The Pullup Challenge is 3,000 pullups in a month — roughly 100 a day — scalable to whatever number genuinely challenges you, built to develop discipline through a movement that can save your life outdoors. This Physical Friday we conclude the 10,000 Pushup Challenge and launch March's challenge. I explain why we chose the pullup for an audience of fishermen and hunters, exactly how I am getting my 100 a day, and what Jocko Willink means by discipline equals freedom.
Watch or listen now: press play on the video above, or use the podcast player to listen.
The Pullup Challenge is the March installment of my monthly physical challenges: 3,000 pullups in the month, which works out to roughly 100 per day. You can scale it to whatever is challenging for you — 1,500 for the month at 50 a day, 1,000, or even one pullup a day for 30 total if you can barely do one. The goal is a daily challenge that builds discipline.
With thirty-one days in the month, 3,000 pullups is just under 100 a day, so for easy math I call it 100 per day. It is fine to bank extra reps and get ahead — I would rather do 150 some days and cut time off the back end — and it is fine to fall behind as long as you catch up.
A pullup can be a life-saving movement. If you are ejected from the boat or fall out, can you get yourself back in? If you fall from a tree stand, can you self-rescue from your harness and lift yourself back up? Being able to pull your own body up is core insurance for anyone active in the outdoors, which is exactly why we chose it for March.
Two main ways. One: a doorway pullup bar at home or the office, doing a set of five or ten every time you walk under it — it adds up fast and you stay far less sore than going to failure. Two: build them into workouts, like rounds of the CrossFit benchmark Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats) or Angie (100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, non-partitioned).
It is Jocko Willink's idea from Extreme Ownership and his other books: discipline in one area buys you freedom in another. Discipline with your diet buys the freedom to splurge now and then. The discipline to train pullups buys the freedom of knowing you could pull yourself out of the water. Save 20 percent of your income every year and you buy the freedom to retire well.
Absolutely — everything we do can be scaled back. Pick a number that is genuinely challenging for you: 50 a day, 30 a day, or one a day. Assisted pullups count too. The point is not the number 3,000; it is doing something hard every single day for a month, because that daily repetition is what builds the discipline muscle.
Here is the exact plan I lay out in this episode for getting the challenge done.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Ask yourself the hard question: if you were ejected out of the boat, could you get yourself back in? If you fell from a tree stand, could you self-rescue from your harness? So many fishermen and hunters listen to this show, and the pullup is the most functional insurance policy in the outdoors. That is exactly why it is the March challenge. I make the full case in the episode, so press play above.
A portable pullup bar on the doorway at the office where the podcast studio is, plus bars at home — a set of five or ten every time I walk under one, all day long. It adds up faster than you would believe, and small sets keep the soreness away. The other route is putting them straight into workouts. I detail both approaches in the player above.
They are named CrossFit benchmark workouts loaded with pullups. One round of Cindy is 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats — I built a Monday workout from five rounds as a warmup plus rounds and 400-meter runs that totaled the day's 100. Angie is 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, non-partitioned, and it covers the day in one shot. I walk through my whole week in the episode above.
Discipline in one area buys freedom in another. Watch your diet all the time and you earn the freedom to splurge. Train these challenges and you earn the freedom of knowing you could get yourself out of the water. Save 20 percent of your income and you earn the freedom to retire with more than you imagined. Go back to Extreme Ownership and his other books — then hear how I apply it in the player above.
Then scale it, with zero shame. Do 1,500 at 50 a day, do 1,000, or do one single pullup every day for 30. When is the last time you did 30 pullups in a month, day after day? After a few days you are sore, your hands hurt, you are ripping calluses — and if you keep going anyway, you are building the discipline muscle that pays off in every area of your life. Listen above.
Jocko Willink · Extreme Ownership · discipline equals freedom · CrossFit Cindy · CrossFit Angie · 10,000 Pushup Challenge · 20 for 20 challenge · TRP Physical Challenge · doorway pullup bar · tree stand safety · boat safety · podcast@saltwaterexperience.com · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, fitness challenges, and mindset lessons that keep me ready for long days on the water, so guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen can stay strong and stay in the game for life.
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