AUGUST MONTHLY CHALLENGE: 200 weighed pull-ups. We are going to knock out 200 weighed pull-ups for our monthly challenge, so you better loosen up those arms and back. Put on a 20lb vest and go. I recommend using a bar with athletic tape wrapped around it and try to find a bar that you don't have to jump on to. That will get extremely tiring unnecessarily. Put out and knock them out in one sitting. Try to hold good rep schemes of what you think you can do. If that means 1 rep at a time, then do it. My goal for this challenge is under 1 hour. I've never done this many pull-ups in one sitting, nor have I even come close to that number with a weight vest, so it's going to get interesting. So throw on some good tunes, maybe grab a buddy who is crazy as you are, and start knocking them out one by one. The more you do, the easier it gets! Have fun! Make sure to tell your stories below.
REFLECTION: I blew my hour goal out of the water. I completed the challenge in 34 mins and 38 seconds. I definitely did not expect that. I went to the gym pretty late at night and secured a good pull-up bar. Only one other dude was in the gym. There was already some good music playing in the back ground for me to jam out to. I put a little box under me so I didn't have to jump to the bar, velco'd a 20# vest on and chalked up my hands. My game plan going into it was sets of 5 pull-ups at a time, drop down, shake out the arms, and continue on. For the most part, that’s what I did. It seemed really easy at first but I knew that the hard times were in front of me. So I stuck with the plan. I would occasionally hop down from the box and do a slow walk around the gym just to give myself some needed rest. I stuck with the sets of 5 all but 2 sets until I hit a 100 reps total. I was feeling pretty good. I did however have three ripped calluses and that was no bueno going forward. So I scavenged around the gym for athletic tape. No joy. I did find those light weight circular bands and improvised. I double wrapped them around my ripped hands and continued on. It was a great decision and helped my hands not rip worse. I pushed on 5 at a time with the occasion 1 rep 'tired' phases. When I finally hit 200 and looked at my watch, I was baffled. I wasn't keeping time throughout, and to see 34 mins, I was stoked. Well… I was stoked until two days later my dad beat my time… Insane. What a stud. For those who know him, you know what I'm talking about.
Great challenge, and am looking forward to the next one. In a sadistic kind of way.