October 2020 – Thinking On The Sig Klein Challenge

You’re stronger lifting when in your mind you do so with violent intent.

Starting to deadlift again in the yard has me bringing this mentality, the right one, to the exercises (band resisted pushups, and dumbbell clean & pressing) I do at planet fitness.

I’ve made the decision to hit the Sig Klein challenge, and will be doing some dumbell clean and press work every time I go to the gym until I’ve succeeded.

A Sig Klein challenge failure is my most viewed YouTube video.


I’ll be linking the successful video to it in the description.

(The SEO may be especially good on that video from having been linked to here at Persistence & Tenacity over the years.)

The other day after laddering up to 6 or 7 I then hit 12 with the 50s.

I intend to just ladder and/or pyramid, and once I’m comfortable with laddering up to 7 or so at each bell, hitting the 12 reps, then jumping up to the next heavier pair of dumbbells.

Wind is the most challenging part on the sets of 12. Lots of ladders instead of just one every session builds that.

Set a 20 minute timer – get some volume in.

10×5-6 with maybe a minute rest in between would allow for a set of 12. It’s an approach I know works, just not the one I intend to use for this.

75s can feel surprisingly heavy at your shoulder when not used to them, but I know putting dumbbells overhead with high frequency quickly changes that perception.

Treat dumbbell clean and press like girevoy/kettlebell work, and top end performance becomes very very high.

Treating dumbbells like girevoy is possibly the best way overall you could train at planet fitness.

Do that, get your pullups up, both max reps and weighted, your weighted dips up, and still train legs – though I’m covering that at home deadlifting and overhead squatting in the yard.

Horse stance and high mind muscle connection bodyweight squats fill in here.

I did wall sits very regularly at pf for a good period of time.

When I care to I can very quickly get close to maxing the leg extension, repping the stack, one leg at a time.

Sets of 50 or 100 on that selector leg press, because 5p is not enough weight on a hammer strength plate loaded one.

See you can make planet fitness work.

And successfully doing the Sig Klein challenge is a good jump off point for doing some other feats.

For Sig Klein that set was his bodyweight.

Match that at heavyweight. At present that means getting strong enough to do the same with 130lbers.

Hell, even dropping down to 225, and going 110s or 115s is a seriously strong dude.

John Grimek levels of ability.

With planet fitness access only you just start setting higher and higher rep PRs.

Yard barbell could be done for the same movement virtually unlimited in top weight.

Has anyone clean and pressed 500 for high reps?

(Believe in human ability – one day it’ll happen.)

That’s another option to getting the Sig Klein challenge. You could do it heavier on a barbell with hang power clean and press, say 185 for 12, then do the dumbbells having more than enough brute shoulder strength, and the wind requirement already there.

I read a Bill Starr article : he talked of very high rep slow and controlled dumbbell shrugging.

That’s a good idea!

I should be shrugging at pf, and doing everything for far higher reps!