January 30, 2026
The Pushups App
I've developed a habit where I do 20 pushups every time I lose a game of blitz chess (which is most games of blitz chess I play). And 20 pushups any time I'm waiting on an AI agent to finish a task for me. And occasionally in public, like every time the Chiefs score a touchdown or built into breaks during our quarterly meetings at Mostly Serious. Most of the team hates this, but a few people join me. It's weird. But also fun.
How It Started
The pushups thing started when Tom Douglas and Andy Whaley invited me to a WhatsApp group doing 100 pushups a day. After some ramp-up time and many days with a sore chest, I joined them in Q2 2024. It turned out to be one of those small commitments that compounds into something bigger. Teaching yourself how to show up even when you don't feel like it.
But my memory is absolute garbage and I kept losing count of how many pushups I had done. I'd do random sets throughout the day and forget where I was. I wanted a quick way to log them and see my totals over days, months, and years. And I wanted to invite friends in, because accountability helps.
So I built an app.
Building It the Hard Way
This was before my current AI coding setup. Before I started using Claude Code or Codex. I used Cursor and Figma, and it took months of off-and-on work. Through the process, I learned more about how databases work, how auth works, how to actually structure a project. And before one of the worst weeks of my life, when I learned about the nightmare that is time zone management. If I built this today it would take a couple nights. I'm glad I did it the hard way first, though, because it gave me a better access point to coding with AI tools. Now I'm not operating so blindly.
The Numbers
So far, I've logged over 50,000 pushups all-time (counting an earlier version of the app), 30,231 logged in the current app, 3,969 this month, 500 max in a single day, and a 30-day best streak. Tracking stuff keeps me motivated.
Friends used the app in TestFlight for a while, but it faded for most of them over time. I'm hopeful a few more people will want to knock out some pushups while agents are coding or just to build a more consistent habit.
Give It a Try
It's in the App Store now. It's simple by design. Log your pushups, track your progress, and learn to stay consistent. If you want to do pushups with me, give it a try.