19 Fitness Challenges Everyone Needs to Try

Why Do Fitness challenges

Before I share with you these fitness challenges that everyone really does need to try at some point, I want to ask and then answer, “Why do fitness challenges?”

Why would anyone push themselves to do something out of their comfort zone? In the fitness realm, this often involves serious physical discomfort, fatigue, strain and many other sensations. Why would you push yourself to do that?

Gymondo gives one reason. They say that fitness challenges essentially create a new baseline. After a period of concerted effort, this baseline becomes more lasting. Who wouldn’t want their baseline to be higher than it normally is?

ThisTimeFitness gives three more reasons why you should do a fitness challenge:

1. It gives you a plan
2. It makes fitness more manageable
3. It pushes you past plateau’s
There could be thousands of reasons for you to do a fitness challenge. The main reason I propose is to build mental toughness. Being mentally strong is a skill that everyone needs to develop. With more mental toughness, each of us can weather the trials that come our way that much better.

So now the only question is will you try a fitness challenge or two? You can read this article, and reread this article, and re-reread this article (in fact, I would love it if you did), but that wouldn’t matter at all if you still did nothing with this information. Comment below any challenges that interest you.

Now let’s get to some challenges.

The Challenges:

Table of Contents

The Murph

This is a classic fitness challenge known throughout the fitness community. It’s called the Murph to honor Lt. Michael P. Murphy (May 7, 1976 – June 28, 2005), who gave his life in service as a Navy SEAL for this country. The workout is described as, “a tradition that helps push us, humble us, and allows us the opportunity to dedicate a bit of pain and sweat to honor, LT. Michael P. Murphy, a man who sacrificed everything he had for our freedom.”

That’s one reason the Murph has gained in notoriety and popularity as of late, as it should. Too often, we let symbolism and remembrance fall by the wayside. I didn’t ever meet Lt. Murphy. I do know that he sacrificed everything he had for a country of people who may not ever appreciate that. Doing this workout doesn’t bring him back. Instead it helps put us in his mindset. It shows us the difficulty that men like Lt. Murphy willingly assume on themselves so we don’t have to. It’s a workout that prepares more of us to try to emulate the examples of Lt. Murphy and those like him. That’s why I love it.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to wax philosophical.

So let’s get to the real workout.
The Murph is simple, yet difficult.
Here’s an infographic from TheMuprhchallenge.com to illustrate it:

 

You do the workout for time, and if you don’t have a vest, just do the Murph and chances are, you’ll still get a great workout. Adding the vest is just another way to level up the workout to level up yourself.

The Mile Run

This is probably the simplest fitness challenge out there. 

Here it is:

You run….. A mile……

That’s it. All you need to do is put some shoes on, grab a running partner (doing this as a family fitness challenge is a great idea), or do it alone, and just pick a direction.

There are many benefits to running just 1 mile. In this article by Mark Sisson, he gives many great reasons the 1 mile challenge is so beneficial. I think two of the most important are the fact that:

A mile is about how long you might have to run in a real life situation.

You can do it almost every day with minimal damage to your body

Many other fitness challenges can push you to your limit, and therefore potentially cause you harm. When form breaks down, or we try to rush reps to get a certain time, that’s where injuries can happen. WIth running, because it’s something so intuitive, there’s less of a chance that you can injure yourself.

**Remember: You can still injure yourself! Be aware of how your body feels. Run correctly. If you don’t know how then learn.

2 Minute Back Squat

Here’s another simple one. You get a stopwatch and you do as many air squats as you can in 2 minutes. Your goal is to constantly increase the numbers of reps you do.

This one is great because our legs do so much for us, yet we may forget to train them that much. I especially like this one because you can do it at home with no extra equipment. In fact, now that so many of us are working from home, this could be used as a midday exercise during a break to help get your blood flowing.

Because you’re not using any extra equipment, you have a low chance of hurting yourself (comparatively) while attempting this fitness challenge. The threat of injury is still there though, so make sure you listen to your body, don’t cause any undue pain, and keep great form.

You can also scale up this challenge by adding weights. Don’t overdo it though. If you are struggling during the 2 minutes as it is, don’t push your luck.

The Inverted Ladder

This challenge comes from Stack.com. The equipment needed is just a kettlebell and a pull-up bar (optional). Here’s the basic workout (Goblet squats, kettlebell swings, and chin-ups or pushups.)

• 10 Squats, 1 Swing, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 9 Squats, 2 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 8 Squats, 3 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 7 Squats, 4 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 6 Squats, 5 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 5 Squats, 6 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 4 Squats, 7 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 3 Squats, 8 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 2 Squats, 9 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• 1 Squat, 10 Swings, 1-3 Chin-Ups
• Rest as needed.

This is a relatively quick challenge that you could even use to race your friends or workout partners. It should be somewhat low-impact, but can really get your heart racing, as many HIIT workouts do. As with all workouts, make sure you have the correct form. Here’s how to do the goblet squat, kettlebell swing, chin-up, and pushup.

 

The 3 Minute B Meyer Blast

This one also comes from Stack.com. It’s all body weight and can be done quickly.
Here it is:
“Repeat for two sets, resting one minute between sets.

5-yard Sprint and Backpedal x 10
Speed Squats (with triple extension) x 10
Push-Ups x 10
X, Y Supermans x 10”

The speed squats are basically squat jumps with full hip, knee and ankle extension on the jump. The X, and the Y for the supermans describe the placement of your arms and legs.

This exercise is another great one to challenge your friends with, or even do as a family fitness challenge (if you’re one of those kooky families that do that sort of thing).

With this one, I’d recommend warming up your legs first. Going from 0 to 5-yard sprint in 2 seconds can hurt your legs or ankles if you aren’t used to sprinting (Spoiler alert!: Most people in America are not used to sprinting).

Here are some great leg warm-ups if you plan on working your legs extra hard.

The 500 Meter Row

This one is a great test. For one thing, this workout has less of a risk of injury and it’s easier for the beginner. If you are new to the workout space, this is a great one to get started with.

The basics of this challenge is to time yourself on a rowing machine (or an actual row-boat I suppose) and go 500 meters as fast as you can.

The challenge isn’t so much in doing that once, but trying to see how fast you can go after multiple attempts. Here’s a great plan to help you get a faster time, but ultimately it will come down to actually doing it, pushing yourself, and improving your cardio all around.

A Mini-Triathlon

This one sounds tough, but one of the biggest benefits of doing a mini-triathlon is the fact that you can scale up or down the exercise to fit your needs. The Triathlon itself is simply running, bicycling, and swimming a certain distance respectively.

So if running a full Triathlon is too hard, then do half a Triathlon. If that’s too hard, then only do a fourth of one. If that’s too hard, only do a fifth, or a tenth, or a hundredth! It’s nice because with some simple calculations (and a kilometer to miles calculator widget if you live in the US) you can figure out exactly how far you need to go.

For example:
Let’s say I want to run 17% of a triathlon. I picked that number to show you that this works with any number.
A full triathlon is:
Swimming 1.5 KM (.93 Miles)
Bicycling 40 KM (24.9 Miles)
Running 10 KM (6.2 Miles)
So if you want to run 17% of that you’ll:
Swim .255 KM (.1581 Miles)
Bicycle 6.8 KM (4.233 Miles)
Run 1.7 KM (.71961 Miles)

You could literally start at 1% of a Triathlon and increase it 1 percent everyday, or every week or whatever you needed. Going an extra 1% isn’t going to kill, but it will subtly push your limits and help you go farther.

75 Hard

This challenge comes from Andy Frisella. The 75 Hard challenge goes for 75 days (no breaks) and it is hard, hence the name.
Here are the basics of the challenge:
Follow a diet strictly for 75 days (no cheat meals at all)
2 workouts everyday of at least 45 minutes each, and one of which being outside
Drink a gallon of water every day
Read 10 pages of a nonfiction personal development or entrepreneurship book
Take a progress picture every single day
You might be thinking, “Whoa… that’s a whole lot more to sign up for than just a fitness challenge.” You’re right. That’s the point of 75 Hard. It’s designed to attack multiple aspects of your life. In fact, it seems that it’s primary purpose is to improve your mental toughness and discipline and help you make real progress in your life.

It’s a simple challenge that will obviously yield results. The hard part is sticking to it for the full 75 days.

THE 20/10 CHALLENGE

From Wyatt Krueger comes this crossfit-esque challenge.
It’s a 5 round circuit with 30 seconds between rounds. Do all the exercises in one circuit:

• 20 Squats
• 10 Renegade Row Push Ups
• 20 Front Squats
• 10 Renegade Row Push Ups
• 20 Front Raises
• 10 Renegade Row Push Ups
• 20 Forward Lunges
• 10 Renegade Row Push Ups
• 20 Reverse Lunges
• 10 Renegade Row Push Ups

Now you see why it’s called the 20/10 Challenge. If you’re wondering what a renegade row pushup is, here’s an explainer. One of the nice things about this challenge is that you really only need a set of dumbbells, but you can use a bar as well.

After this challenge, you’ll probably feel gassed, as well as having tired arms and legs. Just add in an ab workout after and this is a pretty good full body workout.

The Descending Rep Scheme

This one is simple to understand because it relies on elementary math. You simply create a workout circuit and then do 10 reps of each movement. Then you rest. Then you do 9 reps of each movement. You continue this until you finish down to zero (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1).
For example, you might choose to do the following circuit (it’s a small one just for simplicity’s sake):

• Back Squats
• Declined Pushups
• Leg Raises
• Pullups

You do each exercise 10 times then rest. On the next go-around, you’d do each exercise 9 times.
If you want an extra challenge, reduce the rest time between rounds. You’ll need to be smart about how you plan the workout, but it can help build muscle and conditioning.

The 500 Rep Scheme

10 workouts with 50 reps per workout equals one round. The goal is to do one round of this fitness challenge as fast as you can with perfect form. 10 x 50 = 500. Hence the 500 rep scheme.
Here is the routine:

• Pushup
• Squat Jump
• Inverted Row
• Neutral Grip Dumbbell
• Shoulder Press
• Dumbbell Front Squat
• Russian Twist
• Pushup Renegade Row
• V-Up
• Bench Hop (Box Jump)
• Mountain Climber

It’s simple, yet effective. One of my favorite things about this fitness challenge is the fact that it challenges traditional ideas of working out. A lot of people think that you have to be at the gym for hours and hours. Depending on your goals, that may be true. But honestly, if you want to sweat, push your muscles and get a fun workout in, this is the stuff.
Another thing to note is that this challenge tests your whole body by focusing on different elements in very good ways. Overall, it’s a great thing to try if you get to the gym and don’t have a workout planned.

The 10,000 Kettlebell Swing

Timeline: 4 weeks. Benefits: increase lean muscle mass and conditioning. Workouts: 20.
Seems easy right? Let me explain it a little more to you.
Over 4 weeks, you’ll be doing 10,000 proper kettlebell swings split up into 20 workouts so that’s 500 Kettlebell swings per workout.
T-Nation recommends that you use an undulating rep scheme, or you cluster your reps. For example:
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 15 reps
Set 3: 25 reps
Set 4: 50 reps

That is 100 reps and forms one cluster. You only need to do 4 more clusters and you’re done. As always, make sure you warmup properly, maintain proper form, and use a weight sufficient to fulfill the purposes of the workout, but not too heavy to max out your effort. You’ll have to find a fine line.
But that’s not all!
In between sets, you’ll also be doing a strength movement such as a press, dip goblet squat or chin-up. You’ll add one rep of the strength movement in between every set and a period of rest between every set with a larger set and no strength movement after the 4th set in the cluster.
For a sample workout see T-Nation’s recommendations.

The 30 Day Jump Rope Challenge

Coming directly from buyjumpropes.net (you’d think they know a thing or two about jumping rope). The challenge goes as follows:

• FIRST 5 DAYS: 10 squats, 20 step ups, 20 jump ropes(repeat 2x) increase each set by 2 each day, and rest on the 4th day.
• NEXT 5 DAYS: 18 squats, 24 step ups, 35 jump ropes(repeat 2x) increase each set by 2 each day, and rest on the 7th day.
• NEXT 5 DAYS: 10 squats, 10 step ups, 30 jump ropes(repeat 3x) increase each set by 2 each day, and rest on the 7th day.
• NEXT 5 DAYS: 10 squats, 10 step ups, 30 jump ropes(repeat 3x) increase each set by 2 each day, and rest on the 7th day.
• NEXT 5 DAYS: 10 squats, 40 jump ropes(repeat 4x) increase each set by 2 each day, and rest on the 7th day.
• NEXT 5 DAYS: 20 squats, 10 step ups, 200 jump ropes(repeat 2x) increase each set by 2 each day; increase jump ropes by 5, rest on the 7th day.

If you need an extra workout, then try double-unders instead of normal jumps.
I like jump roping because it’s simple, you can do it for long periods of time and you don’t need very much equipment.

If you’re like me, and you haven’t jumped rope since elementary school (at least before this challenge), don’t worry. No one is going to laugh at you. If they do, you should probably work out with some other people.

Just take it one jump at a time. Jump once and then jump twice, and pretty soon, you’ll be jumping like a pro.

Squatober

Squatober is simple. October is usually the month of preparing for Halloween and making sure your costume is perfect. Well this October, you’ll be adding thousands of squats!

Ok, so it’s not really thousands, unless you can get that high. The point of Squatober is to as many squats as you can in the month of October.

If you are new to this, I’d recommend body squats, as that has the least likelihood of hurting you. As always, make sure you have really good form. The nice thing about doing as many squats as you can is that it helps stabilize your muscle and build muscle memory.

That muscle memory will come in handy once you decide to start loading the movement. It will allow you to keep your form better because you’ve practiced it so much. This will help prevent injuries and help you build strong muscle.

Plus, it’s really fun to say “Squatober.”

The 10 Day Crossfit Challenge

This challenge was given me to by my co-host, Ty Crockett during one of our episodes on The Forge. He told me to do 10 Crossfit workouts over a 14-day period. It’s not a terribly difficult challenge, but it is a great one.

You simply do Crossfit for 10 workout days in a row.

There are many ways you can do this. In this digital age, the simplest way is to download some sort of free app and use that to create your training program. A quick Google search pulls up articles about the best Crossfit Apps that you can use immediately.

I used one that provided WOD’s (Workouts of the Day) and I could even input the equipment I had access to and that changed up the types of workouts it showed me. It was somewhat like a Tinder of Crossfit exercises. I would hit the button and it would show me a workout. If I loved the workout, I’d hit “Start Workout”. If not, then I’d hit the next button and see a different workout.

I like Crossfit because it generally provides a full-body workout and you can often get these great workouts in 20 minutes or less. I also like Crossfit, because the WOD generally has you do a new and interesting workout and one of the best ways to keep yourself motivated and interested (aside from discipline) is trying new things.

The Military Pushup Challenge

A simple test to see how strong you are relative to your body weight. According to Martin Rooney, P.T., C.S.C.S., author of Ultimate Warrior Workouts, if you struggle with this test, either you’re too weak, or too heavy.

Basically, for this one, you set a timer for 3 minutes. Then you do as many pushups as you can. You count reps during the 3 minutes but only include perfect form. You can rest whenever you want but you should pace yourself. According to Rooney, it’s best not to fatigue yourself.

One of the best things about using pushups in your workouts is the fact that you don’t need any equipment whatsoever. You don’t even need workout clothes to be completely honest. Let’s say you only have 10 minutes in the morning before you need to go. You can do pushups no problem. Obviously you can do all sorts of other body-weight exercises, but you don’t want to neglect pushups.

The Walking Push Up Challenge

They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What if that step was a walking push up?

This challenge is a fun one because no matter where you do it, people will look at you in a funny way. That’s alright. You can do it anyways because the funny looks don’t even cross your mind.

The basics of this challenge are this: Do pushups from one location to another.

You might not have realized that you can do walking pushups, but you can. Make sure you do them correctly and don’t hurt yourself but they are a great way to build upper body strength as well as some mental toughness.

Walking pushups are no more than just doing a pushup then on the next repetition, you move one arm forward 3-6 inches and walk your body forward so your chest splits the difference between your two arms and perform a pushup. Then move your other arm forward to be even with your forward arm. Pushup. Next, move the arm that hasn’t been in front forward. Pushup. Repeat.

Pretty soon you’ll see yourself moving across your kitchen, living room, gym floor, or wherever you’ve chosen to do this challenge.

One of the reasons I really like this challenge is the fact that halfway through the workout, you’ll look up and realize you’re half-way there. That’s when things can get tough. You might think, “I should be way farther by now” or you might think, “Wow, I’m already this far?” It’s not very often you get to use distance to measure how much you have to do in a strength training workout.

The Plank Challenge

Planking at one point in time was more a meme & a fad than an exercise but thankfully, that trend has all but faded from memory. The real plank is a great exercise and can even be a great fitness challenge for those wanting to build core strength and always win challenges from friends (or father-in-laws) on who can plank the longest.

This is a 30 day challenge, and you can theoretically combine it with other workouts as this challenge will take no longer than 5 minutes per day.

30 Day Core Challenge

Core is an essential element of overall fitness. People focus on upper and lower bodies, but sometimes we forget our core which holds it all together. That won’t happen in this challenge.

This challenge has you doing core workouts everyday for 30 days. You can try different programs, like this one.

The key point with this challenge is to spend significantly more time working on your core every day for 30 days than you would otherwise.

This isn’t to get washboard abs.
This isn’t to impress the ladies or the gentlemen.
This is simply to get a strong core.

You’ll find, after the 30 days, that many of movements and exercises are easier because you have a stronger core.

Your core holds it all together. If you don’t have a strong core, you’ll end up compensating in other ways which could compromise your form and maybe even get you hurt. So get a strong core.

The 400

This one comes from my friend and co-host of the The Forge show of The Hard Thing Podcast, Ty Crockett. It’s a challenge of his own making. I like it because you can scale it to really whatever you need. It’s also simple, really really simple.

The basic premise is similar to a Murph, but slightly different.
Here it is:
100 Squats (with a bar loaded with 45 lbs on each side)
100 Pullups
100 Situps
100 Pushups

For a bigger challenge, you can add a run before or after. You can also switch out the pushups for bench with much more weight (depending on what you can or can’t do) as well as add weights to the pullups or situps, depending on your individual situation.

Much like the Murph, this fitness challenge idea is great for functional fitness. For many gym-rats, lifting more weight is the big goal. With this fitness challenge, your overall output (weight x reps) is staggering. Most of us stick with 3 sets of 10 and maybe a super set at the end of the work out. When was the last time you did 100 reps of anything.
If you want to do an even bigger challenge, do 400’s everyday for 10 days. By the end of the ten days, you’ll have done 1000 Squats, 1000 Pullups, 1000 Situps, and 1000 Pushups. That’s quite the accomplishment.

Which One will You Do?

We’ve been through a lot. We’ve talked about doing Crossfit for 10 days, doing 75 Hard, doing a 400 and more. My hope is that throughout, this article you’ve felt the stirrings to go get after it. In fact, I think if you read part of this article and then stopped to go start your own fitness challenge, we’ve done our job.

Push yourself by doing any of these exercise challenges. If you need you can reach out to a friend and you can both do a fitness challenge. You just need to push yourself. You can probably do more than you think and sometimes it just takes a good fitness challenge to help you see that. Sometimes you need more than a challenge, but someone like a fitness coach to challenge you. Get a free consultation from a fitness coach today.

Comment below which one you think you’ll try first.