So Much for NOT Training Today... Friday, August 29

While browsing through my Facebook feed today, I saw an interesting challenged posed by Fitness RX Women. It was called the 100s Challenge.  It consisted of a list of 5 different exercises to which you had to do 100 repetitions of each.  

Now you could break the reps up however you'd like but you had to stay consistent with it.  I decided to break mine up into five sets of 20 reps each.  Originally the challenge had medicine ball twists for the fifth exercise but I opted out for them and instead added pikes on the stability ball.  Pikes are a brutally rough exercise to do that uses your entire core but add in a stability ball and... woozers... there's no way you can't feel the burn after doing those bad boys!!!

Here is what my version of the 100s Challenge looked like

20  kettlebell swings

20  weighted walking lunges (with kettlebells)

20  release push-ups

20  ring rows

20  pikes (stability ball)

x 5 sets = 100 reps of each

It was a slow day at Hulk's today because not only was it a Friday (our Free Train Day) but I knew members wouldn't be coming in until later for the Sparring Day.  We had a bit of a misunderstanding due to a posting I had placed on our Facebook group page.  I had noted that three of our good friends were having their fight weigh-in today and that we'd be heading to the live fights on Saturday.  Apparently various Hulkies misread that as meaning we'd also be attending the weigh-ins and thus not open today so I was called, texted and emailed by several.  This misunderstanding however made for a slow day but also made for an excellent opportunity for me to score some solid, undisturbed training time and some solid one-to-one training time with many of those who did come in for training today.

It's also amusing and entertaining training various members; their reaction to me especially when I train alongside them often is priceless.  Today one of our university-aged Hulkies walked in just as I was on my last set of the 100s Challenge.  He sat by the Smith machine and watched as I yelled through my last ring rows and pikes on the ball.  It was me who had the last laugh though as I challenged him to the 100s Challenge and had to yell at him to push him through four sets.  After the fourth set he said he had had enough.  It was clear he wasn't going to beat my time and his arms were so swollen from the intense training.  I hadn't changed anything in the challenge for him, simply gave him some advice and offered him to use the same weights I had used.  

12kgs for the kettlebell swings

16kgs (two 8kgs, one in each hand) for the walking lunges

My suggestions for the challenge:

• The challenge appears to focus a lot on the upper body so drop down to a full sumo squat when doing your kettlebell swings.
• Give yourself a max of 1 minute break in between sets, to keep the intensity high.
• If you want more of a challenge with the legs part of it, add pass throughs to your walking lunges.  This means when you drop down into the lunge, you pass the weight under your leg with your one hand and pass it to the other hand.
• If you can't do a full pike, stick with using the stability ball but do tucks.

He took my advice and used the weights I had used but opted to only do a full four sets.  When he realized just how hard the challenge was and how I had done it successfully, he blurted out "You're not person."  It was definitely the compliment of the day.

My 100s Challenge time: 21:27

[Note that it was a very, very, VERY intense 21:27 that was surely accompanied with an excess amount of sweat, some yelling and perhaps too much of me wanting to kick my own butt!]

I really liked the idea of the 100s Challenge and I think I scored such a time because I do push-ups everyday and my upper body is quite strong.  I contemplated using a 14kg for the kettlebell swings but didn't want to jeopardise my form and stress my back so much.  I think next time I'll go heavier with the kettlebell used for the walking lunges because I honestly didn't feel much of a burn after ward.  I left the write-up of this challenge on our club crossfit class black board and other members did it as well.  I had noted my time to some and so they tried to beat it.  The closest one member got was 24 minutes.  It was a good challenge and a good idea -- a full body workout that members could do on their own.  So I'm thinking I might pose a similar challenge every Friday.