In November of 2010 I did 100 burpees per day, achieving 3,000 burpees for the month. At the time I thought it was a pretty ambitious goal, and I was pleased that I did it. The first few days were very difficult, but once I settled into the habit and overcame the initial soreness, I made it through the month. By the end, I noticed substantial improvements in the time it took to perform the exercise, and that I had a slimmer, leaner build, lower blood pressure, and a sense of accomplishment that bordered on complacency.
Today I set a new goal: 100 burpees per day for 100 days. This is a far more ambitious goal, because I struggle to stay focused and disciplined over long stretches. Admittedly, 100 days is not a great deal of time. But my hope is that striving for this goal will help me to hone a more expansive, process-oriented relationship to fitness. After all, in fitness, as in life, the destination is not as important as the journey. One can't have too many reminders of that. So here's to the journey!
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6 comments:
I'm glad to see that a "burpee" isn't some new shake at Dairy Queen. (Which is what it sounds like.)
You can do it!
How long does it take you to do 100 burpees?
I only rarely do them all at once - I usually do five sets of 20. Believe me, if you do them as fast as you can, this is quite challenging!
The first time I did 100 burpees at once, it took me almost 19 minutes to complete. I nearly threw up at the end. After doing 100/day last November, my time improved to about 13 minutes. I hope that after 100 days of 100 per day, I can do them in around 8 minutes. Stay tuned!
I'll have to try some burpees.
I've gotten great results with just sticking to doing Wii Fit every day. Every other day, I do all of the strength training and yoga exercises once. (I do half one day, and the other half the second day.) Of course, Göran and I get around a lot on foot and by bike -- especially when the weather gets nice (as it finally is now) -- and that helps too.
I've stayed within 5 pounds of my goal weight for over a year, and I'm really amazed at how well something as simple as Wii Fit has helped me to get good muscle tone... I was at the YMCA the other day, and one of the fitness instructors was going on and on about how "ripped" I was. He wanted to know what my secret was, and was a little bit surprised when I told him I just used Wii Fit.
I guess its proof that anything you manage to stick to daily or nearly daily will work for you if you do it long enough...
Also, yes - "burpee" is a strange name! I'd never heard of it before starting CrossFit. I've since heard them called "squat-thrusts" and "squat-thrust pushups." Whatever you call it, I think it could be the ultimate exercise: it works the arms, shoulders, chest, abs, thighs, and hamstrings, while providing a supercharged cardio/aerobic regimen.
I should mention that my CrossFit coach can do 100 burpees in less than five-and-a-half minutes!
I didn't see your post before my last one. I was going to say - you do look great John! I agree - ultimately, sticking with something is very effective over the long haul. And there are a lot of great exercises on Wii Fit!
Yeah, I learned "squat thrusts" (without the push-up part).
We did those as part of our fitness regime as Mormon missionaries. They were practical because you could do them easily in a small apartment!
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