Had an idea and looked at the website, as well as the "parent" site,
https://www.myvirtualmission.com/, and everything available, including the "custom" challenges, are all distance based: walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, etc. Makes sense, since then you can hook a FitBit or other tracker into it.
But I've never been a distance kinda guy. I'm on the stationary bike 2 to 3 hours a week because I need the aerobics, not because I or my backside likes it. I do a little running, but only 40s, 100s, and occasionally 220s; wind sprints, what my dear wife lovingly calls "Centrum Silver Shuffles." Easier on the knees and, mentally, I can concentrate that long.
I'm wired for anaerobic bursts.
What we need is a similar type of virtual challenge thingy, but for folks who prefer slingin' iron to cross-country runs. Unfortunately, no way to really quantify stuff like bodyweight calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups, unweighted pull-ups or dips, elastic resistance bands, etc.), but with any implement of a known weight, you could simply record the weight and the number of reps performed, multiply the weight times the reps, and there's your output; total the results for all sets in the workout.
I did a little quick math, and my "moderate" back workout today (right now I'm doing a periodized schedule with light, moderate, and heavy poundage microcycles alternating among five bodypart areas through a 15-day cycle, 5 days on, 1 off) and it came in right at 40,000 pounds calculated that way. And I ain't that studly. Again, just ask my dear wife...who pulls no punches and never asks me to open a jar.
If you pick up a pair of 20 lb. dumbbells and do, say, a set of 20 curls, that's 40x20=800 lbs. Do a set of 10 deadlifts with 315 and you've notched 3,150 lbs. Adds up really quick! And looks a lot more impressive written down than it really is. I had no idea I lifted a total of 40,000 pounds this afternoon.
But that could lead to some pretty cool challenges. Like, say, the
M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Battalion Challenge. The M1A1 weighs 67.6 tons. A battalion usually has 4 companies of 14 tanks, plus 2 more tanks for Headquarters Company, for a total of 58. Call it 3,921 tons, or 7.842 million pounds. At a 40,000 lb. clip 5 days a week, that would take about 39 weeks.
Could have longer and shorter goals, keeping it heavy metal military focused for the coolness factor. "What's an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Battalion Challenge?" "It means I lifted the equivalent weight of a full battalion of 58 M1A1 tanks."
A longer one could be the
USS Winston S. Churchill Challenge. She's an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer displacing 9,200 tons fully loaded, so 18.4 million pounds. At 40,000 lbs. per workout, you'd need 460 workouts to get there. If you do five a week, it's a 92-week affair. A shorter could be the
Black Hawk Assault Helicopter Battalion Challenge. There are 30 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks in a CAB assault helicopter battalion, and max take-off weight is 23,500 pounds, for a total of 705,000 pounds. That would need only about 18 workouts; at four per week that's only a little over one month.
Okay. Back to real-world stuff...
