It’s two days after my pull-up challenge as I type this blog. My hands and forearms are burning. My body feels like it’s just gone through its most demanding upper body workout ever. Despite pull-ups being a ‘back’ exercise, I can feel it in my chest, especially my core as well. My right shoulder is pretty tender, but I have full mobility (I think) on my left.

People talk about the big 3 exercises (bench, deadlift and squat), and I would absolutely include pull-ups in that.

I wanted a lengthy challenge to build up interest throughout the day and raise as much money as we could for Jigsaw on World Suicide Prevention Day. I knew I could do 1000 pull-ups, having done 750 two weeks ago. I thought 1500 was possible. 2000 scared the crap out of me. 2000 is what I needed to do. And there were plenty of times on Sunday that I regretted that choice.

Here’s how I got on:

6am: 0-250 Reps

The 6am start turned into 6:15am. The 2000 reps would be broken down into a 4 rep EMOM for 248 reps (61 minutes) and then 2 reps on the 62nd minute to round it up to 250 before taking a short break.

I had the gym prepped the day before, but getting the Instagram Lives and Facebook Lives going turned into a bit of a nightmare. I wanted some background music to keep going, but copywrite meant I had to mute my Instagram feed. Something you can’t do on Facebook Live, so I had the slider on the mic as low as I could. The more notifications and awareness people had, the more inclined they might be to donate. Music wasn’t a significant factor in my training, so I figured I didn’t need the boost…

The body felt stiff and sore for the first few pull-ups. Nothing usual. You always get phantom pains and doubts before big races. This was no exception. The pain would go, I thought. The first 250 were relatively comfortable. Some pain, so I decided to take a nearly 30-minute break. Setting up streams etc., on top of resting and eating food meant I needed the longer window. There was no rush.

I texted Niamh to bring another phone charger and HDMI cable. I thought I might be here a bit longer than 6pm so it might be nice to have the returning NFL football on in the background. Oh, how much my mindset needed to change over the next few hours…

7:30am: 251-500 Pull-Ups

I knew I was getting into trouble, and the first few doubts started to appear that today may not be my day. I knew this would hurt, but I didn’t think it would this early into the challenge. My right shoulder was giving me a bit of bother. I needed to lean back on the pull-up more, focusing more on driving the elbows down to take pressure off the shoulder. 500 down, but I was getting a little worried

The hands were already showing the effects after 500 reps… and this was the hand that wasn’t cut between the fingers

9:15am: 501-750

With some deep heat on the shoulder and a few drills, we went back to work. The right shoulder was not cooperating. Of course, I can do 750 with no build-up, but when there’s a challenge, charity and people streaming in to watch, I suffer. I had to get that talk out of my head. We’re in it now.

Writing on the whiteboard after each set became a struggle. I was holding my right arm up with my left to put down each stroke. This was not good. I can’t remember when it happened, but I got a brainwave… or was forced to be a leftie instead. The left arm could go all day, the right not so much.

10:45am: 751-1000

I was getting a few of the gym members walking in, and the folks surprised me with a visit, too. It was great to see them. Niamh, having got to the gym between the second set of 250 pull-ups, had a lot of food in the gym for people and helped keep them entertained. I wanted to entertain as much as possible while still sticking to the task at hand. It helped take my mind off the shoulder, too… that is, until rep 994.

My second last block of 4 reps in the set was a disaster. I hit three reps and failed the 4th—my first failed rep. I could only manage another 3 reps a minute later before two sets of 2.

I was in big trouble. The gym was as busy as it got all day at this stage. I’m sure people could see there was massive doubt on whether I could get this done. I decided to take an hour break. I was worried the extended time would make me seize up. But I also knew that, with 1000 reps to go, I wasn’t finishing this challenge the way I was going—something needed to change.

Break

What I didn’t need in the first half of the challenge: failed reps! 3+3+2+2 was supposed to be 4+4+2. I was in trouble.

I struggled to eat. I knew I needed food, but the body was like, ‘We’re doing pull-ups, or we are eating, not both’. Holding the right shoulder out wide wouldn’t work for the pull-ups. And I wasn’t going for the Guinness Book of Records. The important thing was extending the challenge as long as possible to raise more money throughout the day. I think we were at around €1300 at this stage. And I wanted €2000. I think we deserved €1 per rep!

So, I made the decision to go with a neutral grip pull-up. It would emphasise the back and biceps more, taking some more load off the shoulders. I could lean back more on it as well.

1pm: 1001-1250

And we got our second wind! The first 30 minutes were up there with the quickest of the challenge. After the huge downer I was on before this block, we were back on track towards the 2000 rep goal. A bit tired near the end of the 1250, to be expected, but it was break time, and I felt more confident that it might be my day.

2:30pm: 1251 - 1500

This felt like the longest set of the day. The reps were taking their toll. Strength was diminishing. I was tired. Sore. Sluggish. I slouched on the bench between each set. It started to feel never-ending, and doubts crept in. I should have stuck with 1500. That’s double my previous best. My hands were cut up. Blisters were appearing, and cuts were opening up. They were burning with each rep. And so was the right shoulder. The initial reps were getting more strenuous and more challenging. It’s not my day, I felt.

I kept looking over at my Dad. He knew I was struggling. And then he finally said it; ‘Your music is shit’.

I had mixes to avoid copywrite infringement, and I didn’t want it too loud for the people in the room. Or draw too much attention with the matches on outside.

It was time to get a little more selfish. I took a little longer break and knew what I needed to do to get an extra little kick.

Fuck it, Facebook Live would have to go. The feed was freezing a few times anyway, and more people were logging in on Instagram, where I could mute the live music.

4:25pm: 1501-1750

Thunderstruck blared throughout the gym, and I psyched myself up for the next 250 reps. In the words of my Dad, I was like “a new man”. I found another gear. I didn’t need to bench. I paced the room, eagerly anticipating the strike of the next minute to attack the bar again. And again. And again.

I was pumped.

In the last 15 minutes, I got a bit tired again, but the music and adrenaline carried me through. 1750 pull-ups were in the bag.

”How much money have we raised?” I asked Niamh

€1735…

That gave me an idea for a post for one last push.

It became a race I did not want to win: 2000 pull-ups vs € 2,000 raised

And at 6pm, I was going for the final 250 pull-ups.

Football wasn’t happening, I did not care. I needed to be locked in to get these last 250 done. And I knew just the soundtrack to help me out.

6:05pm: 1751-2000

Eye of the Tiger pumped through the speakers as I set myself for the last 250 reps. I knew they would not be pretty, but we had to get them done. With the pain of getting the initial rep, I decided to stick with a 4-rep EMOM as long as I could. The Rocky soundtrack blared as I pushed on towards the finish. That soundtrack can get to me at the best of times, so I had to keep myself in check while reminding myself why I was doing this. It was a balance I struggled with for most of the hour.

Some blocks were more of a struggle than others. On a bad block of 4 reps, Dad was there with the bottle of Lucozade for more energy.

I had been challenged, jokingly, by one of the members to get an extra rep in. One of the coaches had arrived for the last 5 minutes, perfect timing.

”If you yell ‘kipping’, I’m going to dropkick you in the back of the head as soon as I get my energy back“, I yelled at him… quite a welcoming, I thought.

”What’s kipping?”, someone asked as I made my way through another four reps closer to 2000.

”That”, the coach said as I swung my body to get my chin up over the bar.

”Fucker!”

Good thing Instagram was on mute.

The rep EMOM stayed right until the end. Just as I was hitting my last set of 4, the playlist stopped

A final two was needed to hit the 2000 rep mark. Eye of the Tiger blared once more. Unbeknownst to me, Niamh had gone to the bar to get drinks for the last few pull-ups. I looked around before my last set of two. She wasn’t back yet. She had been there since 8am that morning. It had just hit 7:07pm. I wanted to wait for the last two reps.

’Go for 3’, yelled my Dad.

I grinded out the two reps before pulling myself up for the third by driving my elbows into my body, focusing on keeping the shoulders down. And held it for a second to prove it wasn’t a fluke. I told myself to be calm for hitting the goal after the ups and downs of the day, but emotion got the better of me as I yelled out a roar.

I dropped down, hit the wall with pride and turned to my Dad, hugging me. The Instagram Live was still going, so I kept it together.

Whatever thoughts I had about doing more reps were quickly evaporated as someone handed me a pint. Not able to use my right shoulder to drink, I barely held the pint in my left arm… barely. I needed to prop the pint up with my right arm as I gave an awkward thumbs up.

No word of a lie, that pint felt HEAVY to hold, I needed two hands because I was shaking that much

The challenge was done!

”We hit €2005”, Niamh exclaimed.

Class!

The donations kept coming in afterwards, and we are up to €2350 raised. I am beyond thrilled with that and definitely have the pull-up goals out of my system.

I’ll be feeling the affects of this challenge for a while!

One last thank you to everyone who donated, popped into the gym to say hi throughout the day, shared the link, and commented on the live feeds and/or posts. The support was class.

And everyone I talked to about the charity had a lot of great things to say about Jigsaw, so I am delighted to have picked them!

2000 Pull Ups in One Day

Sean Coffey