Weightlifting Challenge: Are You Up For the 50,000 Pound Challenge?

Sometimes training isn’t about focusing on a muscle or improving for a sport. Lifting weights can serve many purposes. It can be about the mental challenge, the physical challenge, or sometimes it can serve as therapy. Then there are days it’s just about picking up something heavy. Occasionally we just want to see how far we can push ourselves. If this is one of those days for you then keep reading.

By Roger Lockridge

If you’re reading this and are in the mood to toss around some serious iron, then this challenge is just for you. First, you’re going to pick any of these five muscle groups; chest, back, shoulders, legs, or arms. Once you pick your bodypart, go to the gym and set a timer or watch the clock because you will have 60 minutes from start to finish. The goal is to lift 50,000 pounds total for that one muscle group. Here’s how you will reach that goal.

Let’s say you choose back and start with deadlifts. You put 225 pounds on the bar and perform 10 reps. You would take 225 and multiply that by 10 and get 2,250 pounds total. So in short, weight x number of reps = total volume for that set. Complete this formula for every set and add your totals together until you reach the grand total of at least 50,000 pounds.

Challenge Rules

Before you start slapping 45’s on a bar or load up a machine, there are some rules that go with this.

Rule #1. Free weight and bodyweight movements only. So if you chose legs, no leg press, extensions, or leg curls. This is because lifting machine weight is a little easier than free weights due to the fixed motion and the way machines are built.

Rule #2. The two bodyweight movements that are allowed are pullups for back or biceps and dips for chest or triceps. You can add weight via belt or vest to increase the weight but you can’t use an assistant to make it easier.

Rule #3. You must choose at least five exercises. So if you were thinking chest, you can’t just bench press your way to the goal. This forces you to use different movements and allow you to train the muscle from different angles.

Rule #4. If you use dumbbells, you can add using the dumbbell for both sides. So if you do one arm rows for back with 100 pound dumbbell and get 10 reps per side, that is 1,000 pounds total per side or 2,000 pounds overall.

Rule #5. This challenge ends one of two ways: when 60 minutes pass or you make it to 50,000 pounds total, whichever comes first. If the hour ends and you didn’t reach 50,000 pounds, you’re done.

Example Challenge

Let’s say you pick chest. Below is a sample workout of how the challenge would go if you did this and were successful. The numbers you see are weight in pounds x reps = total volume in pounds.

Flat Barbell Bench Press – 135 x 20 = 2700, 185 x 20 = 3700, 225 x 10 = 2250, 275 x 10 = 2750, 315 x 5 = 1575. = 12,975 pounds total

Incline Dumbbell Press – 50’s (100 total) x 20 = 2000, 80’s (160) x 20 = 3200, 100’s (200) x 15 = 3000, 100’s (200) x 15 = 3000. 12,200 pounds total.

Incline Dumbbell Flye – 40’s (80 total) x 20 = 1600, 40’s (80) x 20 = 1600, 45’s (90) x 15 = 1350, 50’s (100) x 10 = 1000. 5,550 pounds total.

Weighted Dip – 200 pounds bodyweight +20 pound vest = 220 pounds. 220 x 20 =4400, 220 x 20, 4400, 220 x 16 = 3,520, 220 x 10 = 2200. 14,520 pounds total.

Decline Dumbbell Flye – 40’s(80 total) x 20 = 1600, 40’s(80) x 20 = 1600, 50’s (100) x 10 = 1000, 50’s(100) x 10 = 1000. 5,200 pounds total.

Total Volume = 12,975 + 12,200 + 5,550 + 14,520 + 5,200 = 50,445 pounds!

Pick your own weights and exercises and see if you can complete it yourself. If so, share this article and how you did it on your own social pages.