# What are the most difficult exercises/athletic feats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453 "2017-04-14T16:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/1 "2017-04-14T16:39:41Z")
I’m trying to write a story involving a character who has a complete personality shift against their will and begins exercising to an obsessive degree. Are there some notably difficult exercises that I could describe them as doing in order to show that they are very serious and are getting incredibly fit? For example, I’ve heard that kettlebells are pretty difficult. Would using them while hanging from a bar be considered extremely hard? (And yes, you can think of this as a workout montage if you want to :). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/2 "2017-04-14T16:45:30Z")
[Handstand pushup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handstand_push-up) [Flying Pushup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NQBsY4HVtg) [Planque pushup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qoimP3fmhE) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/3 "2017-04-14T16:50:23Z")
[Beast Skills](http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/)( a whole buffet) [Clapping handstand pushup](http://www.beastskills.com/clapping-handstand-pushups/) [L-Sit to Handstand](http://www.beastskills.com/l-seat-to-handstand-press/) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/4 "2017-04-14T17:16:08Z")
Free solo climbing. There are very few recreational activities that are more physically demanding or as unforgiving. Like, “your very first mistake could be fatal” unforgiving. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/5 "2017-04-14T17:18:17Z")
There was a scene in _Lost_ where Jack is running up and down all the stairs of a stadium. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/6 "2017-04-14T17:22:44Z")
Iron Cross. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/7 "2017-04-14T17:26:49Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Would using them while hanging from a bar be considered extremely hard? (And yes, you can think of this as a workout montage if you want to :). I’ve seen people do chin ups with weights hanging off them from a weight belt. There’s also the [Turkish Get-Up](https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-turkish-get-up.html). ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/8 "2017-04-14T17:43:21Z")
Deadlifting over, say, 700 lbs? It wasn’t done until Bob Peoples did it in 1947, but it doesn’t require someone to be a genetic freak and/or drugged up, like deadlifting 1000lbs would be. Just a long, consistent, strenuous training regimen and plenty of food. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/9 "2017-04-14T17:53:09Z")
A slow muscle-up is one of the hardest moves I can think of. Most people can’t do standard (fast one, with ‘kipping’). Doing one over 15 seconds or so requires immense strength-to-weight ratio. ---
**Author:** ![DudeManBro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@DudeManBro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudeManBro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/10 "2017-04-14T19:32:52Z")
Olympic lifting Snatch, something like twice your bodyweight is pretty high up there. Could take many, many years and not reach. A blend of mobility, precise technique and explosive power. ---
**Author:** ![Textual\_Innuendo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@Textual\_Innuendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Textual_Innuendo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/11 "2017-04-14T21:42:04Z")
I’m a dedicated gym rat, and with that lens I second free climbing and a slow muscle-up. For background, I’m a big fish in a small pond when it comes to powerlifting, and top the leaderboards at my local gym, and have done bouldering at a rock climbing gym for 3-4 years. A lot of the mentioned things are intermediate rather than difficult. Kettlebells, turkish get-ups, and handstand pushups are easy, I’m personally a hundred and change pounds from the 700lb deadlift mentioned earlier and know a few people stronger than me at it, I routinely do 5 sets of 10 rep weighted pullups with at least 50lbs added weight and know people who do more…the things here that would really get my attention and admiration are anyone doing a slow, fully controlled muscleup, or anyone doing something like [this](https://youtu.be/wpsZtxObsz8?t=361) at the rock climbing gym (or its corollary, a difficult free climb out in the world, Alex Megos in the video does plenty of real world climbing). I think for your purposes, the problem is the intersectionality of “admirably difficult” and “known to the public at large.” Most folk won’t know what a muscle-up is, or what campusing is (an extremely difficult variant of which is shown in the video link above). The Iron Cross is probably the only broadly known admirably difficult thing mentioned here, but you could also go with standby’s like Iron Mans and Triathlons or Ultra-marathons, and people will at least have the mental association of “really hard athletic thing” even if they don’t know the specifics. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/12 "2017-04-14T22:54:18Z")
This is all great stuff! For some reason that scene in Cape Fear keeps running through my head, the part where DeNiro is doing exercises on his bed and you can just tell he’s been doing them for years? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/13 "2017-04-14T23:13:29Z")
Muscle-ups get my vote. I still can’t quite make it but keep in mind im strapped into my chair and had to climb a rope in order to reach the bar. But muscle-ups are brutal ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/14 "2017-04-14T23:27:56Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Free solo climbing. There are very few recreational activities that are more physically demanding or as unforgiving. Like, “your very first mistake could be fatal” unforgiving. Ditto That’s the first thing that came to my mind and its something I have never done and have no intention of trying. Absolutely not on my bucket list. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/15 "2017-04-14T23:51:53Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > There’s also the [Turkish Get-Up](https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-turkish-get-up.html). Heh, I expected [to see this.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/7e/9e/db/7e9edb0923ef89c5a8c52d70d1a6a152.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/16 "2017-04-15T00:09:55Z")
[This race seems almost impossible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Transcendence_3100_Mile_Race). A 3100-mile “marathon”. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/17 "2017-04-15T00:20:45Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > [This race seems almost impossible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Transcendence_3100_Mile_Race). A 3100-mile “marathon”. :eek: [Trans-American Footrace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-American_Footrace) > [@](#): > > One of the earliest twentieth century multiday races was the inaugural Trans-American Footrace, which took place in 1928 starting at Legion Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles and finishing in New York City in Madison Square Garden for a distance of 3,423.5 miles (5,509.6 km). > > Out of the 199 runners who left Los Angeles on March 4, 1928, at 3:30 p.m., only 55 runners finished on May 26, 1928. The race took 84 days to run from coast to coast. It was called the Bunion Derby by newspapers and was also held in 1929. Runners included Paul Hardrock Simpson and Andy Payne, who won the event in 573 hours, 4 minutes, 34 seconds. The race was organized by C. C. Pyle. [USA Crossers](http://www.usacrossers.com/) > [@](#): > > 283 crossings by 252 individuals ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/18 "2017-04-15T00:46:33Z")
While not the most difficult athletic feat ever, the man who runs marathons while pushing his disabled daughter in her wheelchair is pretty damn impressive. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/19 "2017-04-15T00:51:12Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > While not the most difficult athletic feat ever, the man who runs marathons while pushing his disabled daughter in her wheelchair is pretty damn impressive. [Team Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Hoyt) It’s his son. > [@](#): > > Team Hoyt is father and son Richard Eugene “Dick” Hoyt (born June 1, 1940[2]) and Richard Eugene “Rick” Hoyt Jr. (born January 10, 1962), from Holland, Massachusetts, who have competed together in various athletic endeavors, including marathons and Ironman Triathlons. Rick has cerebral palsy and during competition Dick pulls Rick in a special boat as they swim, carries him in a special seat in the front of a bicycle, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run. Team Hoyt was inducted to the Ironman Hall of Fame in 2008 257 Triathlons including 6 Ironman 7 half Ironman 72 marathons including 32 Bostons 22 duathlons. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453/20 "2017-04-15T00:53:11Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Team Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Hoyt) It’s his son. > 257 Triathlons including > 6 Ironman > 7 half Ironman > > 72 marathons including 32 Bostons > > 22 duathlons. Wow. I’m even more impressed now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-difficult-exercises-athletic-feats/784453.md?page=2)