A few months ago, social media was frothed into a frenzy with videos on what was dubbed the RFK Challenge. In case you missed it, here was one of the many making the rounds:
Putting politics aside (there are many other blogs to visit that get into the weeds on that!), I found this challenge quite heartening as I feel that physical fitness has been a little neglected in the past few decades in the US. But… seeing more people at the gym and on the trails recently might be indicating a turn in the right direction on this front!
After this video and others hit the airways, it was suggested to me by several friends that I should give the challenge a try. Finally, on September 21, 2025, I convinced my workout buddy that we should try it on our normal early Sunday early-am-gym session.
Pull ups are difficult… doing a set of 10 is a heck of a goal to achieve. Doing 3 sets of 10 will put you at the top of most gym goers. Doing 50 while also doing 100 push ups is really something…so how to approach it?
The challenge does not require you to do all 50 pull-ups at once followed by the 100 push-ups. You can “mix-and-match” them a bit – which is helpful as the two exercises use different muscle groups (the pull-ups hit the lats and biceps while the push ups are very tricep and chest intense). If you have the strength to do the two exercises, it comes down to managing your muscle fatigue as well as your cardio in order to get it all done within 5 minutes. So… I decided to mix and match starting with the pull-ups first.
My attempt looked like this
20 pull-ups
40 push-ups
15 pull-ups
30 push-ups
5 second break
10 pull-ups
20 push-ups
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
Time? 3 mins 50 seconds! Mission accomplished!
I hope this post may have inspired someone to look at their current level of fitness and perhaps decide to amp it up a bit! You want to try the challenge? If you are just starting out, my advice would be to take it slow. I detailed how my work out buddy and I were able to get to 3 sets of 10 pull-ups in an earlier post. If you want to check it you, you can find it HERE. And of course, if you are currently not in an exercise program, check with your medical provider to make sure you are good to go!
Will see you at the gym!