Push it to the limit...

Challenge: I'm going to dub this as the 'breaking the limit' challenge... and thus explaining the use of another Final Fantasy VII image. My objective was to do the following...

1.) As many push-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by guy-whose-legs-are-not-consistent...

2.) As many sit-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by creepy no-skin man...

3.) As many pull-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by the failed entry for the Aha's "Take on Me" video...

4.) As many tri-ceps ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by 'Look-at-me-exercising-at-the-beach-how-cool-am-I?' woman...

5.) Hold a 'bridge' for as long as possible.. as portrayed by... uh.... this dude...

I did a base amount on the Monday of the week- then I trained whatever way I wanted (obviously working the same techniques as much as possible) and then I had to significantly increase my total come Sunday.

Difficulty: 3/5

Skills developed: Eh... I properly looked up how to do the techniques... and how to fix statistics so you look awesome...

Overview/Rant: Right so here's how it went on the Monday night..

Push-ups: 42

Sit-ups: 26

Pull-ups: 9

Tri-cep ups: 22

Bridge: 55 seconds

Not a terrible start considering I can't remember the last time I exercised... so I went to bed and promised to get up and workout the next morning...

That was a broken promise.

But after that failed Tuesday I was driven to work harder- which I did.... kinda. Now in my defense I should note that I'm currently on antibiotics because I'm sick... again... so I'm gonna use that to excuse SOME laziness... the rest can be put down to work, college, tea and the return of LOST (omg! - Locke's a friggin ROBOT... or something to that effect...) ALSO- there was the knitting last week- which apparently screwed my immune system completely... who'd have thunk it?

But then I returned on Sunday to complete this challenge and see if I could break my limit... or achieve my 'limit-break' if you will... (Steve looks eagerly around for other fellow FF7-nerds to chime in for support... he is greeted by silence...)

Push-ups: 46

Sit-ups: 30

Pull-ups: 16

Tri-cep ups: 31

Bridge: 1 minute 10 secs


So- statistically speaking... that translates to... (Steve- the maths teacher- runs to grab a calculator...) And I'm rounding up... cus screw it... I want the extra credit...


Push-ups: 10% increase
Sit-ups: 15% increase
Pull-ups: 78% increase
Tri-cep ups: 41% increase
Bridge: 27% increase

Making an overall increase of approx 34%... assuming that you rate every technique as equal... which I will fully admit is completely unscientific result in ANY situation... but HEY- did you increase anything by 34% this week?!

Hardest parts: Finding the time to do the exercise. Also the realization that you are uber-unfit... bit of a ball buster really...

Recommendation: Really good for establishing your 'base' fitness level. Also I could see it as a really encouraging method of training over a few weeks as you can easily record and establish your improvement over time.


Conclusion: I hate tri-cep lifts. Fitness February is possibly the worst idea I've ever had...

Special Thanks: Colm Hanratty from work for the suggestion. Rebecca for not reporting all the times I should have been exercising but wasn't...

Next challenge: Learn to skip like a boxer or a little girl- whichever is more challenging...

Random thoughts: Just think of the word 'Jump-Rope' before watching this... 

And of course...