Man did push-ups and added one to the total everyday for a year and his half-way results are insane

Performing even a small number of push-ups is a pretty gruelling task, given how taxing it can be on your body.

But this fitness fanatic managed to get through a mammoth amount of them over the course of 12 months after he began a challenge based around the multipurpose exercise.

Although he committed to an entire year, the insane changes in Cedrik Flipo's physique were evident in just half that amount of time.

The French-Canadian athlete, who is vying for a spot in the 2028 Olympics, had a unique set of rules to follow while he was putting his body to the test.

On the first day, he did just one single push-up...but with each day that passed, he added another one to his to-do list.

Cedrik, from Montreal, explained: "I started a push-up challenge on 31 January, 2022 - doing one push up and adding one for every day that passes by."

According to Harvard Health, this exercise 'engages your body from the top to bottom' - as your arms, chest, core, hips and legs are all getting put to work.

Cedrik Flipo embarked on a push-up challenge which grew increasingly difficult as time went on (YouTube/cedrikflipo)

Personal trainer and physical therapist at the Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation, Vijay A Daryanani, explained that the key to performing a good push-up is 'proper execution and form'.

"Where you can feel your muscles fully engaged, is what's important," he said. "It's always better to do five good push-ups than 10 bad ones."

How many pushups should you be able to do in a row?

Men's Health US fitness director Ebenezer Samuel said we should all be able to do 20 to 25 press-ups in a row at some point in our lives.

Harvard scientists, meanwhile, have a slightly higher target. They say men who can do 40 or more pushups in a row were 96 percent less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke than people who can only do 10.

But when Olympic potential Cedrik released his before and after pictures he was apparently doing 170 a day.

Yep, it doesn't bear thinking about.

At the halfway point, he checked in with his 13,900 YouTube subscribers to show off what progress he had made so far.

"I haven't skipped a single day doing these push-ups, except for one day that I hurt my shoulders," the runner told his 13,900 YouTube subscribers.

What effect did the pushup challenge have on Cedrik's body?

There was a clear difference in Cedrik's body following the six months he had spent completing the exercise daily with an ever-increasing amount to tick off.

He said: "This was my physique before I started doing push ups and not even halfway through this challenge, you could already see I gained a lot of upper body mass.

"If you're looking to get bigger and gain muscle, I would definitely recommend this challenge as it's not very long and it's also very efficient."

The athlete's physique was noticeably more defined just six months in (YouTube/cedrikflipo)

Cedrik didn't specify what other workouts he'd also been completing during this time period, but we can at least assume he was still getting his steps in and running a lot.

Still, social media users were gobsmacked by his results and hundreds of people flooded the comment section of his post with praise.

One said: "This proves perseverance is the key."

Another wrote: "I love how he does only push-ups and gains biceps and back as well."

A third added: "Say what you want about this kid....he's thinking, he's innovative, and it's some challenge. Well done lad, I'm quite impressed."

A fourth said: "I did that for about 3 months and the change was crazy."

You can check out Cedrik's video here.