fans stared building mashups. For regular readers there are three iPhone/iPod touch applications that act as digital tracking tools for people in each of the three programs. Swedish developer Viktor Nordling created a web app for those regular Techlife readers, pushuplogger.com. Finally, a fan named Eddie created the mashup for you long time readers, a Pocket Mod of the entire program that fits on a single sheet of paper in foldable Pocket Mod format. This was my favorite item.
Steve was inspired by the outpouring for his well crafted website that he soon rolled out the sequel, twohundredsitups.com. Same concept, different muscles, new goal. Most recently he launched twohundredsquats.com. Steve’s brilliance was to keep all three sites nearly the same. Fans who understood one program can easily start the next.
Now for mashup, the Techlife challenge. I sit behind my monitor way to much. Cranking out good articles for the faithful. I have started my new year’s resolution early and I want you to join me. My goal stated publicly, is to achieve the Techlife 500. The goal is to max out with being able to do in a continuous test, one hundred pushups plus two hundred situps plus two hundred squats totalling 500 reps.
Who’s with me? Add a comment below if you are joining and feel free to check back here and update us on your progress.
