I’m a huge advocate of following a long-term, comprehensive training program and sticking to it like my life depended on it. With that said, however, I think alot of programs become mundane quickly and cause people to jump from program to program without ever finishing.

RELATED: Get Strong With This Barbell-Only Workout

One solution I’ve come up with is something called a “gut check day.” A gut check day is a day (or multiple days) in the program that I carefully select for my client (or myself) to let loose and just go all-out meathead mode.

The barbell challenge below is one of my favorite gut check days. Working these days into a program is an easy way to:

• Keep the athlete or yourself engaged in the process of your program.
• Challenge yourself or your client to go outside the comfort zone.
• Get in a great workout and feel awesome about it afterward.

Every now and then, you need to challenge your own moxie. Ask yourself to man up (or woman up) and go crush some weights. That is exactly what this barbell challenge is for.

RELATED: Are You Loading Barbells Wrong?

Here’s what you do…

500-Rep Barbell Challenge

Load the barbell at 50 percent of your body weight and complete 50 reps of the following:

• Deadlift
• Push Press
• Squat
• Bench Press
• Bent-Over Row
• Hang Clean
• Front Squat
• Ab Rollout (weight is just for the wheels)

With the bar only (45 pounds), complete 50 reps of the following:

• Curls
• SkullCrushers

Rules 

• Complete all 50 reps of one exercise before you move on to the next exercise.
• Perform the exercises in the order listed above.
• Maximum rest period at any time during the workout is 60 seconds. Whether it’s a break in a set or a transition to another exercise, don’t let the clock tick for more than 60 seconds.
• Complete the challenge in one hour or less.

Can you survive the 500-rep barbell challenge?

RELATED: Andrew Luck’s “World’s Greatest Barbell Warm-Up”