LEE DEMAIN’S 40 WORKOUTS IN 40 HOURS CHALLENGE

Last month one of our Ecommerce team members tackled an epic workout challenge. Lee Demain decided to celebrate his 40^th birthday by taking on one workout per hour, for 40 hours straight.

We thought we couldn’t let Lee’s herculean effort pass without celebrating his achievement. So we caught up with him to ask a few questions, and of course get the full 40 hour list of workouts that he ticked off.

I was inspired by a friend who ran 45 miles to celebrate his 45^th birthday. It got me thinking, I wonder if I could do something similar to mark my 40^th?

It was still 8 months away, so maybe I could attempt something. Running 40 miles might be possible but I’d have to train for it, but I really didn’t want to stop doing CrossFit, and I’d have had to really put the miles in to be able to run 40 miles.

The other thing is that running wasn’t really me. I can’t say I really like distance running, but I do like CrossFit and it's all I’ve really done for the last 12 years. From there the idea of 40 workouts in 40 hours was born.

I wanted the challenge to be difficult, but achievable. I had no idea how it would go; would I be able to finish it, how would I cope with the sleep deprivation? I’d never attempted anything like this before – I was pushing myself into the unknown.

The plan was to limit the workout times to 20 minutes maximum, allowing me 30-40 minutes down time to eat/sleep.

The weights on certain workouts would be reduced massively, for example Jake the snake is usually 80kg STOH, that was lowered to 60kg and then 50kg when I got to it. The fatigue and how I felt would dictate what weight I’d use, trying to rigidly stick to a certain weight would have been impossible, and likely would have resulted in more fatigue, injury and probably quitting.

In planning the workouts I thought back over the last 12 years from when I first found CrossFit, and complete the workouts I’d enjoyed. These included the classic ‘Girl’ workouts, open workouts I’d enjoyed, workouts from competitions I’d done, and ones I’d made up such as ‘bad Chad’ (that one won’t be found anywhere online).

I purposely didn’t include any ‘hero’ workouts, as these are usually longer and more difficult. Aside from ‘DT’ I didn’t include any others, although when I first planned the workouts, it was going to end with a ‘Murph’.  I got told not to be stupid – I’d be way too fatigued after 40 hours to attempt that.

1. 17:00 – Build to heavy power snatch

2. 18:00 – Grace

3. 19:00 – Helen

4. 20:00 – Fran

5. 21:00 – Isobelle

6. 22:00 – Diane

7. 23:00 – 30 Bar muscle ups

8. 00:00 – ‘Bad Chad’

9. 01:00 – Dumbell Ingrid

10. 02:00 – 100 burpees

11. 03:00 – Elizabeth

12. 04:00 – Karen

13. 05:00 – DT

14. 06:00 – 5k row

15. 07:00 – Amanda

16. 08:00 – Grettel

17. 09:00 – Annie

18. 10:00 – 5k C2 bike

19. 11:00 – 30 ring dips

20. 12:00 – EMOM 15

21. 13:00 – 30 burpee pull ups in 10kg weighted vest

22. 14:00 – Bane (Press up routine)

23. 15:00 – Open workout 16.3

24. 16:00 – Cindy

25. 17:00 – Open workout 13.2

26. 18:00 – Jake the snake

27. 19:00 – Open workout 17.2

28. 20:00 – 100 bar facing burpees

29. 21:00 – The Chief

30. 22:00 – Battle of Riga 2018

31. 23:00 – Mary

32. 00:00 – Battle of Riga 2017

33. 01:00 – Mikkos Triangle

34. 02:00 – 100 cal assault bike

35. 03:00 – Jackie

36. 04:00 – 10 min max cal echo bike

37. 05:00 – 2k Ski

38. 06:00 – 100 GHD sit ups

39. 07:00 – 10k C2

40. 08:00 – The Finale

After 16 hours, doubts had entered my mind as to whether I could finish – had I bitten off more than I could chew? The first night was extremely difficult, I’d not expected the lack of sleep to hit me so hard. Even though the intensity was much less than usual, just setting up, warming up, doing the workout, was so taxing. I’d been in the gym on my own from 8pm till 6am, 10 hours of getting up working out, lying down for a while, and doing it again. It was getting tedious.

As people came in for the 6am classes I got a boost, having some people to see/talk to gave me some energy. Then my wife came in around 10am with some food, that gave me another boost. I’d said to her about maybe calling it at 20 hours – I couldn’t bear the thought of another night like the last one, but she and others said it wouldn’t be the same. At 12pm on the second night I’d only have 8 hours to go, way over halfway and have light at the end of the tunnel. I needed to try and nap through the day, have a shower and just bite down, it was getting to the stage where the novelty had worn off and I needed to endure the difficulty of it.

Lots of people from the gym spurred me on, messaged me, joined in on workouts. One even came in for the 9pm and 10pm workouts and brought me a meat pie, chips and gravy. The support really pushed me over the line. I didn’t expect it, I planned to just crack on quietly and not make a fuss about things, but everyone at the gym was great.

By Friday morning more people had jumped in on the final few workouts, with about 6 on the final one which took over the finish line at 8am Friday 13th, the day of my 40th birthday.

If I was to do it again, I’d start earlier in the day to limit how many nights I had to go through, a 6am Wednesday start would have only meant one night.

I’d also look at how many barbell movements there were in a row, I think the first 12 hours contained too much. It drained me, and my hands were raw. I had to switch the order around to give my hands a break and move some bodyweight and erg workouts forward.

Be prepared for the nights. If you’re doing it alone, it’s difficult to keep repeating the same process: get up, workout, lie down try and sleep. You should also be prepared for how tiring it becomes later on.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew with workouts. You’re nowhere near your strongest or energetic when you’re 12 hours in. Be smart with weights, times and effort level - it’s not like your usual workout, it’s about completing it, not smashing PBs or record times. If you’re tired, adapt the workout to make sure you finish it – I reduced weights several times, according to how fatigued my muscles were.

Make sure you’ve some form of support, family, friends etc, it’ll get you through the hardest parts and get you over the line. It would be extremely difficult without any support.

Have plenty of food, snacks, water, electrolytes etc, you’ll need plenty of fuel, I found snacking similar to a competition the easiest thing, while trying to stick to main meals as best I could, the more tired I got the easier it was to just eat jaffa cakes, squares bars, sweets, bananas etc, plenty of water is essential though, with coffee & energy drinks.

Thanks to Full Moon Fitness/CrossFit Full Moon (@fullmoonfitness) in Liverpool for allowing me to use the gym, @st.visuals_ and everyone who messaged me/wished me well.