Test Your Grit: At-Home Workout Challenges to Make You Strong AF

Lately, the biggest challenge I’ve run into is stopping myself from eating like it’s going out of style.

“You’re not hungry…you’re bored…you’re not hungry…you’re bored”. I repeat this to myself until it manages to creep its way into my thick skull.

Sometimes it does, sometimes the cookies win the battle. But nonetheless, what were we talking about?

Challenges!

Tired of burpees and push-ups?

Let’s test your grit for a sec and go through some challenges you can create for your at-home workouts. Stuff to keep the body movin’ and the brain stimulated.

Note: This isn’t a 14-day juice cleanse or a 7-day ab challenge. These are ways to challenge yourself on a day to day basis to keep you accountable to yourself while at home. No quick fixes or gimmicks.

1. EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR

You’ve heard of EMOM? It stands for every minute on the minute, where you perform an exercise…wait for it…every minute…on the minute. Mind blown.

So, why not take this and apply it to the hour?

Every hour, your job is to do something. What that something is can be entirely up to you.

No, unfortunately eating pizza doesn’t apply here (although that would be one awesome challenge I’d love to take on).

Rather, let’s keep this challenge centered around movement and exercise, shall we?

Have your pick of the litter from the following.

• Push-up pyramid. The first hour, start with 5. The next hour, do 10. Then 15. Then 20. So on and so forth. Simple, right? Try it before you get so cocky.
• Squat squat till you drop. 50 squats every hour. Boom. That’ll keep your legs pumped and your glutes growing.
• Mobility. Pick 1-2 mobility/stretching drills and do them every hour. Challenge or no challenge, this is actually one of the best ways to get more flexible/mobile. Little bits of movement sprinkled throughout the day will keep the physio away.

2. DOORWAY CHALLENGE

You ever lose your keys? Well, good news for you is you don’t need any keys for the doorway challenge.

Your access is in the form of exercise, not a shiny little piece of hardware you keep in your pocket.

Here are some ideas for you. Pick one of the following every time you walk through a door (open it first…don’t just walk into it):

• Do 5 pull-ups (if you have a doorway pull-up bar)
• Do 20 push-ups (or 10, or whatever…just pick a number and stick to it)
• Do 30 squats (or 40, you get the idea)

Oh, and the fridge counts as a doorway! ?

3. KEEP IT ONE HUNNED

This one is simple to understand, but challenging to do nonetheless.

4 exercises. 100 reps each. Every day.

You can divide them into however many sets you want, or you can complete them all in one go and challenge yourself to finish them faster each day (while maintaining proper technique). The choice is yours!

Every day, you’re going to complete 100 reps of each of the following:

• Squats
• Push-ups
• Reverse lunges (100 each side)
• Band pull-apart

4. THE REAL PUSH-UP CHALLENGE

Ok, unless you live under a rock…you’ve seen the push-up challenges floating their way around the internet. And I gotta say…yikes. Like, really. I know I sound like a dick, but I don’t care. You’ve seen them too and you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Before you attempt to do ten god-awful push-ups, start by challenging yourself to do one amazing push-up with unbelievably flawless technique. Then two, then three, and so on.

More reps with crappy technique only teaches you improper movement patterns. Fewer reps with amazing technique trains your body to be able to move well with intent. This is how you get stronger.

Below are a couple of push-up variations that maintain the classic “push-up form”, each with their own unique twist to offer a greater challenge.

The trick is to stop when you feel your form breaking. Keep everything tight and high quality.

Once you nail your technique (whether it be against the counter or from the floor…tip: the key is to pick one you can do and build on it), start challenging yourself to do more reps every day.

And no, I don’t just mean blasting out as many as you can in one go. I want you to think total volume.

If on day one you did 5 in the morning, another 5 after breakfast, then another 10 in the afternoon, you’ve successfully done 20 total push-ups. Cool. The next day I want you to do at least 21 before going to bed. Then the next day at least 22. Get better every day.

5. NETFLIX CHALLENGE

No, I’m not challenging you to watch all of Netflix. Although, you’d earn my respect.

This challenge forces you to earn your Netflix binges. Rather than plopping down on the couch and getting right into another episode of Tiger King or Love Is Blind (not proud to say I’ve seen both), you’ll do something active.

Before you turn on Netflix, you’ll do one (or a combination) of the following.

• 10 burpees
• 20 picture perfect push-ups
• 30 mountain climbers
• 40 reverse lunges (each side)
• 50 squats’

Summary

These are just some ideas I came up with. You can follow them, or you can tell me to fuck off. Either way its up to you.

Don’t like them? Come up with your own. Be creative.

Now is as good a time as any to keep things interesting, not falling into the repetitive trap of the same old day to day crap.

“The idle mind is the devil’s playground.”

Stay moving. Preferably forward.