REMEMBER GYM CLASS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? IT WAS LIKE THAT

How many push ups can you do in five minutes? What about pull ups? Sit ups? How about doing them all together? I challenge you. Do it. You'd be interested in what you find. It's alot harder than it sounds.

The rules of man challenge 18 were simple. Each man had five minutes on the clock. Pull ups were worth 3 points, push ups were worth 2 points and sit ups were 1. Do as many as you could of whatever you wanted (you had to do at least 5 of each minimum) in five minutes and in the end, the man with the most points wins. A quintessential man challenge.

We awoke early on June 22nd and met at beautiful park alongside a running trail on Mission Bay. As the sun came up we stretched and talked strategy with each other. Each man had his own idea about how to go about winning this challenge. As we waited on the Darkhorse to arrive (at this point in time it was expected that Rudy and Peter were completely beaten and out of the challenge) we received word that he was not going to make it. This would be the first of many no shows by the Darkhorse, who's will had been broken the week before in beer golf. As we looked around, only three men remained. the machine. the bing. and the zvirus. The top competitors, the cream, had risen to the top. Now the seperation would begin.

With our official time keeper Sean (the not yet named Bai Horse) looking on we drew straws and Jantz went first. His technique was to burn out on pull ups (he had the lightest weight to pull) and then add to it with sit ups and do as many push ups as his thin arms could handle. Bing went second and dove straight into his bread and butter...the pushup. He almost sabotaged himself by wearing down his arms without doing any pull ups but busted out 7 (two more than the minimum). Z$ went last and benefited from the other two not seeing his approach. Spending numerous hours in the gym had proved one thing...pushups would win the game. Sit ups were a waste as were pull ups. So after busting out the required pull ups and sit ups, Z$ went right into the push ups and never looked back. After trying different things in the gym, the realization was to do one push up, break, do another, break and so on til the time was up. The technique proved successful.

The final numbers:

Z$ 117 push ups 13 pull ups 70 sit ups for a grand total of 343 points

Bing 119 push ups 7 pull ups 76 sit ups for 335 points

Jantz 71 push ups 28 pull ups 105 sit ups for 331 points

Try it. See how you measure up