We've
told the world about the toughest, most brutal workout,
set or exercise you've EVER done! Congratulations
to our winner Bonnie Hardie from South Florida who
won a brand new pair of 1
Ton Hooks ($57 value!)
If you've
never seen these hooks before, DEFINITELY check
them out. These things are a must-have for any serious
trainer who wants to push their training to the
limit WITHOUT the limitations of grip strength.
Below
are the results to our previous poll. Thanks to
everyone who took part in this poll!
Name:
Bonnie Hardie
From: South Florida
My toughest workout came on leg day. I put 360
lbs on the free weight leg press machine then
did 10 sets of 10 reps leg press and 10 sets
of 10 reps calf press, supersetting the exercises
with no rest in between. After I did 100 repititions
of leg presses and 100 repititions of calf presses,
I put 1000lbs on the machine and did 10 repitions
of 10 second static contraction holds. My legs
were really shaking bad at this point, but I
was not done.
I then proceded to,after about 5 minutes rest,grabbed
a 100lb barbell and proceded to doing squats
and lunges. Supersetting 10 sets of 10 repititions
with both exercises. After these, my cardio
consisted of sitting on the recumbent bike for
about 30 minutes barely moving the pedals. I
could hardly move for the next week - everytime
I sat down,it took me about 10 minutes to get
back up. To recap, my toughest workout was:
leg press-100 reps-360lbs
calf press-100 reps-360lbs
leg press-1000lbs-10 reps-hold for 10 seconds
each
squats-100 reps-100lbs
lunges-100 reps-100lbs.
Considering that I am a 42 year old woman-this
was an extremely tough workout.
23.9%
- (17 Votes)
WINNER!!
Name:
Ray Thompson
From: United Kingdom
Workout from Hell
Note this workout was used prior to gaining
knowledge on the correct way to train.
Warm Up
5 minutes jumping on spot, heels to bum every
rep. Total 500 reps in 5 minutes.
1 minute recovery to stretch quadriceps and
hamstrings
5 minutes jumping on spot, knees to chest every
rep. Total 500 reps in 5 minutes
1 minute recovery walking on spot
Workout
20 Chins, chest to bar non stop and with full
extension
Giant set the following 5 exercises Non Stop
50 Press Ups (chest to floor & full extension,
arms right angle to body, using press ups bars)
50 x 15kg Step Ups on 16 inch Step (body must
be upright at end of each rep)
500 metre sprint on Concept 2 rower (aim for
below 1min 40 secs for 500mts)
50 Bench Jumps over 10 inch bench
500 feet on Versaclimber at 200ft minute or
faster
Recover on cycle or walk on treadmill for 3
minutes
Repeat That Giant Set 3 more times
5 minutes recovery on rower
Giant set the following exercises Non Stop
20 Chins (close grip with full extension)
40 Hip Flexor (knees to chest and full extension,
legs vertical)
30 Squat Thrusts (jump over a Reebok step base,
so you can't cheat)
30 Press Ups (as many as possible are clapping
press ups)
Repeat for three more Giant Sets with no rest.
As soon as you cannot do another rep you move
onto the next exercise.
Recovery on any CV equipment once you have managed
to get O2 back into the body. Stretch and eat
before going home to sleep!!
If performed quickly this is an amazing workout
that can be performed in a short period of time.
It works every muscle and system in the body.
Levels of amazing fitness can be gained with
this type of training. I was using this type
of training from the ages of 40-45 and hence
lead me to be successful in winning the UK Cross
Training Masters title three times.
Regards
Ray Thomson
12.6%
- (9 Votes)
Name: Greg
From: Poland
Christmas Eve
1993 Saturday morning at 9 am. A beautiful
day with around 3 feet of fresh snow on the
ground. My martial arts coach decided to get
us out and meet in the nearby park. Nobody
had set foot in the park that day yet. We
arrived at 9:15 at the park.
'Okay guys, we are going to work on endurance
and speed today' my coach says, 'Do you see
that poll over there?' (Some 150-200 meters
away) 'You are going to run over touch it
and come back as fast as you can' (in that
freaking 3 feet high snow) 'and I am going
to time you.'
'We will have only 5 rounds and than we will
move on to work on technical stuff. Each run
must be faster than the previous one. If you
happen to run slower than on your previous
run you would have to run again untill you
get it.....'
It took me 12 rounds of running to satisfy
my coach. I could not remember my own name
and while laying down in the snow I didn't
even care that it was extremely cold. It actually
felt good. Nobody could move on to the 'technical
stuff' that day. We were all dead. Who could
have thought that running sprints could be
the one of the hardest workouts you could
imagine. That fresh high snow was one of the
toughest 'Fitness equipment' I have ever worked
with.
Next time it snows in your area go ahead and
try it. It only takes 5 rounds of sprints.
Amen.
7%
- (5 Votes)
Name:
Marc Lebert
From: Toronto
Hey Nick, great contest - before I read about
your workout I immediately thought about a single
set of sqauts back in the University gym as
well... back in the day we called leg day 'Hell
Day' and we loved it! So I guess I will have
to go for one of my other favourites... after
lifting wieghts for many years I met a guy who
faught and taught Taekwondo. We became great
friends- he taught me TKD and I taught him how
to lift weights. He beefed up and I leaned out.
One of our workouts that first year of training
was in a dank, old squash court with my instructor
and another friend who will also rate this one
of his toughest workouts. If you have never
done any martial arts training let me tell you
- it is varied, anaerobic, stretches you mentally
and physically (ouch my hamstrings) and was
just all around brutal. To top it off my friend
gets a real mean look when he trains and that
was intimidating as hell to us novices who were
basically locked in a room!
The workout lasted 2 hours with no water and
no breaks. It was kick after kick. Punch after
punch and the grand finale was sparring him
- which was basically like a cat toying with
a mouse. When we attacked we missed (although
he let us get some shots in) and when we were
attacked it was all we could do to try and protect
ourselves. It gave us a whole new look at training,
the arts, and what it takes to get good at this
new passion. This training at a whole different
level for me. I do believe that, like many,
much of my success in life I owe to weight training
- I always trained hard, it gave me confidence
and it helped prepare me for the hard work and
discipline needed for the arts and I still love
training in both today!
5.6%
- (4 Votes)
Name:
Jeremy Hickman
From: Ft. Stockton, TX
It's funny I got this email about brutal workouts.
I haven't read any yet, but its been three days
since my workout partner (my brother) and I
finished the most brutal squat workout I have
ever done or seen done. Three days (today) after
the workout, and my legs are still pretty sore.
I could barely walk the next day. I have been
training for about 10 years, but bodybuilding
training for the past 6. (first 4 were powerlifting).
Anyways, here's what we did.
I know y'all have heard of German Volume Training,
right? Well I will do a 4 week course of German
Volume training once a year or so for a 'shock'
routine. We are on week 4, and that consists
of 15 sets of 15 reps with 2 minute rest between
sets. We were on leg and shoulder day. We did
15 sets of 15 on DB shoulder press, and were
really tired after that. (We do Shoulders first
because after squats it tough to do anything
else, you're too spent).
Anyways, I did my first and second set of 15
with 225lbs. This was feeling good, so I added
a quarter to each side making the weight 275lbs.
I did this weight for the next 5 sets of 15
reps. My legs are burning, but decided to add
a 10lb plate to each side for the rest of the
sets (sets 8-15). This made the weight 295,
and I did the rest of the workout with this.
Thats 8 sets of 15 reps with 295lbs. My legs
were so full of blood, that the rest of my body
felt numb. I drank some water, and sat down
for about 5-10 minutes until my head felt semi-normal,
and went to do 15 minutes of cardio to finish
the day with a cooldown.
So there you have it. The most brutal squat
workout I have ever performed. My body was totally
spent and I sleep like a baby that night, but
I'm still paying for it 3 days later.
Oh, one more thing, we do our squats rock bottom.
We go all the way down. This has really helped
my overall leg development.
5.6%
- (4 Votes)
Name:
Rich
From: England
When I was 16 I found a real hardcore gym on
the other side of my town. After a few months
of being there I noticed a sign on the wall
next to the leg press machine as I was about
to leave go home. I walked up to it to read
it (it was written on the back of a supplement
poster, written in felt pen). It said that the
record was 40 reps with 5 plates each side.
I recognised the guy's name on the sign, and
knew he was well built, middle-aged. I had just
finished training my legs over in the squat
rack (I was a real skinny lanky kid) but i wanted
to have a go.
I got to 20 reps, little legs shaking in agony.
After some strong encouragement by my two training
partners I eventually got to 35 reps before
racking the sled. All reps were perfect - deep,
knees pushing against my scrawny chest. As soon
as I got up out of the press I fell to the floor-
I thought my legs had disappeared forever. It
took me 10 minutes to feel ok enough to attempt
trying to stand up and leave the gym (again).
The gym owner gave me 2 cans of fizzy orange
(to increase my blood sugar) and a free milk
and egg protein shake.
I got a lot of respect from my attempt, and
am now one of the biggest and strongest guys
in the gym (26 years old now). I know I could
get way over 40 reps now, even with 10 plates
a side, and your email just reminded me of that
day I earned my spurs! Thanks! I'm gonna call
my old training partners up now to have a laugh
about it!!
4.2%
- (3 Votes)
Name:
Lina
From: California
The few hours before my Thursday workout I prepare.
I prepare myself to do LEGS! I make sure I don't
run or use too much force with my legs. Before
I went to the gym, I prepared as usual, stretched
and warmed up my legs. I couldn't prepare myself
for the toughest workout I have ever had though.
I went in to the gym and my trainer told me
I was going to do 100 reps of squats that day.
I was thinking o nooo haha, but I was ready
for the challenge. I did different types of
squats starting with Dumbell squats then Barbell
squats, Front Squats, Rack Squats (heavvyy),
Hack Squats, and finally jump squats. After
100 GRUELING squats, came the hardest part.
He put me on the bike and turned the mode to
hill and pedalling was sooo hard. I was sitting
there sweating and pedalling so slow. Every
time I pedaled I felt the BURN in my quads,
hamstring and calves. It was like riding a bike
in sand, going UPHILL!
Those 8 minuted on the bike felt like hours.
I was thinking about all the hard squats I did
and it made it worse to pedal haha. After I
was done I dragged my legs to the chair and
sat for about 10 minutes. I tried to get up
but my legs were sooo tired. It took only an
hour to do all the squats and pedalling but
it felt much longer. For some odd reason that
was the best day in the gym for me :) Even if
it was the hardest!
4.2%
- (3 Votes)
Name:
Nirmal
From: Wolverhampton, UK
The toughest workout I ever did was when I was
about 25 years old. I could not put any size
on my legs no matter how much I squatted. So
I remember a friend of mine saying he use to
run up flight of stairs in a high story apartment
block to build muscle on his legs. So I thought
to myself, I'm going to try this but instead
of running up I will walk up slowly with a pair
of dumbells weighing 30 lbs each. So I went
to this high rise block of flats... there were
16 flights of stairs to the top. I went early
in the morning when I knew no one would be about.
I started off doing the first few flights no
problems. By the time I got to the 5th floor
my forearms were burning, thighs and calves
were stiffening up. I paused for 5 minutes,
started up again reached the 6th floor my breathing
was if I had run a sub 4 minute mile. Could
not reach the seventh floor - I was completely
exhuasted, dropped the wieghts and collapsed
to the floor. Ten minutes later, I took the
lift down and could not walk or pick anything
for a week. Definitely the hardest workout I
have ever had. All the best Nirmal
4.2%
- (3 Votes)
Name:
Ron
From: Charleston, SC
One day I did 5 sets of squats starting with
225, 315, 365, 395 and 405 for 20 to 30 reps
and after each set I had to lunge 500 yds each
time I finished a weight. My legs hurt for 2
weeks after that. A buddy of mine dared me to
do it and I did and it was one of the worst
things that I have ever done. The lunge part
wasn't tough because Ihave lunged as much as
2 miles at one time but together this made it
unbearable.
4.2%
- (3 Votes)
Name:
Mike Cohen
From: New York
I've been training for 30 years and the hardest
workout I've ever done was the following. I
have 3 long racks filled with dumbells from
sizes 2 lb to 100 lbs. I had 3 pairs of each
size. The bigger weights like the 85s, 90s,
95s, 100s were on the floor of their racks.
One at a time you'd have to pick up the dumbell
with one hand, walk with it to the other side
of the room, which in my case was 15 feet, and
place it down on the floor. Continue this one
at a time.
Then when all the weights were on the floor,
you have to go back and one at a time place
them back on the racks. That's a lot of sqautting
and deadlifts. My heart rate was through the
roof. I will never attempt that workout again.
It was too brutal.
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
Maya
From: USA
I have no butt :) I will begin with this sentence
to continue that I tried a lot of exercises
to increase the size of my butt but everything
failed till you sent me the special course for
butt muscles on the net ...the toughest exersice
was the one legged bench step squats ....I never
did those before and when I did it the next
day I felt that my ass and legs were on fire
I swear but it did come with a result for my
poor ass which is not poor any more ...I don't
feel pain when I do the squats anymore - thanks
a lot for this course!
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
Matt Berry
From: Las Vegas, NV
3 total sets. 1 set is 8 different stations.
10 reps at each station. 1: Smith Machine Squats,
2: Regular Barbell Squat, 3: Front Barbell Squat,
4: Dumbbell Walking Lunges, 5: Machine Leg Press,
6: Leg Extension, 7: Dumbbell Walking Lunges
(again), 8: Sissy Squats.
If you can finish this, add a Hack Machine Squat.
I have never had DOMS this bad before, nor have
I seen my legs get stronger and bigger from
a leg workout. Thanks.
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
Ken Petrocelli
From: Haymarket, VA
In my teens and early twenties, I was an avid
weight lifter who achieved decent symmetry between
most of my body parts, but seemed to be stuck
with sticks for legs.
As a young Operating Engineer, I worked in a
Hospital Boiler Room where we had tons of salt
(100 lb bags) that we used for water softening.
I happened on the idea that I could use this
weight to my advantage by stuffing one of the
bags into a backpack and walking back and forth
to work loaded down by this weight. My workout
wasn't a single effort; rather it was a program
of sorts that I embarked on.
At the time, I lived in (hilly) Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The road I traveled between the
hospital on the south side to my apartment in
Mt. Washington was about a quarter mile long
(straight uphill and steeper than 45 degrees).
I got permission from my Chief engineer to (borrow)
the salt overnight and would carry the bag from
and back to work. Over time, as I became acclimated
to the weight, I would add smaller bags of chemicals
to the backpack. My (burning) calves grew from
sticks to stumps over a short summer.
As fall approached, and it got cooler, I tried
2-100 lb bags, made it about half way up the
hill before the weight pushed me to the ground.
When I hit the ground, one of the bags busted
open and spilled all over the roadway.
That did it for me. I had accomplished what
I set out to do and continued my less embarassing
workouts in the gym, doing squats and leg presses.
KP
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
John
From: United Kingdom
The Heart-Stopper Workout.
20-Rep Squat X Max-LBS Super-Setted with 20-Rep
Stiff-Legged Deadlift X Max-LBS Rest 2 Mins,
then 3 super-Sets consisting of Weighted Chins
& Weighted Dips X Max-LBS X Max-Reps, 1
Minute rest between Super-Sets.
Keep a bucket handy.
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name: Jeremy
Blank
From: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Legs/Back
I put 225 on the squat rack. Then behind me
have 3 sets of barbells 100 lbs less whats
on the rack. Then going up by ten lbs each
barbell. So it looks like this
Squat rack 225
1st barbell 125
2nd 135
3rd 145
Squat 225 10 times then Deadlift 125 10 times,
135 10 times, 145 10 times. Then rest for
2 minutes. I dont take any rests inbetween
any of the squats or deadlifts. Only after
I have deadlifted the last weight do I rest.
I do that for 4-5 sets. Depending on when
I puke!!!! Try this if you dare!!!!
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
TOMO
From: ALTOONA , PA
I WENT TO CANCUN AND GOT UP IN THE MORNING TO
DO SOME WET SAND RUNNING. WELL IT STARTED TO
GET PRETTY HOT SO I DECIDED TO GO FOR A SWIM.
ON THE BEACH IT WAS MARKED WITH YELLOW, RED
AND BLACK FLAGS. I DID NOT REALLY KNOW WHAT
THAT MEANT AND I LIKED BLACK SO THAT IS WHERE
I WENT FOR A SWIM.
I NOW KNOW THAT YELLOW FLAG IS CAUTION, RED
FLAG IS EXTREME CAUTION AND BLACK WAS 'DO NOT
SWIM'. AFTER ABOUT A HALF HOUR OF BEING CAUGHT
IN A STRONG RIPTIDE I WAS ABLE TO GET BACK TO
THE SHORE.
PS. IF YOU ARE EVER CAUGHT IN A STRONG RIPTIDE
IT IS TRUE TO SWIM PARALLEL TO THE SHORE UNTIL
YOU ARE FREE OF IT - BELIEVE ME. AFTER I FINALLY
MADE IT BACK TO SHORE ONE OF MY FREINDS SAID
TO ME YOU LOOK REALLY TIRED - WANT A BEER. I
DRANK A DOS XX IN ONE DRINK AND NEVER TOLD ANYONE
ABOUT THE ALMOST DROWNING... BUT MY LATS WERE
TOTALLY PUMPED.
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
David
From: New Jersey
I went to the gym late that day so I had to
eat a full meal before I went because I eat
every 2-3 hours and it was already 3 so I didn't
have a choice. It was leg day and normally all
I have is a scoop of protein powder. This time
I had a full 600 calorie meal.
I get into the gym and started out with a 20
rep and 15 rep squat, each to failure. I did
3 more sets of squats and felt like I was gonna
puke. Then I went on to do 3 supersets of leg
press with hack squats. At this point, I had
to take slight breaks because Ireally felt bad
but couldn't stop because someone was taking
me home and I didn't have all the time Ineeded.
Next, I did SLDL (Stiff Legged Deadlifts) and
each rep I came up it felt like if I stayed
at the bottom position for another 2 sec. I
might have had to get a mop to clean up vomit.
After this I went to superset leg curls with
calf extensions which normally wouldn't be that
bad but it was standing calf extensions so I
had over 4x my bodyweight on my shoulders and
just holding it up was making me sweat. Finally,
I finished with seated calf raises and walked
to the car as best as I could. It was the hardest
workout of my life and the closest I've made
myself to throwing up.
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name: Ricky
DaCosta
From: Brooklyn, NY
The Toughest workout I've ever done was this
chest workout. I'm a basketball player and
love to lift weights to better my game but
this chest workout took my chest to another
level.
First without warm up 2 sets of incline bench
press. Reps 12-12then 3 sets of incline dumbbell
press. Reps 12-10-8.
Then its 4 sets
of decline bench press.(Sets 1 and 3 and with
a close grip, and sets 2 and 4 are with a
very wide grip). You increase the weights
as you go up in sets. Reps 12-10-10-8
Then we move
to the chest press machine. Here we do 3 sets
at a very hard weight at 8 reps, then we lower
the weight down to 30% of what was on and
lift till failure (that's one set).
After we go
to lateral flies 3 sets. We start off at a
decent weight doing 10 reps, then lowering
the weight by 20% and doing another 8. When
done, we do push ups right away till failure
(that's one set, We do 3)
To finish off
the workout, 3 sets of dips and 10 reps then
you walk out the gym crying. LOL..
2.8%
- (2 Votes)
Name:
Lisa Spector
From: Texas
Hi Nick, my toughest workout consisted of a
marathon cardio session. My gym has treadmills,
recumbent bikes, upright bikes, ellipticals,
arc trainers and a stepmill. One day I decided
to do nothing but cardio. I did the stepmill
for 30 minutes, the arc trainer for 45 minutes,
the elliptical for 45 minutes, the treadmill
for 30 minutes, the upright bike for 30 minutes
and the recumbent bike for 30 minutes. I did
these 6 machines back to back, with the only
rest coming from refilling up my water bottle
in between machines. This was about 3 1/2 hours
of cardio at a pretty good pace, I believe that
I burned about 1100 calories total. Thank You,
Lisa
1.4% - (1 Votes)
Name:
Bhupinder Singh
From: New Delhi-India
For over a period of one year I have been experimenting
my body with the most efective, most pump, most
quickest kind of exercises. The toughest of
my excercises was on a day when my wife actually
didn't want me to hit my rooftop personal Gym.
She was to supposed to go out on a very important
family function along with me & we were
left with very less time to get ready for the
function. I requested her that I will take only
30 mins to complete my workout today. She agreed
upon which I rushed to my roof top with 3 times
the normal speed I would take.
This gave & saved me the warm up. That day
I was to workout my triceps, biceps & shoulders.
I decided to use complex supersets. I started
with a warm superset of Barbell curls, Triceps
pulley downs & a military dumbel presses
without rest in between each exercise. I did
two similar sets & then took a 3 mins rest
in between the next excercise. In the next exercise
I started with Barbell military press, then
head crushers followed by inclined dumbell curls
w/o rest.
I repeated the same set & then took another
rest of 3 mins. The final excercise was Triceps
extensions, Preacher curls followed by Dumbell
shrugs. All the workout took just 28 mins in
totality & in between I didn't have to chance
to look up my pump in the mirror. After completing
my final set when I chanced to lookup into the
mirror I couldn't beleive the pump I had gained
with the packed house workout. I could feel
the sweet pain in my targeted muscles for about
a week. That's all I have to share with you
my friends.(Note all the sets were of 5-8 reps
till total failure).
1.4%
- (1 Votes)
Name:
Andreas Smyrlis Liakatas
From: Athens - Hellas (Greece)
The toughest story that I can figure out right
now is the opening of my company 'Sportview
- Personal Training' and what I had and have
to do to keep it to the top of my town (Athens
- Hellas).
2 years now with some friends, who are also
Instructors of Physial Education and Sports
Science, we were talking about an open minded
idea of a sports services company that will
be able to handle a lot of material and situations
and the past September, we made the big step
and we started it! From this day on, but also
1 year before, I have been facing the toughest
exercise of my mind, body and my whole self!
Athletic Regards!
0% - (0 Votes)
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