*Originally written in 2022

Meet Jake Holland

@thelungeguy
#4amcrew Member
#NoMatterWhat

Enter Jake:

I joined Corygfitness the first week of January 2019 for the #IWANTABZ contest and the Max Effort Strong Mind & Strong Body challenge. I was determined to win both.

Lunge Streak Started: 2/27/19

I started my 800m lunge streak on February 27th, 2019. Honestly, I started it because I wasn’t seeing the changes in my body I was hoping for. I dodged the lunges for the first 6 weeks of the contest. BIG MISTAKE. I’d do a few sets of lunges in between other exercises, but we all know THAT SHIT DOESN’T WORK.

It has to be the full 400m-800m NON STOP KNEE TOUCHES EVERY STEP.

#NOMATTERWHAT

I first started doing 30 minutes NO MATTER WHAT. I didn’t have access to a track and it was in the middle of winter in Michigan. Not the most ideal conditions to begin your lunge streak. I’d do circles in a back room for 30 minutes straight. Then once I began doing them on the track I was doing 30 minutes still and became better and better. I noticed I’d begin hitting 900m, 1000m, and 1100m in 30 minutes.

I reached out to Cory asking about cutting the time back because I was going further than 800m. He told me to stick to 800m, but at a high level of intensity. Copy that.

That’s when I really started pushing my time. I had a friend tell me about the Guinness World Record 1 mile of lunges at 25.21. When my friend told me this I literally laughed. I couldn’t imagine even coming close to that. However, I kept it in the back of my head.

Fast forward to December 30th, 2019 and my girlfriend at the time (now wife) moved to Columbus. The first order of business when we arrived in Columbus was purchasing an Old School Gym membership. January 2nd, 2020 was my first day with the 4am Crew.

First Day With the #4amcrew: 1/2/20

I realized real quick I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and put something on the calendar. At this time I was very new to powerlifting and I wasn’t ready for a meet. But, I knew my lunge times were next level and the World Record kept creeping back into my head.

During quarantine I applied through Guinness World Record to attempt to break the 1 mile lunge walk time. I cranked up the intensity of my training to a whole new level during that 75-day stretch leading up to my attempt. Unfortunately, I came up short of the record, but I learned a great amount from that training cycle.

Small wins compound over time and will pay extreme dividends. Nobody cares WORK HARDER. You’re not going to PR every single day. You need to evaluate the situation and learn.

Powerlifting carryover

The lunges have carried over to my powerlifting training in a tremendous way. The overall GPP I have with these lunges help a ton during a powerlifting meet. Powerlifting meets can take as long as 8-10 hours. With lunging everyday my body was ready for those long days.

When it comes to injury prevention I believe the lunges have been key. My glutes are the strongest they’ve ever been, which releases the lower back pain and made my lower back stronger. My knee tendinitis is minimal to non existent. My quads are the strongest they’ve ever been. And my conditioning is at a high level.

Hitting 1,000 days in a row

I continued my streak because I need that everyday challenge. Lunges are basically my meditation. That feeling you get as soon as you’re done with 800m is like a drug to me. I’m addicted to it. It sets the tone for the rest of my day. If I can do 800m of walking lunges, why can’t I face what’s coming at me during the rest of my day with confidence?

Hitting 1,000 days in a row is a great accomplishment. I don’t want to take anything away from that, but for me all I could think of on day 1,000 was I’m 95 days away from 3 years and I want to squat something heavy the next day. Which I did with a lifetime PR of a 500lb back squat.

If someone comes at you with “Well, lunges are hard and it’ll affect my leg training,” tell them to quit being fucking soft. Do you want to avoid the hard things in life or attack them?

Don’t get me wrong, there are days I don’t want to do my lunges. Why? Because they are hard. However, those are the days that will separate you from average to elite. NO MATTER WHAT mentality.

Don’t be scared to be uncomfortable. Yeah, the first few days/weeks of your streak are brutal, but once your body adapts you become a machine. You become more confident in LIFE.

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