So my week long 300 Challenge has come to an end. The challenge was to do the 300 workout every day for one week. Here are the day’s results:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7

Looking back on the week that was, this is what I learned, in no particular order:

• Going hard every day causes you to adapt quicker that I thought possible;
• By working out regularly, you can overcome DOMS;
• Being sore shouldn’t be a reason not to train or to train light;
• A training schedule that seems impossible can become possible just by going hard at it and sticking to it;
• An alternative to the 30, 60 or 90 day plans is the 7 day plan, just to get you moving;
• If you are struggling to make gains, take one week to do something you think you can’t and just go for it. You might surprise yourself;
• You can increase strength significantly in only one week;
• The 300 challenge is great for boosting your metabolism;
• Doing a workout outside is a great way to add some variety to your training schedule;
• As a whole body workout, the 300 challenge is a fantastic way to figure out which body parts are lagging and need to be focused on;
• No matter how hard you think you are training, you always have that little extra to give; and
• Before training, setting your mind to really push yourself on your most difficult exercise is a great way to perform well at that exercise without compromising your performance on the others.

I highly recommend you take on the 300 challenge for yourself. I was fitter and stronger after completing it. Maybe you could be too. Don’t let the intensity scare you off. Just do it

So the challenge is finally finished. I pushed hard all the way and romped home in a time of 18 minutes 25 seconds, more than half my original time just one week ago.

I knew that to beat yesterday’s time, I had to improve my floor wipers. For some reason, they were not too difficult today. I guess because my abs aren’t nearly as sore as they have been. I also made it through the box jumps without a rest, which all adds up.

I think I figured out why my elbows were so sore: towards the end of the last set of pullups, I’ve been hyper-extending my elbows at the bottom of the lift, then trying to throw myself back up (no feet on the floor, but kicking my legs for momentum). Is this cheating? I think as long as your feet don’t touch the floor, it’s not cheating. I know that I could have rested for ages and still not been able to pull myself up right even for one at the end. The first set of pullups was fine every day – no problems getting through them with strict form. It was only the last set, after I was exhausted.

It’s good to have completed the challenge and I may do it again some time, but for now, I just need to rest I feel like you do when you’ve just played a really hard soccer game in the heat and even though you won, you just don’t care – your body just wants to go slow for a change. I’ll do a proper post on what I learned from doing this challenge, but with all the Easter services starting in a few hours, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it. Hopefully Saturday.

First mission objective accomplished! I completed today’s challenge in 19 minutes 46 seconds. Oh my gosh the last set of pullups were hard. I was a gasping mess with 5 pullups to go, looked at my watch and saw 19:30. With my arms screaming at me to stop, I managed to fight through the pain and got there just in time.

Every day has been strange, and today was no different. I don’t understand this, but for some reason I had extreme difficulty pushing through the pain barrier (except on the last 5 pullups and that was different). I wasn’t even hitting total positive failure and still just couldn’t keep going. If I were a beginner, it would make sense, but I’ve been lifting for years and never had a problem going to positive failure. Perhaps it was because the temperature was around 30 degrees celsius…

Yesterday’s time was really good, and I knew that to beat it I’d have to get quicker on the floor wipers. The hardest part about the floor wipers is that it’s hard to breathe when you’re doing them. The way the exercise works, both your ribcage and diaphragm are constricted. Sure the exercise is difficult, but being oxygen deprived makes it a lot more so.

I struggled to string a decent set of pushups together, only managing 5-7 after the first 10. On other days, I’ve gotten to 20 or 30 before the first rest. I caned it on the box jumps, though, racing to 30, taking a few seconds to catch my breath, then finishing off the rest. I picked up a minute there, I think.

Now that I’m getting stronger, this challenge is turning more into a fitness challenge, rather than a muscle challenge. Interesting…