My Top 5 Fitness Challenges

Through my personal training and my own training I always try to plan fun, interesting as well as massively beneficial sessions.

Every now and then I will throw in a fitness challenge into my workout or my client’s workout which will give me/them something to aim for. Most of the time it won’t happen straight away and it is something you build up to getting closer and closer each time.

So just for a bit of fun I have come up with a list of my personal top 5 fitness challenges for you to have a go at. These are realistic targets for any well trained individual and a good long term goal for those new to exercise.

If you haven’t exercised before/recently started exercising then don’t attempt these, if you want to try then just halve the target and see how you get on.

So here they are:

1.  80 x Press Ups

The press up is a great exercise, it involves your chest muscles, triceps and your core. Many people will go straight for the bench press and pile the weights on when they can’t even do 10 press ups. Don’t even bother benching until you have the strength to bang out 30 perfect form press ups in a row. These press ups should be controlled but powerful one after the other getting your chest as close to the ground as you can all the way up to 80 in a row.

2.  20 x Chin Ups

One of my favourite exercises, I remember doing this at school and the majority of the class were left just hanging on the bar trying and failing to pull themselves up even a little. This is a tough move and requires a lot of strength. Form is important I’ve seen people crane their neck, hunch their shoulders and using as much momentum as possible. These reps are STRAIGHT ARM at the bottom and chin over the bar at the top, no jumping, bouncing, rocking, it needs to be controlled.

3.  1 x Deadlift at double bodyweight

Deadlift is one of the cornerstones of strength training and I think everyone should be doing it. A deadlift uses so many different muscles (practically every muscle in the body!) and produces so many benefits. Form is crucial in deadlifting, do it wrong and you could get a serious injury. Look on youtube to find out perfect form before deadlifting. Remember straight back, engage the core and look ahead. PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO DEADLIFT TWICE YOUR BODYWEIGHT STRAIGHT AWAY. Build it up from what you are doing now and see how far you can go without risking injury. This could take months to build up to, and it should.

4. 5 Min Plank

One of my favourite core exercises to perform, well I don’t enjoy it but I know it works! This is another exercise where form is crucial, you won’t injure yourself with the wrong form but many people will droop in the middle or stick their bum up, this takes the pressure off your abs and makes it easier. So when you try this you need to have someone to check your form and try and keep it for 5 minutes.

5.  5 Minute Mile Run

Last one, I wanted to get one in for you cardio runners. In 1954 Roger Bannister went into the record books as being the first one to break the 4 minute mile barrier, once he did that he opened the floodgates and many people broke it straight after. Start with 7 minute miles and work your way down and see how close you can get. If you run consistently you’ll be amazed at how much faster you can get over the distance.

These exercises work some of the most important muscles in the body and using these exercises should help to maintain good fitness and wellbeing.

Remember this is just a challenge don’t risk anything or change your training drastically just to make these.

Pick one to start with and see how you get on.

Good luck,

Jamie

PS please comment to let me know how many of them you can do or how close you have got.

Spread the love

Comments

    • That’s great, cheers Rich.

      Pull ups, press ups I can do (on a good day) and getting close to that 5min mile.

    • Great Bridget. Having something to aim for always gives you that bit of extra motivation.

      Keep up the good work,

      Jamie

Leave a Reply