This “Fitness Challenge Series” is a compilation of “challenges” that I have either tried or have seen others try as fun ways to test current levels of fitness. It is NOT intended for use on a large scale with a team of athletes. Additionally I am NOT telling you that you NEED to try these. Some of these challenges will be easy and some will be quite difficult, but almost all will require some level of prior training (meaning if you don’t train frequently now and/or have never trained you should not attempt these challenges “just to try” or “just for fun” as they may lead to serious injury). However, if you are well-trained and want a fun way to test your current fitness and/or want to throw something new in to spice up your training, this series may be worthwhile for you to read.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into this challenge: The 10×10 Pull-Up Challenge. This is one I stole directly from Dan John (who has tons of good content that you should definitely check out if you have not). I go back to this one quite often to test my upper-body and grip strength. This one goes as follows: Hang with straight arms on the pull-up bar for 10 seconds, do 1 pull-up. Repeat for as many rounds as possible, with the ultimate goal being 10 rounds (aka 100 seconds of hanging with 10 pull-ups mixed in).

I like this one quite a bit because you can modify it as a 5×5 and make it into a solid way to train pull-ups (hang 5 seconds, do 1 pull-up, repeat 5 rounds). 2-3 rounds of this modified approach makes for a really good way to increase the difficulty of your pull-ups. However, to complete the full challenge you need to do 10 second hangs with as many pull-ups as possible. Give it a try and let me know how many you get!