Why do 1,001 box jumps in one day?
With the cancellation of USA Climbing’s Youth Nationals for Sport and Speed Climbing that would have been in July, I needed a big challenge this summer in order to fill the void of what would have been my fourth Nationals. While my chance to compete in 2020 for a chance to go to Youth Worlds was gone, I wanted a goal to push me this summer.
I thought long and hard and came up with the challenge of jumping 1,001 box jumps at 30 inches in a single day. I do box jumps as part of my speed training and enjoy doing them so I figured that 1,001 jumps would be challenging but not impossible. Of course, I typically only do 50 jumps during a workout so 1,001 in a single day is 20 times what I normally do.
In addition to the athletic challenge, I wanted to have the event benefit those who are struggling in the midst of the COVID epidemic. I decided to raise some money as the focus of the jumps. I reached out to a number of friends and family and quickly got donations for 21 cents per jump. If I reached the 1,000 jump mark, I would raise $210.00. I very much appreciate the generosity of the people who donated to my challenge.
Who to donate the money to?
When I saw the food banks overflowing with people in need on the news due to the pandemic and wildfires, I selected Feeding America as the charity to which to donate. Feeding America is one of the biggest and most well known charities for having good practices and helping people in need. They are a high-quality charity with a coveted 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and have been ranked #2 by Forbes for best charity. Nearly 99% of the money given to Feeding America goes to their important food programs. This is a very high efficiency rating for a charity so I felt good about giving the money to them. I knew that $207.90 of the $210.00 that I raised would go to people who need help. Feeding America says that a $210 donation provides 2,100 meals to families in need.
The actual 1,001 box jump challenge
Every jump was a standard box jump at 30 inches. I spaced my jumps throughout the day into sets of 100-150 jumps. This was so I could rest my legs in between sessions. I started training for the challenge four weeks in advance. While I have been climbing competitively and intensely working out for over four years, I needed to step up the strength and endurance training on my legs. I began to do intense leg training which included deadlifts, squats, box jumps, frog jumps, calf lifts, and box step-ups. This focused preparation definitely helped build the strength and stamina I needed to complete 1,001 box jumps in a single day.
Many of my 1,001 jumps were completed later in the day. While I did a few sets early, it was much more difficult to jump in the intense heat of the Texas summer that reached 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, our garage gym is not air conditioned. After doing some of the earlier sets, I felt fatigued and waited until it cooled off. The heat was an added challenge!
Despite the heat, once I got going on a set of 150 jumps, a rhythm set in and I enjoyed the jumps. I focused on a steady pace and used a soft jump box set at 20 inches to step down on to after a jump in order to reduce the stress on my legs and knees.
I finished the 1,001st jump just before midnight. 1,001 30-inch box jumps is 2,500 feet which is almost a half mile and the equivalent to jumping the height of the Empire State Building twice! After I completed all the jumps, I felt extremely proud to have completed such a difficult challenge and raised money for Feeding America.
Going into the challenge and before I reached 700 jumps, I questioned whether I could complete all 1,001 jumps. After I got through 700 jumps, I was a little tired but knew I could meet my goal before midnight. The day after the challenge I felt very sore in my legs, arms, and core. I was surprised that my arms were sore in addition to my legs and core. I then realized that I swung my arms aggressively to do the jumps. Box jumping, as it turns out, is a full body workout! It took around 3-4 days to fully recover from the intense strain that the box jumping put on my muscles.
The video above is the abbreviated video of my challenge. If you want to count all 1,001 jumps, sit back and watch the video below that documents all 1,001 jumps. Have fun counting!