Updated on May 18th 2012 at 10:28 PM from the JustGiving API

If you're donating, please add your email or twitter username. I'm giving away a mystery gift at the end of my training

Getting slimmer for summer, the android way.

Over the next few weeks I intend to explore new ways of reducing the beer belly, and trying to get slimmer for summer. Along the way I will be challenging myself with the hundred press up challenge. In short its a six week build up to being able to perform 100 consecutive press ups. Sounds easy, but trust me it's not. I tried to do the same challenge last year but had to put in on hold as i moved house. I dropped myself back a week but it wasn't enough. In the end i was only able to perform around 45. This time, with your help i'm determined to complete the full 100. More on why i need your help later.

The challeng itself begins with an endurance test. See how many you can do, then take your results and begin at an appropriate level. From there you can begin the workout recommended to you. Each workout consists of groups of press ups, separated by a short break usually between 30 and 90 seconds. Each workout ends with an endurance test with a minimum requirement. Every week i'll post a table with the requirements, and my actual score. To help me with this challenge, i'll be reviewing 3 apps. The apps i'll be using are Multirep, Hundred Pushups and Push ups Pro. Lets do a mini review of each app right now.
Hundred Pushups, available as both a paid and ad-supported app was the first that inspired me to try this last year. It has a very simple user interface and featured a timer and graph so you could accurately take breaks and keep a track of your progress. Looking back at the graph even after the first week shows a huge improvement from when you begin the challenge. As i used it last year, i'll be basing this challenge on the same app. Differences between the apps will be noted in the weekly tables.

Multi reps available from the Play Store for 65p features a similar UI to hundred pushups with the added feature of having other workouts such as a sit ups, chin ups, squats and dips. While Multi Reps does keep track of your workouts, it doesn't display them in a graph like Hundred Pushups.

Push Up Pro is free and a bit of a practical novelty. Its quite unique in the fact you can accurately keep track of your current workout using your nose to count. Thats right, you press the screen with your nose as you're doing the press ups to keep count. Sounds crazy, and feels a little weird doing it, but its works. Your head is bobbing up and down all the time, why not put it to good use? It also features a graph to keep track of your progress, and also estimates how many calories you've burned and stores that in a graph too. Each week i'll show the graphs and tables from each app so you can see which one would be best for you.

As well as doing the 100 press ups, i'm also going to be looking at different apps to track your workout when out running or cycling. I'll be using a few additional accessories to help improve my workout and get the full benefit from the apps. The 2 main apps i'll be looking at are SportyPal Pro with SonyEricsson Liveview, and Endomondo with Sony Smartwatch, but i'll also be looking at Cardio Trainer, and iMapMyFitness.

I'll also be looking at ways to improve my diet. For the first few weeks i won't be changing my diet at all, but i will be using apps to monitor what i eat and how healthy my lifestyle currently is. Trust me, i'm anything but healthy at the moment, i'm currently eating a takeaway burger and chips that weigs in at 1lb 12oz, thats 795 grams in english. After a short period i'll start to make changes to my diet, and track the results. I'll be using apps such as Calorific, Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal and any others i can find that look interesting. To make things a little more interesting, lets thrown in some cooking apps too such as Jamie Oliver's 20 minute meals, and iCook Book. Lets see if Android really can  help you get slimmer for summer.

The main handset i'll be using for the whole duration will be the sonyericsson Xperia Active. A small compact and rugged phone designed for "off roading". It has a 3.2" capacitive touch screen, and like most of the 2011 Xperia range it has a 1ghz snapdragon CPU and 512mb RAM. For its size, its definately powerful enough to handle what I need it for. It's also been designed with a water resistant seal and is supposed to be "dust proof. It claims to be water resistant for up to 30 minutes at 10 meters, and feature "wet finger tracking" which should improve phone usage when you have wet hands. Ideal for swimming, but its unlikely i will be getting wet at all in my little journey of getting fit. Here's little old me and my rather funky lillt phone, chilled out on my sofa tapping away on the keyboard connected to the tab.

Now, here's where you can help. i'll start you off with a short back story. Recently one of our team members, Craig, has lost his mother to cancer. It was a long year for them both and just as things were starting to improve, sadly Mrs Clark lost her fight. If she was still alive today, the one thing i would want to do more than anything else, is meet her and thank her for raising Craig to be the man he is today. For those that don't know Craig, he has been a valued member of the Land of Droid team for longer than i can remember. He's a good laugh, has a great sense of humour and is an excellent friend.

To say thank you to Craig for being the man he is, and in memory of the late Mrs Clark, i shall be accepting sponsored donations during my six week training. All money received goes direct to Cancer Reasearch UK. You can donate by visiting justgiving.com/chris-lod or Vodafone customers in the UK can text GSFS75 £5 to 70070 to donate a fiver, but feel free to donate as little or as much as you like. Remember it's all for a good cause and in memory of an amazing woman taken before her time. Help me show the world that the android community cares for more than the latest tech. Help me show the world the android community cares about what's real. Help me show the world that together, We Can Help Beat Cancer!

As a quick reward for donators, i'll try speak with some bigger companies for some tech to give away, but no promises.
The start of my challenge is simple. Do as many press ups as i can, no pressure at all. The result will determine the difficulty of the workouts for the first 2 weeks of the challenge.

Challenge day 0
Requirement 1+, My result 20

I'll be posting the weekly requirement for each app at the end of each week, aswell as my actual total. I'll be following the program set out in the hundred pushups app, but using multi reps and push up pro for comparisson, and adding graphs and charts if provided in the app.
So remember, donate at justgiving.co.uk/chris-lod or if you're on vodafone in the UK, text GSFS75 £5 to 70070 to donate. Feel free to change the 5 to whatever you wish to donate. It all goes to Cancer Research UK and will help millions round the world.
Thank you

You can follow the progress at www.landofdroid.com