Putting the Burpee to the Test

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to go camping in the wilderness of Northwest Arkansas with a close buddy of mine. Over the course of 3 days, we hiked a little over 15 miles while carrying close to 50 lbs. of gear on our backs. If that wasn't a good way of putting my Burpee workouts to the test, then I don't know what is.

"I knew I shouldn't have brought that space heater..."

Not only was the trip a huge workout for my back and leg muscles, but by hiking to the tops of both "Spy Rock" and Hare Mountain, it also gave me the opportunity to see how my endurance has improved over the past 5 months.

Perched Atop "Spy Rock" on the Ozark Highlands Trail

Overall, I can say I'm happy with how my body performed carrying weight up and down the Ozark Highland Trail, but this trip also showed me there's still more work to be done. With 7 months left in the Burpee Experiment, I'm going to keep increasing my reps and work on lowering my times, while also continuing to add in new workouts each month.  

Since I spent Friday and Saturday hiking 15 miles, I'm going to cut myself some slack on missing those workouts this past week. Here are my results from Monday through Wednesday:

Date	Workout	Sets	Total Time (Morning)	Total Time (Night)	Beak Time Per Set	Total Burpees
5/21/2012	Ladder	13	14 min 06 sec	14 min 01 sec	50 sec	182
5/22/2012	Ladder	13	14 min 06 sec	14 min 01 sec	50 sec	182
5/23/2012	Ladder	13	14 min 06 sec	14 min 05 sec	50 sec	182
5/24/2012	REST
5/25/2012	Ladder		VACATION
5/26/2012	Ladder		VACATION
5/27/2012	REST

In honor of Memorial Day, I'll leave you with a short passage from a poem written about the Civil War, by Theodore O'Hara:

"Rest on embalmed and sainted dead!

Dear as the blood ye gave;

No impious footstep here shall tread

The herbage of your grave;

Nor shall your glory be forgot

While fame her record keeps,

For honor points the hallowed spot

Where valor proudly sleeps."

Getting that Second Wind

It's now been roughly 5 months since I first started this experiment, and throughout that time I've discussed many of the highs and lows I've experienced. There's been a few walls hit, a few muscles strained, and even an extremely sore big toe. But now, after all this time, I feel like I'm hitting my stride.

This past week is a great example of how I've caught my second wind. For the last 4 or 5 days, I've spent roughly 2 or 3 hours each day outside digging out / chopping up some pretty gnarly roots at the front of my house, working toward eventually putting in concrete for a front patio.

I didn't press any wildflowers...well...maybe a few.

Besides fulfilling my manly duties as a lumberjack, I also made it a point to come inside and do my workouts after the work outside was finished. I'll be honest with you, there were a few days where I thought to myself "I will probably pass out and die if I try to workout right now". But nevertheless, I pressed on and completed my workouts every day and even managed to beat most of my previous times.

One main thing I could take from this week is that I'm truly starting to see a big change in my overall endurance since I've started the experiment. Not only did I complete my workouts after some grueling work in the yard, but I felt good both during and after. Had I decided to give up beforehand and say I was too tired from working outside, I would have never realized I actually had plenty of energy left to complete my workouts.

So, with a renewed energy, I finished all of my workouts for the week faster than ever. The results are listed below:

Date	Workout	Sets	Total Time	Beak Time Per Set	Total Burpees
5/14/2012	One-Leg	5	4 min 54 sec	40 sec	50
5/15/2012	Ladder	15	17 min 02 sec	50 sec	120
5/16/2012	Pull-up	6	7 min 25 sec	30 sec	60
5/17/2012	REST
5/18/2012	Jacks	7	6 min 34 sec	30 sec	70
5/19/2012	Mix	7	9 min 14 sec	50 sec	70
5/20/2012	REST

And today I'll leave you with an inspiring quote from a great American philosopher named William James:

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second."

L&R,

Drew

Frying Up Some Burpee

Do you hear that sizzle folks? No, that's not someone in the other room frying up some bacon. That, friends, is the sound of my fat burning away.

Pictured: Sizzling Fat

In a recent article from SELF magazine, it describes that "new research reveals that High Intensity Interval Training supercharges your body on a microscopic level, enabling the mitochondria, your cells' powerhouses, to burn fat more efficiently". Now, for those of you who have no idea what that means, I'll put it in easier terms so we can all understand. Doing Burpees and other exercises that require short bursts of energy over a short amount of time can have just as positive of an affect on your muscles as longer workouts that are more drawn out, like running.

Oh Lord kill me now!

So the next time any of you are out there wondering why you decided it would be fun to get up at 5 a.m. to go running for an hour, remember that you could have slept in and spent 10 minutes doing Burpees and gotten the same or even better results.

As usual, I've chosen option number 2, and the results from this week are listed below:

Date	Workout	Sets	Total Time (Morning)	Total Time (Night)	Beak Time Per Set	Total Burpees
5/7/2012	Ladder	12	10 min 46 sec	10 min 52 sec	40 sec	156
5/8/2012	Ladder	12	10 min 48 sec	10 min 49 sec	40 sec	156
5/9/2012	Ladder	12	10 min 56 sec	10 min 47 sec	40 sec	156
5/10/2012	REST
5/11/2012	Ladder	12	10 min 45 sec	10 min 49 sec	40 sec	156
5/12/2012	Ladder	12	10 min 55 sec	10 min 42 sec	40 sec	156
5/13/2012	REST

For those of us that can relate to the following quote, I'll take 10 minutes of high intensity interval training over an hour-long workout any day. Per the well known author and cardiologist George Sheehan:

"Exercise is done against ones wishes and maintained only because the alternative is worse."

L&R,

Drew

Fuel the Burpee

This week I learned a valuable lesson in the importance of food when it comes to exercising. Normally, my wife and I maintain a fairly normal meal routine. We get up, have breakfast, eat lunch around noon, eat dinner between 6pm and 8pm, and have a few healthy snacks throughout the day. Little did I know that my digestive world would be rocked on Tuesday when my wife had to run errands and didn't return until almost 3 o'clock!

Do you hear that? That tick represents the sound of my stomach slowly eating itself.

Sure, in any other situation I could have just made myself lunch (I'm not completely useless). However, we had just run out of food in the house that morning, thus prompting my wife's excruciatingly long trip to the store. So, rather than go out and get myself some food, I decided it'd be best to just wait for her to get home so we could eat together. Later on that day I would realize the err of my ways in not eating sooner, as I sluggishly made my way through a Ladder of 120 Burpees...

Ba doom boom cha!

Per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Issues, "a combination of working out and eating healthy foods can boost your energy level as well as feel more alert and aware, both mentally and physically". All of which I was not feeling on Tuesday. You see, I still ended up eating around 3 o'clock or so, but by that time my body was already behind it's schedule, and I was feeling very indolent. So, the purpose of this post is to make sure all of you out there that are ever thinking about skipping a snack, or a meal, DON'T. Unless, of course, that snack is from the Golden Arches, or Taco Smell.

Anyway, I still managed to fight my way through that workout on Tuesday as well as all of the other scheduled days this past week. My results are listed below:

Date Workout Sets Total Time  Beak Time Per Set Total Burpees 4/30/2012 One-Leg 5 5 min 17 sec 40 sec 50 5/1/2012 Ladder 15 17 min 08 sec 50 sec 120 5/2/2012 Pull-up 6 7 min 41 sec 30 sec 60 5/3/2012 REST 5/4/2012 Jacks 7 6 min 42 sec 30 sec 70 5/5/2012 Mix 7 9 min 40 sec 50 sec 70 5/6/2012 REST

I thought I'd leave you with another funny quote this week from one of my favorite comedians of all-time, Mr. No Respect himself, Rodney Dangerfield:

"I'm at the age where food has taken the place of sex. In fact, I just had a mirror put over my kitchen table."

L&R,

Drew