October 2, 2021 | Category: CHALLENGES
CHALLENGE
2000 Meter Row
2:00 REST
Max Reps Bench Press
Men- Bodyweight
Women- 75% of BW
Score= 2000 meter time then subtract :10 for each rep of bench press
This was a workout from “Rogue Challenges” This kinda started it all. This style of workout helped me realize after wearing masks in the gym for so long we hadn’t gone hard in the gym, you couldn’t. I didn’t mind wearing a mask in the gym while working out, it probably held me back in a good way.
This was our first exploration with a close to max effort. Covid gave us a chance to ditch our old format for Wednesday workouts. We used to have intervals on the machines on the second half of class, but I have known for a long time, that most of the people in the gym didn’t need another hard cardiovascular workout. They are biking hard, running hard, skiing hard and they didn’t need another hard day in the gym. Most of our members aren’t lacking cardiovascular fitness, they are lacking muscular strength. The toll of their sports can have some physical repercussions, which can present as loss of muscle mass.
We were happy to make a big change when we re-opened after the lockdown. We made Wednesdays all lifting.
The weekly recommendations are 2-3 days of lifting or resistance training per week, 1.5-3 hours of moderate to hard cardiovascular exercise, and 3-5 hours per week of easy slow steady state cardio per week. Most of our clients are going over the moderate to hard cardiovascular while neglecting the strength training and easy cardio. This shift in the world gave us a chance to shift something in the gym.
I haven’t done a 2000 meter row in a long time and I have some PTSD from some old Gym Jones certifications. I also have a love/hate relationship with the rower in general. Training on the rower for our Grand Canyon speed run for hours and hours will have a special effect, especially on the ass.
I wasn’t sure how to pace for this, cause I felt really confident on my bench press reps. If I tried a sub-7 min row I would pay for it and 2:00 would not be enough time to recover. I thought I would be able to get 30 reps. What an idiot…haha. I went out for a nice pace finishing at 7:44 on the rower and then only getting 21 reps on the bench press. I would suggest having a spotter for this one. Final time= 4:14. Laura got in 15 reps, but went too easy on the rower.
Hannah had the fastest Female time with a 7:47 row and 9 reps = 6:17
These Challenges give us a chance to do something fun and hard, but it’s not weekly. Most people don’t even try it, but sometime it’s nice to see if you still have that edge.