100 Reps Challenge
Boot camp finished the Friday before last for me- and this time (unlike back in the summer months, when I took my first hiatus from boot camp), I did not freak out. Instead I have been enjoying a week of doing virtually no exercise, which frankly is starting to get me a little tense. It’s cold out so I don’t want to spend much time outdoors walking, and the weather is the kind that is meant for curling up in bed or making baked goodies. That’s the point of bulky winter clothes, right? So that we feel more comfortable about eating more and exercising less?
Hm. Not sure that I entirely like that idea. I didn’t do two months straight of boot camp to now just let all of my hard-earned strength go to waste! So it’s time to kick it up a notch and challenge myself.
Remember how I was doing the 20 pull ups challenge? Well, I got through week 3 no problem- 9 consecutive chin ups!- but then it was too tough to do both it as well as boot camp, so I decided to put it off until boot camp was done. The issue that I’m facing now is that I do my chin ups on the monkey bars at playgrounds, but it’s a hell of a lot colder than it was before. It is also incredibly slippery. So at the moment the pull up challenge is on hold. Until the play structure gets less slippery/I man-up and deal with being cold for all of 10 minutes.
Anyways, if that’s on hold and boot camp is over, what’s a girl to do for the month of December? Begin a brand new fitness challenge, of course! I present to you…
The 100 Reps Challenge for the Month of December!
(please imagine confetti and streamers blossoming from your computer screen).
The idea has come from this website, which has circled a number of people’s blogs over the past few months- I think I have mentioned it before, as well. Basic idea is, that you do 100 reps of any exercise over the course of the day. And for every day this December, we’ll be doing 100 reps of a different exercise each day! Unless I run out of ideas for exercises. Some may be repeats.
Also, doing 100 reps of just one exercise can potentially be boring, and also might not be challenging enough- we’re stronger than that, right? Right. So, most days we’ll do a combination of a couple exercises (this way we can work several different muscle groups; for example, both arms and legs).
And now you’re asking yourself, who is this “we” she speaks of? I am opening this challenge up for anyone else who wants to join in. I’ll be posting for the month what exercise I’m doing each day and I would love it if other people are interested in participating! I welcome anyone and everyone to take up this challenge with me (especially because challenges are a lot more fun the more people that are involved). If you only want to do it a couple of days a week or if you modify the exercise that’s absolutely fine too.
The reason that I’ve chosen this for the challenge is that it doesn’t take that long to complete, it can be done anywhere, and if it’s too tough to do all at once you can just do it throughout the day in sets. When you break down 100 reps into 4 or 5 parts, it’s really not that difficult at all.
The point of this challenge is just to have fun and get a little bit of exercise in during this month- I imagine that most people will be so busy through the holidays that they won’t be able to get to the gym or do a regular workout, so this is a nice way to just keep up with some exercising. Side effects of this challenge are that you may get stronger and realize just how capable you are when you put your mind to something, as well as potentially discover an increased motivation to exercise. I’ll toast to that.
So, let’s get to it! Let me know if you are going to partake in some or all of the challenge, and please do tell me if there’s any exercises you’d like to be included! Suggestions would be fantastic.
Today’s Challenge (Day One):
10 bicep curls, 10 hammer curls, 20 squats: repeat this sequence 5 times. You can do it all at once if you’re especially hardcore or you can spread it out across the course of the day to complete 50 bicep curls, 50 hammer curls, and 100 squats for our first day of the challenge! I’m using 8lbs weights but you can use whatever feels best for you.
Fitness Tip: Check out some advice from a personal trainer about doing squats by going to Jay’s site.
I love this idea! You can count me in!!! Have a great Monday!
Good luck with the challenges, Sagan!!
I have no doubt that you will be successful, in more than just these workouts!!
I’m in on the weekends (I need to get back into the habit of working out on the weekends, so this is a good way to start, but other than that, it’s my “normal” strength training (that I can no longer do).
Sagan,
Great idea on the 100 reps. I’d offer a different angle on those that use a treadmill of 4000 steps. So 100 reps or 4000 steps. (2000 steps is around a mile).
Love your “experiment” Sagan!! 100 reps of anything can be a challenge! Just for kicks and giggles one day, try doing all 100 reps in a row (you will probably have to drop the weight down to 3lbs or so) – talk about muscle fatigue!
what a great challenge, cool idea, girl!!!
oh and i liked the post about health inspections in restaurants!!
and for yummy sandwiches? pumpkin + PB + pumpkin butter!
I’ll join in with a variation, mainly core exercises, due to the nature of my work my home time usually is relaxing muscle time. (I work in a warehouse for a store that sells TVs/Ovens etc etc. Spend all day carrying those around.)
Wow, that is such a great idea Sagan.
And I must say, great job with finishing Boot Camp. It sounds so intense!
Oh. My. Goodness.
One girl’s “challenge” is another’s “No Freakin’ Way!”
That’s some hard core fitness, I’m impressed!
honestly, 9 chin ups is AWESOME! And exactly nine more than I can do. Go girl!
Strongandhealthy- great! I will see you tomorrow for Day 2:)
Dr. J- I hope so:)
Patricia- That would be excellent.
Tom- that’s a very good idea. Also I wasn’t aware that about 2000 steps is a mile; thanks for that.
Charlotte- yeah, I think I will do that. Might collapse in an exhausted heap at the end of it. Can’t wait:)
Lee- I have yet to try this pumpkin butter, but it seems that everyone really enjoys it.
Jack- You’re so lucky to have a job where you can get your workout in at the same time! Also LOVE the core work, it’s my favourite.
Sharon- thanks! It was.
Crabby- hehe. And if was a running challenge? Count me out:)
Leslie- not going to lie, I pretty much fell off the play structure after doing those 9. Oof.
Neat idea Sagan. I can’t promise I’ll keep up with every day, but I’ll see what I can fit into my normal workout routine – good way to add some variety and keep things interesting! 🙂
I love it! I am in…although, because I know myself oh so very well, I can’t promise it will be every day. But I can promise at least 3-4 days a week.
And….um…I can’t even do one chin up. 🙁 That rocks!
Woohoo, count me in! I just found this great pull-out exercise routine from one of the old Marie Claire magazines that my mom brought me when she visited. It requires no equipment has exercises for each muscle group… perfect for this challenge. I’m excited 🙂 good luck!
Oh good, i thought you were going to say 100 reps of one exercise a day. I was going to have to tell you that is pointless because if you can do 100 reps continuously, you aren’t challenging the muscle enough to get any kind of gain from it. But this is good, i like this!
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
JavaChick- that’s what I figured. Join in when you can!
Holly- hurray! Check out the 20 pull ups site if you’re at all interested in being able to do a couple- it’s a good program they’ve got set up.
Danielle- ooh care to share your findings?
Kelly- I would get bored SO FAST if I was doing the same exercise every single day. Thanks for your input! I appreciate your approval:)
Great idea! I’m having to take it easy on the arms (shoulder) just now, but I had decided on the way home that I would do 100 squats tonight. It’s not so hard when they’re broken up and spread out amongst the housework and blog visits. 🙂
Hope you have a most marvelous week!
i love when you do these challenges!!!! awesome 🙂
ps. as for the cranberry sauce on my blog, it came out slightly tart (probably because i didn’t use as much sugar as normal recipes); however I still really like it and loved it as a topping for my oats today 🙂
Hey, this sounds like it could be fun Sagan! I will try to join in as much as I can! A little extra fitness certainly isn’t going to hurt me!!
Fun challenge!!
Cammy- its a nice BREAK from the housework!
Loveofoats- thanks for the cranberry sauce info- I might make it and then pick up some turkey meat. Love turkey and cranberry sandwiches:)
Lance- that would be super. Challenges are FUN.
Great challenge & kuddos on the idea as well! I'll be joining in sporadically!
Congrats on finishing boot camp! Sounds intense!
I love this as well. My husband and I used to do a variation of this to shake things up (and hope we’d grow a bit in the process) back in the DAY.
thanks Sagan!
R- thanks and am glad you’ll be joining us!
MizFit- it’s all about the growth:)
Bag Lady- maybe one of these exercises will be to make 100 fiddle diddles or something. Hehe.
Interesting challenge! I really need to do something like this…thanks for being a motivator. 🙂
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