To some people, pushups might seem painfully pointless. To others, they’re the perfect way to keep those guns looking great. To the 100 men, women, and children who participated in the second annual Pushups for Charity event in SLO on April 16, they were the means for a fundraising machine.
Organized by Ryan Joiner, owner of Athlon Health & Fitness, the event pegged members of the San Luis Obispo Fire Department against “Average Joes and Janes” to see who could do the most pushups in 90 seconds.
All contestants were asked to collect donations for their efforts. The San Luis Obispo event ended up raising more than $7,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit dedicated to helping severely wounded servicemen and women.
The brainchild of a group of approximately 100 personal trainers, Pushups for Charity has raised more than $250,000 nationwide.
This year, those Average Joes and Janes got some help from a group of G.I. Joes stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Cushing, leader of the 381st Training Group, said he signed his unit up for the event because the airmen “love to donate to a good cause that could—or has—helped their friends and family members.”
Cushing knows the significance of organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project: His brother is a Purple Heart recipient, and he’s witnessed firsthand the toll war has on the human mind and body.
From 2004 to 2008, Cushing was deployed four times: to Iraq, Afghanistan, or Egypt.
“For four years, I was on this cycle of being deployed for seven months and home for five,” he said.
Tragedy struck on Cushing’s third deployment in 2006, when a member of his unit, Airman First Class Lebernard Chabis, was shot and killed by a sniper. That same deployment, one of his best friends was hit in the hip with shrapnel.
Cushing said he likes to have his unit volunteer several times throughout the year, and Pushups for Charity seemed like the perfect event because a lot of the airmen have friends, parents, or grandparents who’ve served in the military.
Founded in 2002, the Wounded Warrior Project started as a small group of veterans assembling and delivering backpacks with supplies and other messages of support to wounded troops. The organization soon expanded to include various recovery programs, including mental health, physical health and wellness, employment assistance services, and veteran outreach and advocacy programs.
On April 16, Cushing and 25 members of the 381st Training Group joined about a dozen firefighters and nearly 50 civilians at the Athlon Health & Fitness parking lot near the SLO Airport to do some pushups for charity.
“They rolled up in these unmarked government vans,” organizer Joiner said of the Vandenberg unit. “It was pretty cool.”
After a quick icebreaker, everyone broke into pairs and took their places on the pavement. Counters shouted out numbers above the frenzy of seesawing madness and then switched for their turn to pump their arms.
Joiner said the perfect pushup is supposed to be straight-backed and a fist—or four inches—off the ground.
“I was watching some of those guys, and [the Vandenberg unit’s] pushups were legit,” he said.
Still, the San Luis Obispo Fire Department ended up doing the most pushups, with its top five firefighters recording 648 total pushups in 90 seconds. But the Average Joes and Janes, led by the Vandenberg unit, came in not far behind with their top five participants doing 617 pushups.
Fireman Dave Podhorsky took home the King Leonidas Award for most pushups done by a man (143 pushups), and Average Joe Eric Schmitt took runner up with 139 pushups. Average Jane Jessica Craig took home the Neytiri Award for most pushups done by a woman (70), and Average Jane Toni Oliver took runner up with 55 pushups.
The SLO Pushups for Charity event is still accepting donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.
For more information, visit slopushupsforcharity.com.
Managing Editor Amy Asman did her own pushups at the event. Ask her how many at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2011.
