After doing a crap load of burpees in a recent workout, I started thinking how worked I felt, then a light bulb flickered in my head and I got the idea for a burpee challenge. I thought, “I’ve been on the lookout for a good challenge lately and a burpee challenge sounds joyfully painful, yet rewarding”.
Why on earth would anyone want to do a burpee challenge?
Burpees are a full body workout with 6 body weight movements in one, making it one of the most effective and efficient exercises on the planet. If you choose to accept this challenge, your reward will be increased strength, endurance, energy, stamina and a whole lot more. Its like Laura B. said the other day, “burpees are good for you like vitamins and kale”.
Burpee Challenge Rules:
The rules are pretty simple…
- Do 1000 burpees in 30 days, partition as you like (examples below).
- Not required to do them every day, rest days are ok.
- Burpees done during class WODs do NOT count.
Partitioning Examples:
- Everyday for 30 Days: 33 burpees a day for 29 days, then 43 burpees on the last day.
- Scale Up Each Week: Week 1 – 160 burpees , Week 2 – 210, Week 3 – 280, Week 4 – 350
- You can find various other partitioning options through a simple google search for burpee challenge.
Here is great video from CrossFit.com, about how the burpee skill transfers to other movements like the handstand push-up.
Through my 10 minutes of research, some history of the burpee also came up. So who do we thank for this wonderful and heinous exercise? A physiology student working on his doctoral thesis at Columbia University in the 1930s did, his name was Royal H. Burpee. (1).
The US Army started using burpees to assess fitness levels during WW II, which is what helped make it so popular today. The original burpee only had 4 movements compared to the 6 movement version we most commonly use today. You can find more burpee history on Wikipedia.
Do accept the burpee challenge? Reply with a comment either on the original blog post or on Facebook.