The 100,000-Pound Challenge

> Weaklings and the weak-willed need not apply to attempt this insane— and insanely fun—challenge to put up monstrous weight in one week.

- C.J. Murphy, M.F.S., C-ISSN

THE IDEA

M&F editors sent me, at first, seemed ludicrous—a 100,000-pound workout.

That’s right. One workout. A hundred thousand pounds of iron lifted. After rolling this idea around my brain, I realized there was no reasonable way I could embrace it—or recommend it. 

For one thing, unless your name is Eddie Hall or Lasha Talakhadze (the gold medal–winning weightlifter at the Rio 2016 Olympics), you could end up in the hospital or even a body bag due to rhabdomyolysis, a condition that sometimes occurs after an extremely strenuous training session, which results in kidney failure and worse. In fact, if one of the coaches at my gym, Total Performance Sports in Malden, MA, ever programmed a 100,000-pound workout for a client, I would fire that coach. However, it is feasible for an experienced lifter with a good base of strength to lift 100,000 pounds over an entire week. What’s more, such a feat would not be just a silly stunt. 

There are many benefits to lifting this much iron in seven days:

1.It will break up the monotony of your normal routine.

2.It will force a huge growth hormone release, which will lead to more size. (Here’s how: Your body has two large releases of growth hormone every day. The first is during REM sleep cycles. The second is after strength training. Literally lifting tons of volume can significantly increase your growth hormone production, therefore making you more jacked.)