Not long after I reviewed the Perfect Pushup Mobile Unit set, the company (or at least their marketing people) sent me a sample of a cool little Perfect Pushup accessory called the Perfect Counter.  The battery powered Counter is basically a combination pushup counter and timer which allows you to easily count the number of pushups (presumably perfect ones) you can do in a given period of time.

Before I get any deeper into the review, let me be absolutely clear about one thing; you do not NEED the Perfect Counter.  It won’t, at least not on its own merits, make your Perfect Pushup any more effective.  It won’t make you stronger in less time.  It might, however, force you to answer a lot of questions like, “What the hell is that?”.   Anyway…

All this begs the question; If you don’t need the Perfect Counter, why would you want it?  There are actually a couple of reason why you might want to consider complimenting your Perfect Pushup with the Perfect Counter.  Granted, it could just be the guys I work with, but from time to time (as I mentioned in the original review), the guys in my office like to have pushup contests.  While mostly contests are held in an peaceful and orderly fashion, occasionally there are disputes.  “You didn’t go all the way down” is a common complaint.  And of course there’s the occasional dispute over whether or not the last rep was completed in time.  It’s all a bit silly I know, but when money is on the line (as it sometimes is in the office), then it’s best to have a completely impartial judge.  I ask you, what could be more impartial than a battery powered electronic device?

The second reason why you might want the Perfect Counter is that it makes exercise a bit more interesting, if not more fun.  Let’s face it, there are about 500 other things most of us would rather do that workout (I’ll never be a gym rat), but if you can find a way to make a game out of your workout, you might be able to muster that little bit of motivation necessary to actually do what you need to do to stay fit and healthy.

The Perfect Counter can be programed to count down from 10 seconds to 99 minutes.  It’s capable of counting up to 999 repetitions with in that time span.  I’ll spare myself the embarrassment of telling you how many reps I can do, but sufficed to say, 999 repetitions are more than enough.  Now is probably also a good time to mention that the Perfect Counter is made from a flexible plastic so that when your arms give out and you collapse on top of it, it will pop right back up and keep counting (which may not be a good thing).  The actual counting mechanism is both soft and sensitive, which means is won’t irritate your chest as you work your way up to 999 reps, nor do you need to apply any real force to the unit to get it to tally your pushup.  It increments at the slightest touch, although simply flapping your shirt across it isn’t enough to trigger it – I’ve tried.

In addition to the counter unit itself, the box includes a handy little chart which outlines a few different exercise routines including the 2 minute SEAL test (again, I’ll leave my personal record out of it).  It doesn’t take up much floor space and is easily stowed away when not in use.  About the only minor gripe I have is that the battery compartment (2 AAA batteries not included) requires a screwdriver to open and close.  It’s definitely not a deal breaker, but I certainly would prefer a tool-less design.  I should also mention that although it does work with the Mobile Unit edition, the Perfect Counter is a better fit for the standard version.

As I said in the 2nd paragraph, the Perfect Counter isn’t absolutely necessary, but for less than $20, it’s a cool little add-on that does make working out a little more fun.  The Perfect Counter is available by itself for $19.95, or as part of a package deal with the Perfect Pushup for $44.95.  The Perfect Pushup, Perfect Counter, as well as the Pefrect Pullup and other accessories are available from PerfectPushup.com.