April 8, 2020 
With COVID-19 cases in North America soaring to nearly a third of the global total this week, you’d be forgiven if you’re feeling a little stressed right now.
And if, say, you’ve spent much of the pandemic growing into your elastic waist pants as you binge watch Tiger King with a bag of chips and bottle of red wine (whilst hiding from your family in the hall closet*)—well, we’re not here to judge. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented solutions.
America show jumper Kent Farrington, however, is taking a decidedly healthier approach.
The Olympic team silver medalist is documenting his at-home workout regime with weekly #MotivationMonday videos on his social channels. For a rider who, as a rule, never aims for second place, it’s as intense as you’d expect it to be.
Which is to say—very.
This week’s video features Farrington in a knuckle push-up sequence that starts off challenging, segues into really freaking hard with a slow dip, one armed ‘up, before going into full-on beast mode with handstand push ups. And that’s just the first 20 seconds.
We’ll stop here so you can watch it yourself.
Just in case you’re wondering, upper body strength is not the only freakishly fit trick up Farrington’s sleeve. He has superhuman skipping skills too, as evidenced by the previous week’s motivational video.
How many hours Farrington trains to achieve this frankly absurd level of fitness, we can’t say. But if news leaked that he pounds protein shakes at 2am and consumes 25 glasses of water a day, Tom Brady’s TB12 anti-inflammatory diet-style, it would surprise exactly no one.
What we can tell you is that the “motivation” part is hitting home.
Farrington’s video series inspired teammate McLain Ward to respond the with a video of his own—officially, taking their ongoing competition for show jumping dominance out of the ring.
Spoiler: it’s a valiant effort by Ward. Alas, he does not make the jump off in this particular class.
Never one to miss out on a great competition, FEI level 3 judge Philip Rozon also got into the push-up action—only to stop out mid-course.
Despite strong a start, the veteran official promptly pulls a muscle (or something), which I think we can all agree is the most relatable moment in this entire post.
With that, this week’s competition came to a dramatic close and Farrington emerged as the clear winner.
Here’s hoping Beezie Madden joins the fray next Monday.
*based on a true story
