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: 315 Deadlift 30 Minute EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute). I did this one years ago and it was a lot of fun. Put on a timer for 30 minutes and put 315 on a barbell. Every minute you will do TWO reps of a deadlift. Each minute you will also alternate between doing sumo and conventional – essentially you are doing 15 sets of 2 reps of sumo deadlift at 315 and 15 sets of 2 reps of conventional deadlift at 315. A good bonus for this challenge would be to set up a Tendo/GymAware/etc. to check your bar speeds. See how long you can go before you have any drop-off in velocity (if at all).