Plymouth Personal Trainer Fitness Challenge

What does it take to win a fitness challenge?  Here at Healthy Obsession, we are in week 4 of our weight loss and fitness challenge. Contestants in the challenge are seeking to execute their healthiest week 6 weeks in a row to feel great, get fit and lose weight. 

During week six of HOC, participating contestants can choose to earn bonus points toward their final score by competing in the 10-Minute Fitness Challenge. If you're just learning about the challenge now or are playing along at home, you too can choose to work on getting fit by playing along. 

How the Fitness Challenge works 

Pick one exercise from the primary strength exercises (bench press, leg press, lat pulldown), one exercises from the secondary strength exercises (seated shoulder press, preacher curl, tricep pressdown), and one exercise from the cardio exercises (Jacob’s Ladder, stepper, row machine).

If you're participating in the challenge with us, you can use your ten minutes to hit performance benchmarks for each exercise to earn up to five bonus points per exercise (15 is the maximum amount one can earn).

Each participant must spend a minimum of two minutes at each station. And if you're doing this at home, make 2 minutes per station your goal as you set your own fitness challenge. 

Performance Benchmarks For Each Exercise:

Primary Strength

• Bench Press-1 pt per 1,250 lbs pressed (Example: 20 reps x 62.5 lbs)
• Leg Press-1 pt per 2,700 lbs pressed(Example: 20 reps@135 lbs)
• Lat Pulldown-1 pt per 1,100 lbs pulled (Example: 20 reps x 55 lbs) 

Secondary Strength

• Seated Shoulder Press-1 pt per 500 lbs pressed (Example: 20 reps x 25 lb bar)
• Preacher Curl-1 pt per 500 lbs curled (Example: 20 reps @25 lb bar)
• Tricep Pushdown-1 pt per 600 lbs pressed (Example: 20 reps@30 lbs (end station)

Cardio

• Jacob’s Ladder-1 pt per 80 feet climbed
• Stepper- 1 pt per 12 flights climbed
• Row Machine-1 pt per 200M rowed

I’ve chosen to set up this challenge so you can pick exercises that feature your strengths, or can work around an injury. If I were competing, I would build it with doing my primary exercise first, secondary exercise second, and cardio last. I would focus most of my ten minutes on the exercise(s) where I’m most likely to gain the most points.

For those trying these fitness challenges at home, focus on your strengths as you get fit and have fun. 

The best way to choose exercises (assuming you are injury-free) is to choose unique muscle groups for each exercise. If I’m doing bench, I’d probably pair it up with curls and the ladder or stepper, for example. Bench press, shoulder press, and tricep pushdown feature many of the same muscles. Likewise, lat pulldown and preach curls feature some of the same muscles. I’d avoid these pairings.

Start going after these exercises so you can get a handle on what your challenge should look like and have fun while you're doing it!  Questions? Let me know!