Test Your Grit: 3 Challenges
by Dan John and Chris Shugart
01/25/10

A 61-year-old dude deadlifted 315-pounds 60 times in 30 minutes. Are ya' feeling a little weak right about now?

Interesting...I think I'll try the pushup challenge tomorrow...

You could also fly over to England and do the World Infamous Tough Guy (TM)

www.toughguy.co.uk

Go on I dare ya!

The pushup one looks fun mind.

Shug-

Who's the model in the bra...love me some brunettes.

-BJM

hmmm when we do the pushup thing at handball practice we always start the decent with a jump and after the pushup we throw our legs up under us so we turn arround and then we stand up with a jump.

the push up one looks fun. I'll try that soon. Me and a bunch of friends are signed up for the Warrior Dash thats in Southern California on April 10th. It looks like so much fun.

Myself and some friends of mine like to compete in a pushup/pullup/dip pyramid for time that is pretty tiring. Start with 2 pull ups, then 2 dips, then 5 pushups. Then 4 pull ups, 4 dips, and 10 push ups... you get the progression... Go up to 10 pull up/dip and 25 pushups then go back down. Try to do it as quickly as possible... its 50 pull ups/dips and 125 push ups. Its really tough at "the top" of the pyramid.

.greg.

Pretty cool. The Japanese have a bad-ass obstacle course: http://en.wikipedia.org/...i/Ninja_Warrior

On my first ship, there weren't enough weights so the guys did a workout they called the "jailhouse" workout, I think based on some idea of a prison or something

take a 45lb, 35lb, and 25lb plate and lay them on the floor in front of you
you are going to do drop sets of 10 with 10 pushups inbetween each with no rest for 3 exercises
the goal is to get 20 reps or any combination of reps + pushups = 20 (so if you got 12 reps with upright rows
you need to do 8 pushups. etc..)

upright rows 45 x 10 > 10 pushups> 35 x 10 > 10 pushups > 25 x 10 > 10 pushups
overhead tricep extension 45 x 10 > 10 pushups > 35 x 10 > 10 pushups > 25 x 10 > 10 pushups
plate bicep curl 45 x 10 > 10 pushups> 35 x 10> 10 pushups > 25 x 10 > 10 pushups

the total is 90 pushups compared with the Shugart 50 pushup ladder.

over time I have added bent over plate rows and just do all 20 reps with the plates

BT

another "pyramid" is one doing pushups then pullups

just start at 1 and 1, then 2 and 2, etc until you cannot increase the numbers, then work backdown.
did that back in college with some good marines.

enjoy!

The push-up challenge looks fun, I'll give it a try even though I already know something similar:

Set a timer a do 1 push-up in the first minute.
2 PU in the 2nd minute, 3 in the third and so on.

As you reach higher numbers you don't have to do 1 set per minute, you can break it down. The only thing that matters is that you complete the correct # of push-ups before the minute is over.

I got to 16 or 17 last time I tried it, about 6 months ago.

Anyone? I don't think there's a better way of doing an insane amount of push-ups in a relatively short time...

OK just did the 10 set push-up challenge - at the office! - and completed it - barely. It was much tougher than I expected, especially after set 8! Didn't time myself but the most rest I took was 3 seconds between sets 9 and 10... had to grind through the last 2 reps, coach Thibaudeau would have frowned on that for sure!

The Pushup challenge looks like a good finisher.

Nice article.

Just finished the Texas push-up challenge, approx 1 min 15 sec, last set hard but not terrible.

Gonna challenges my friends for the push up challenge at the gym today!

i was feeling a bit cocky going into this one, since a 100 burpee challenge would seem to blow it away. as the article suggested i would feel, i popped thru the first 7 in under a minute "no problem" but then my pecs blew up. this is an awesome little 3 minute dill to get the day started (i was feeling pretty bored and unmotivated but this just put a happy on my face)

damn. got me motivated!! had to follow that up with a 100 sledgehammer/tire slams. fricken awesome.

Definitely got hit with the "fatigue ninja" as Shugs put it. Knocked out 6, felt fine, 7...tougher, 8...little harder, dropped down to start number 9 and FAILED! I'll try it again next week. Damn I feel like a pussy

So am I correct it assuming that it's okay to use a trap bar for the DL challenge or is the pic of the guy doing a trap bar DL just a random photo that means nothing?

Pushup challenge was great, had to really focus on keeping form those last 3 sets. Finished in 1:54, the last 3 reps were tough don't normally grind out pushups. Looking forward to trying the deadlift challenge next.

We do that challenge over at IGX. Wanted to make sure they get the credit.
Hope to do at least 61 this time.

Dan called these challenges, I prefer doing something stupid. Spent 4 months with the 5-3-1 and got great results. Just need to switch it up.

First marathon was without training for a case of beer. Made sense at the time.

I was in Bahrain in 06, heading home from a deployment, and the base MWR was having a "Strongest Man' competition. I wasn't going to enter, I was just there to cheer on one of my boys, but I got talked into it, and signed up after they had already started.

Events:
Ford Ranger truck pull, wearing harness facing away from truck. I sucked at this one.
50lb sandbag carry(hug to chest) shuttle run-25yards forward, 25 yards backward. Don't think I placed in this one either.
Shuttle run - 10 yards in one direction, 20 yards back(past start point), 10 yards to start point. Took third here.(These three events were all on a cobblestone street)
250# deadlift and hold for time - held for 3:00 before I decided to drop the bar. First place. Second place was 1:55ish.
Dumbbell relay - this event was the finisher to beat all finishers. This was done on a beach volleyball court with the net removed, all DBs were lined up on same back line. You would carry a pair to the far end and return them to where you started, then pick up the next pair and repeat. The weights were 75, 85, 95, 120. Don't remember my final time, but I won it by less than 10 sec.

The other stuff was fairly normal, but that relay sucked ASS. By the time you get to the 120s, your calves are burning from walking in the sand, and your grips is just about fried. Since I went dead last, I was able to watch the mistakes the other guys were making and formulate my own strategy(some of the guys didn't even finish the relay). I also knew how fast I had to move. I ripped through the 75s and 85s back to back, took a brief rest to rechalk my hands before the 95s, then did it again before the 120s. Took the 120s one length and dropped them to shake out the hands, then picked them up and finished, almost losing my grip right at the end.

To try this, measure out 20 yards, set it up, and do it for time. I'll see what my time was, and repost it on here later if anyone is interested. IIRC, it was just under 2:00.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I ended up winning the whole competition.