2010 HTS Festivus Feats of Strength Competition

With Halloween arriving this Sunday, the holiday season is officially here.  It seems to creep up on us earlier and earlier each year.  Over the next eight weeks, we Americans will put ourselves through the most unhealthy times of our year.  We work hard to finish year-end deadlines, spend lots of money, eat lots of food, deal with families, and are too busy to stay physically active....until January third.  That is all the more reason we need something to motivate us to stay active and focused on our fitness goals.  That is were the HTS Festivus Feats of Strength comes in.  Over the next eight weeks, we (my clients, me, and if you are a blog reader, feel free to compete, too) will train to improve our strength and strength-endurance in four exercises. And on December 23 (the actual date of Festivus) we will have a friendly competition for everyone to show their new strength.

But, before we get to the exercises, I want to make sure everyone knows what Festivus is.  If you are not a fan of Seinfeld (and own the box set and have watched every single episode at least five times each), you may not know.  So, first off, here is the story of Festivus for the rest of us:



Our Feats of Strength competition will not involve pinning me (as much as some of you would like).  It will involve four exercises.  Your votes were tallied.  Here are the four exercises that you will train over the next eight weeks and compete in on December 23rd.

1. The Weighted Push-Up-  Complete one repetition with as much weight as you can loaded on your back.




2. The Pull-Up- Complete one repetition with (ideally) your body weight, or as little band-assistance as possible.




3. The Deadlift-  A classic.  This has quickly become a favorite exercise of most clients.  Lift as much weight, with good form, from the ground for one, full repetition. 


Claudia 101lbx5 Deadlift from Dan Hubbard on Vimeo.
Claudia sets a new personal record on the deadlift.



4. The 3:00 Kettlebell Clean and Jerk-  This strength-endurance event challenges you to compete as many reps with an 8, 12, or 16 kg kettlebell as you can in 3:00 (1:30 with right arm, 1:30 with left arm).