Today I'm trying to reach 200 press ups total. I'm doing them in sets of 20, and I'm on 114 so far! That 4 comes from one set where I just decided to try to do as many as I could, and I got to 34 - same as my old record. Though I'm certain that if I hadn't done all those other press ups, I could have easily smashed that and gotten past 40.

Feeling pretty awesome.

I've been feeling pain in my left lower back after doing push-ups. Today I took a mirror and placed it in front of me so I could watch my form as I did them. It looks like I'm going lower on my left side than my right. I'll have to try to fix that, and also to try to keep taut as I lower myself down.

I no longer get pain in my back whilst doing push ups.

Pain can be any number of things, including poor form. Be careful with the mirror as looking up like that too much can cause neck strain.

I think next time I'll position my laptop in such a way that I can record myself with the built-in camera.

As long as you aren't doing it every rep of a massive set like 40 to 200, you should be fine. Also, doing it from the side helps too, as turning your head to the side is much easier on your neck than lifting up your head.

Just so you know!

Make sure you use proper FORM!!! ALWAYS DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cause you may really hurt yourself if you don't.

Honestly, I was always the scrawniest kid in my P.E. class. Being 5' 11'' and less than 9 stone 5 pounds, I was underweight. My ribs protruded horribly. About two months ago I started working out. I had no gym membership (nor did I desire to get one; the image of embarrassing myself in a room brimming with bulging muscle-men did not appeal to me), nor did I have any weights, so I had to improvise.

When I started, I found that I was only capable of 2 push-ups before I simply physically could not do anymore. Yep, you read that right. 2 push-ups. I found that I could only hold myself in the push-up position for 60 seconds before I collapsed in a quivering, panting mess. Using the rucksack I use for sixth form, I would do curls. My rucksack weighed a mere 12 pounds. I could only manage 3 sets of 12 reps before I could do no more.

I was ridiculously weak.

However, through much effort and willpower, and the help of this WikiHow article, I have improved greatly. My new consecutive push-up record - which I just set - is 29. With my 12 pound rucksack, I now do 5 sets of 20, then a sixth set where I work until failure, which is around about 40. The other day I stuffed my bag as much as I could with books, taking it to 16 pounds. With that, I did 4 sets of 12. The last time I tried (about a week ago), I was able to hold myself in the push-up position for 2 minutes 39 seconds. I am confident that if I were to try it again, I would be getting close to 3 minutes.

Conversely, I have very good lower body strength. I cycle every day, and having done karate for nearly 4 years, my core and legs developed from having to stay in grueling stances for extensive periods of time.

About 10 or so days ago I weighed myself and the scales showed 9 stone 5 pounds. I then made the decision to try to put on some weight. I don't know how much I weighed before I started working out. I'm now about 9 stone 8 pounds. My ribs are now somewhat less visible.

I'm hoping to get some dumbbells for Christmas to work with, so that would be helpful. Obviously a rucksack isn't the most ergonomic thing to be lifting.

Please, share your own progress stories in terms of fitness, be it weight gain, weight loss, weight lifting, body shape, or anything!