This is a very short challenge that should only take a few minutes to complete so would be ideal to use as a finisher at the end of a session. The workout hits most of your major muscles from your upper body (chest, shoulders and triceps) to your legs (quadriceps hamstrings and calves) as well as giving you a great aerobic workout. The aim is simple, complete 20 reps of 5 bodyweight exercises in the quickest time. The exercises are listed below.

Burpee

Jump squat

Press up

Squat

Double leg squat thrust

At the end of the workout stop your clock and record your time before cooling down and stretching out. See if you can complete all 100 reps in less than 2 minutes. If you really want to push yourself see if you can do the 100 reps in 100 seconds! Post your scores below and let’s see how we get on!

Here is my first attempt at completing the challenge in 100 seconds. 110 seconds later and I had finished! I am determined to smash the 100 second barrier next time!

1. : 

All you need is a barbell and some weights and lots of energy. The circuit is split into rounds and each round is made up of 3 exercises. For this workout we are using high reps so it is 50 per exercise although you don’t have to complete them all in one go. You can break the 50 reps down anyway you like so for example you could complete 5 sets of 10 reps of each exercise or 2 sets of 25, as long as you complete 150 total reps. You complete each round as quickly as possible making sure to use perfect technique all the way through. At the end of each round stop the clock and rest for 2 minutes before restarting the time and beginning the next round.

Warm up:

Make sure to spend 5-10 minutes warming up with some light cardio before starting this challenge. Check out the Big 50 workout for a bodyweight warm up you could try.

Round 1:

Push press

Press up

Double leg squat thrust

Round 2:

Deadlift

Crunch with legs up

Squat jumps

Round 3:

Barbell snatch

Alternating leg front lunge (50 per leg)

Burpee

Round 4:

High pull

Single leg squat (50 per leg)

Ice skaters

At the end of the challenge stop the clock and record your time before spending 5-10 minutes cooling down and stretching.

Aims:

First target should be complete this challenge in around 25-30 minutes. Anything under 25 is excellent. See if you can get your time down to less than 20 minutes.

For this challenge I have been using studio barbells such as the ones used within Bodypump classes. Women have used 2.5kg per side on their push press, snatch and high pulls and 5kg per side for the deadlifts. For the men it has been 10kg per side for deadlifts and 5kg per side for the other 3.

If you get your time down to less than 20 minutes then look at increasing your resistance on the barbell exercises.

While you can complete the reps how ever you wish, see if you can work up to doing all 50 in one go for each exercise.

Start off with the walking swings, to do this perform a normal 2 handed kettlebell swing and as the bell reaches the top of the movement, step forward. Repeat until you reach the end of the 8-10 metres, put the bell down and then perform alternating leg walking lunges back the way you came. Then finally drop down and bear crawl back to the kettlebell, to do this keep your hips low and move your opposite arm and leg. Start again with the swings and keep this routine going for the full 10 minutes. The aim is to complete as many repetitions as you can over the 10 minute round, performing swings, lunges and bear crawls once counts as 3 reps.

Tips:

: Use a kettlebell that you normally perform 3 sets of 8-10 swings with. If your starting out then I would recommend women using 6kg and men 12kg.

: Focus on perfect technique throughout the 10 minutes. If you start to struggle then take a rest before continuing or end the challenge.

: Make sure to fully warm up and cool down before and after the challenge.

Aims:

: Start out aiming for 30-40 reps and then see if you can progress to the magic 50 plus. Over 50 and it is time for a heavier kettlebell.

1. : 

Basic press-up:

The most common version of the press up involves placing your hands slightly wider than your shoulders and whilst on your toes in a prone position lower your body towards the floor by bending the elbows. If you find this difficult to do to begin with, then start of with a kneeling press-up where you do the same thing but with your knees resting on the floor. The closer your knees are to your hands the easier the exercise becomes. Another easier variation involves placing your hands on a wall and pushing yourself away. The further the feet are from the wall the harder it becomes.

Below I have listed some variations of the basic press-up that will work you in different ways and have also included a video showing them all in action.

Staggered: By placing one hand slightly further forward than the other this will result in more work placed on your core as well as placing slightly more load onto one arm.

Spiderman: As you perform a press-up bring one knee up towards your elbow. Again this will help to place more emphasise onto your core.

Close hand: By placing your hands shoulder width or closer this will place more emphasise onto your triceps.

Walk over: Start with both hands on the step and then take one off and onto the floor and perform a press-up before returning to the other side and repeating. This exercise can be performed explosively as well which can help in improving your body’s explosive strength and power as well as having some aerobic benefits. This exercise can also be done with a medicine ball for a harder variation which will place more emphasise onto your core and stabilising muscles around the shoulders.

Drop press up: Starting with each hand on a low step placed slightly wider than shoulder width. Drop your hands off and onto the floor before rebounding back up and onto the step. Again this is an explosive exercise that can have great benefits in improving power.

Explosive: As the name suggests this is another plyometric exercise to help with explosive strength and power. Start with your hands either side of a low step and lower your chest down towards it. From here explode back up jumping your hands off the floor and landing onto the step.

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Clean and press:

Hold the bag by the handles and tip forward slightly from the hips so the bag hangs around level with your knees. From here stand up and pull your elbows up high bringing the bag to chest height. Flip the bag over your hands so it rests on your upper arms. As you do this bend your knees and sit your bottom back before driving the bag over your head by straightening your arms and legs. Return to the start position and repeat.

Bicycle oblique twists: Start with your legs in the air and knees bent. Twist your elbow across the body towards the opposite knee while extending the other leg out. Repeat to the opposite side and then count this as 1 rep. 

Shoulder squat: Hold the bag in the middle and rest it over one shoulder. From here perform a basic squat, once you have completed the desired number of reps switch the bag onto the other shoulder and repeat.

Walk over press up: Start with both hands on the bag in a press up position. Take one hand off and place it on the floor by the side of the bag. Perform a press up and then push yourself back onto the bag before repeating on the opposite side.

Jump squat: Squat down and touch the floor before exploding up and jumping into the air reaching up as you do so. Land soft and then repeat.

Bent over row/upright row combo: Hold the bag by the handles and tip forward at the hips whilst maintaining a flat back. Perform a bent over row by pulling the bag into your stomach before immediately standing up and doing an upright row by pulling the bag to chest height keeping your elbows higher than the bag. This counts as 1 rep.

Double leg squat thrust: From a press up position jump both your knees into your body before jumping them back out to the start position.

Aims: For this challenge I would recommend women start off with a 7.5-10kg bag and for men 15-20kg. Your first target should be to get under 25 minutes. If you can get your time much less than 20 minutes then look at increasing the weight of the bag.

Don’t forget if you enjoy (if that is the right word!) challenges then contact me for your free copy of my e-book “Big book of fitness challenges”. In it you will find 30 different challenges for you to have a go at.

I use fitness challenges with my clients as one way of monitoring progress and as a way for them to see firsthand the improvements they are making. Once a client has completed a challenge then their score will be recorded and then 4-6 weeks later they will attempt to improve on it. I have found the challenges a great way to get people to push themselves to their very limits. We all have a slightly competitive edge, whether it is trying to beat our own score or that off a training partner or fellow gym goer. The challenges help to bring that out in people often resulting in very intense and extremely effective sessions.

Challenges you will find in this book range from short 5 minute ones, through to ones that will take up an entire training session

While most of the challenges can be tailored to meet all levels of fitness some of them are very intense and not for the faint hearted! For each one I have included a part that recommends what level of fitness the challenge is best suited. Whether that is beginner, intermediate or advanced. I have also included targets for each of the challenges to give you something to aim towards; these are from both personal experience (I like to put myself through all the challenges to see what my clients are experiencing!) and from what my clients have scored.

I have included the first part of this e book below. If you would like to receive the entire book for FREE then simply contact me at resultspt@hotmail.com and I will forward it over to you. Enjoy!

Contents:

1. Introduction

. Rate your fitness level

. Challenge selection

. When to do a challenge

1. Bodyweight

#1 THE BIG 3

#2 BURPEE HELL

#3 10X10

#4 BODYWEIGHT BLASTER

1. Powerbag

#5 POWERBAG

#6 POWERBAG 2

#7 POWERPLAY

1. Barbell

#8 CLEAN AND PRESS

#9 300

#10 3 ROUNDS

#11 FOURWAY FUN

1. Kettlebell

#12 KETTLEBELL 660

#13 3 WAY PLAY

#14 SNATCH TEST

1. MMA Conditioning

#15 GROUND AND POUND GAUNLET

#16 SPRAWL AND BRAWL

#17 JUMP TO IT

#18 PUNCH OUT

#19 TABATA PRESS UPS

#20 TABATA BURPEES

1.  Other

#21 WEIGHT PLATE WORKOUT

#22 SATURDAY MORNING CIRCUITS

#23 CRAZY 8

#24 KILLER KICK SHIELD

#25 TOTAL SET

#26 TRX 40/40

#27 5X5

#28 DUMBBELL 9

#29 GYM TRIATHLON

#30 CARDIO CRAZY

1. 1.      INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to my Results Conditioning “Big book of challenges”. In here you will find a whole host of fitness challenges that will test your aerobic and anaerobic fitness, muscular endurance and stamina as well as pushing you to your very limits.

I use fitness challenges with my clients as one way of monitoring progress and as a way for them to see firsthand the improvements they are making. Once a client has completed a challenge then their score will be recorded and then 4-6 weeks later they will attempt to improve on it. I have found the challenges a great way to get people to push themselves to their very limits. We all have a slightly competitive edge, whether it is trying to beat our own score or that off a training partner or fellow gym goer. The challenges help to bring that out in people often resulting in very intense and extremely effective sessions.

Challenges you will find in this book range from short 5 minute ones, through to ones that will take up an entire training session. I have split the challenges down into sections; you will find ones that use just your bodyweight while others will use equipment such as Powerbags, kettlebells and barbells.

While most of the challenges can be tailored to meet all levels of fitness some of them are very intense and not for the faint hearted! For each one I have included a part that recommends what level of fitness the challenge is best suited. Whether that is beginner, intermediate or advanced. I have also included targets for each of the challenges to give you something to aim towards; these are from both personal experience (I like to put myself through all the challenges to see what my clients are experiencing!) and from what my clients have scored.

Many of these challenges you will find already on my website at www.resultsconditioning.com under the Results blog. Here you will also see short video clips showing the challenge in action. For those who visit my site regularly will find many more challenges in this book to enjoy that are not yet on the site.

RATE YOUR FITNESS LEVEL:

For each of the challenges you will see they have been rated beginner, intermediate, advanced or a combination of the 3. If you are not sure which of these you fall under then use the chart or workout below to help you decide.

The chart below is just a rough guide as there are many different variables in terms of rating somebody’s fitness level such as past exercise history, injuries, age, weight etc.

Beginner: I would normally class a beginner as someone who I have been training for up to 6 months and who has been doing some form of training at least 3 times per week.

Intermediate: For this I would class anyone who has over 6 months worth of training behind them.

Advanced: I would normally start using advanced challenges with clients who have at least 12 months of regular training behind them.

If you want another way of rating your fitness level then try this simple challenge below. Perform all the exercises listed with a 30 second rest in between each one. At the end check your score on the chart to see where you rate. The challenge is designed to test your upper and lower body strength as well as your core strength and cardio fitness.  

Press up: Perform as many repetitions as you can of a full press up. Take 2 seconds to lower yourself and 2 seconds to push back up to the start position. Once you reach fatigue and cannot perform any more reps with perfect technique then record your score.

Plank: Lie on your front and support yourself on your elbows and toes. Maintain a flat back and keep your abdominals tight and hold this position for as long as you can up to a maximum of 60 seconds. The length of time you hold it for is your score for this exercise so if you hold it for 30 seconds then give yourself 30 points.

Wall squat: Stand with your back against a solid surface with your feet hip width apart. From here lower yourself into a squat position so your bottom is parallel to the floor and your knees are over your ankles. Hold this position for as long as you can up to 60 seconds maximum. Again turn your time into points.

Burpee: Bend down and place your hands onto the floor then jump your legs back so your body forms a straight line. From this position jump your legs back in and stand back up.  Perform as many of these as you can within 1 minute and record your score.

Crunch: Lie on your back with your knees bent and rest your hands behind your head with your elbows out to the side. Crunch up so your shoulder blades leave the floor. Return to the start position and repeat, completing as many reps as you can within 1 minute.

Jumping jacks: Stand with your feet together and your hands by the side of your body. From here jump your legs out to the side and raise your arms to shoulder height. Return to the start position and repeat, completing as many reps as you can within 1 minute.

Once you have completed all 6 exercises add up your scores and see how you rate on the chart below.

Beginner: 140 points or below

Intermediate: 141-264 points

Advanced: 265 Points or more

Challenge selection:

When it comes to choosing a challenge make sure you pick ones that uses exercises that you can perform safely and correctly. For example I would only use Ketlebell challenges with people who have been training with this piece of kit for a good few months regardless of fitness levels, and had perfected the techniques of all the exercises used within that challenge. Another point concerning technique is to make sure you perform all exercises with proper form throughout the entire challenge. Even though in many of the challenges you are trying to complete as many reps as you can or perform a certain amount in your quickest time make sure you do not lose form whilst doing so.

When to do a challenge?

Since the idea of a challenge is to get the participant to work at their maximum intensity you do not want to be doing them every week as this can lead to burn out, injuries and diminished results. Normally once a client has completed a challenge then they will not do this one again for at least 4 weeks although normally it is closer to 8 weeks. In between they may do a different challenge but they will usually have at least 2 weeks off from doing any kind of fitness challenge.

When it comes to structuring a challenge into a clients session this will depend largely on what the rest of the session is going to involve and the length of time of the challenge. Some of the shorter challenges that take only 5-10 minutes may be done either at the start or end of a session. If the challenge is mainly cardio based then I may do it at the end of a resistance workout. For any challenge that will take longer than around 25 minutes are normally done by themselves. For all challenges make sure you spend 5-10 minutes warming up beforehand and around 5 minutes cooling down and stretching at the end.

Recline rows: For this exercise you will need a barbell that is supported on a squat or power rack or use a smith machine. Position the bar high enough so you can hang underneath it with your arms fully extended. Hold the bar with either palms facing you and hands shoulder width apart or palms facing away and hands wider than your shoulders (for this challenge you can alternate between grips if you wish from set to set).  From the arms fully extended position, pull your chest up to the bar keeping your back straight throughout.  Return to your start position and repeat.

Press up: Perform a basic press up with your hands positioned slightly wider than your shoulders.

Burpee: From a standing position squat down and place your hands on the floor. From here jump your legs out behind you. From there jump your legs back in and return to the standing position. If you want to increase the intensity of this challenge then add a vertical jump as you stand up.

Aims: Start out aiming to complete at least 150 reps within the 10 minutes and then see if you can work up to over 200 reps.

: If you can get well over 200 reps and want a more advanced workout then look at replacing the recline rows with pull ups and adding the jump to the burpees.

For the first round you will complete 20 reps of each of the 8 exercises, at the end of this stop the clock and rest for 1 minute. After the rest period restart the clock and complete round 2 completing 16 reps of each exercise. Again stop the clock and rest for a further minute. Start the clock for round 3 and complete 12 reps of each exercise, at the end of this round stop your clock and record your time.

Exercise technique:

 Bench hops: Place your hands on a step box and then jump both legs over from side to side.

Step-ups: Rest the bar on your upper back.

Step jumps: Perform a 2-footed jump onto the step aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step back down and repeat.

Burpee: Place your hands on the step and jump both legs back out to full extension before jumping them back in and standing up to full extension.

Straddle jumps: Stand with both feet either side of the step and perform a 2-footed jump onto it aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step down and repeat.

Tips:

: For this challenge I have been using an Olympic bar with 5Kg per side (total weight 30kg) for men and for women a Bodypump bar with 5Kg per side (total weight 15kg). If you can complete the challenge in less than 15 minutes then look at increasing the weight.

: Use a step box that is 4 raises high for this challenge.

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Tips:

: Make sure you fully warm up before starting this challenge.

: Start with a lightweight on the clean and press and then work up until you are using your normal weight for 10 reps.

: For the plyometric press-up use a low step or Powerbag to jump your hands onto.

: If you can’t complete plyometric press-ups with a good technique then begin with the basic version and work up to this.