This past weekend, my wife and I took a much needed vacation from the "real world" and headed to the mountains to get our skiing/snowboarding fix. As I've said in recent posts, when you're on vacation, working out is the farthest thing from your mind. This is especially true when your vacation consists of waking up every morning and not being able to move your body because it's so sore from the day before.
Pictured: The Day After Skiing
With that being said, I decided that not doing Burpees over the weekend would be in my body's best interest as well as a nice break from working out.
Since my vacation didn't officially start until Thursday, I was still able to work out Monday through Wednesday. Those results are listed below:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time (Morning)
Total Time (Night)
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
3/12/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 11 sec
7 min 11 sec
30 sec
110
3/13/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 09 sec
7 min 05 sec
30 sec
110
3/14/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 08 sec
7 min 00 sec
30 sec
110
3/15/2012
Vacation
3/16/2012
Vacation
3/17/2012
Vacation
3/18/2012
Vacation
Today, I'll leave you with a fun quote from the Pulitzer Prize winning author and humor columnist, Dave Barry:
"Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face."
There's something my wife has continually had to remind me about for the past couple years that she feels is one of THE most important things related to your body's nutrition, and now after two months of Burpees, I've finally decided to listen. This shout-out is for none other than what I've dubbed the "life force of man"...
Narrowly Beating out "Air" for the Top Spot
That's right. Water is something we all need, but usually take for granted. Well, everyone except Kevin Costner...
Too much damn water!
How many of you out there can say you drink at least 64 oz. of water per day? Now, for those of you that smugly raised your hand or nodded your head at the computer, put your hands down and quit nodding. You look ridiculous... And you're also the minority.
As crazy as it may seem, studies show more than 60% of Americans aren't drinking enough water on a daily basis. Our lack of hydration is one big FAIL, and we have only ourselves to blame. We should all take a page out of the book of every college kid in America.
Huh?
If you've ever been on a college campus, you'll have seen that Nalgene bottles are the next best accessory to Croakies and Boat Shoes.
Sweet Bottle Bro!
Now whether or not most of the students are carrying around these bottles to nurse a hangover is a different story...But regardless, the lesson we should take from this is that we should pay more attention to our own water consumption.
As always, my workout results from week 9 are posted below:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
3/5/2012
Climbers
5
8 min 27 sec
60 sec
50
3/6/2012
Ladder
15
19 min 46 sec
60 sec
120
3/7/2012
Pull-up
6
10 min 31 sec
60 sec
60
3/8/2012
REST
3/9/2012
Lunges
8
15 min 01 sec
60 sec
80
3/10/2012
Mix
7
12 min 19 sec
60 sec
70
3/11/2012
REST
And if after reading this post, you continue to slack in your hydrational responsibilities, I may just have to call in our friend Bobby Boucher to convince you otherwise...
For those of you that travel for work, I'm going to go ahead and guess that about 99% of you HATE exercising while you're on the road. I'm also pretty sure the other 1% of you who actually do enjoy working out in your hotel's crummy fitness room are sleep walking, because the only times I've ever seen anyone in there is at 5 in the morning...
Pictured: The 1%
If any of you are like me, when you're on a business trip, the only time you leave your hotel room is to go to meetings, dinner, and the airport. This of course makes it very difficult to get up the motivation to make it to the fitness room. So, why not just take what you've learned so far, and perform those exercises right there in the room? I mean hey, you've got a TV, plenty of floor space, and even a window that sometimes has a better view than the brick wall of the Dollar General next door.
I think I can almost make out the ocean...
Now, obviously this doesn't only have to pertain to those of us that spend half our year working out of hotels. But I'm sure after you've just ordered the surf and turf and your third margarita while enjoying a traditional Hawaiian dance, exercise might be the farthest thing from your mind.
Snooki is ready to exercise.
So having just returned from a business trip myself, I was able to take my own advice and workout in my room each day. Below are the results:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time (Morning)
Total Time (Night)
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
2/27/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 20 sec
7 min 21 sec
30 sec
110
2/28/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 23 sec
7 min 18 sec
30 sec
110
2/29/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 10 sec
7 min 17 sec
30 sec
110
3/1/2012
REST
3/2/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 09 sec
7 min 04 sec
30 sec
110
3/3/2012
Ladder
10
7 min 12 sec
7 min 03 sec
30
sec
110
3/4/2012
REST
I've also decided to bump up my workouts by doing "two-aday" ladder sets, while alternating those and the mixed sets (pull-ups, lunges, climbers) on a weekly basis.
And this week I'll leave you with a quote that will hopefully motivate you the next time you're sitting in a hotel room, wasting time. It was spoken by English cleric and writer Charles Caleb Colton:
"Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time that every day produces, and which most men throw away."
This post goes out to all the aerobically challenged people in the audience. We've already discussed changing up the Burpee in terms of adding different exercises to the workout, but now I'm going to discuss just a few different ways to modify the Burpee. This will help those of you that aren't in amazing shape, to ease into the workouts instead of throwing yourselves straight into the fire.
Pictured: Approval
Being able to modify a workout has been a necessity for trainers and gym enthusiasts alike in the fitness industry for as long as it's been in existence. Not only will a simple modification help to ease up a workout, it can also help prevent injury.
I'll start by explaining a simple way to modify the "thrust" part of the Burpee and then move onto the push-up. Normally, when you squat down, you place your hands on the ground and kick your legs out behind you into a push-up or plank position. When you do this, it can sometimes cause strain on your lower back and is also considered "high impact" on your knees, feet, and toes. To prevent this potentially high impact and lower back strain, you can simply step back instead of jumping back.
Now, if you want to make the push-up easier too, you can modify it by placing both your knees on the ground when you come down into plank position. From there, you would perform your push-up just like a normal one, but using your knees as a "crutch" of sorts.
I'm sure there are at least a few of you reading this and trying to picture what I've just described, so I've posted a quick video below to show what a fully modified Burpee should look like, to help with any questions:
I've also updated my workout results from Week 8 along with my monthly picture and listed them below:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
2/20/2012
Climber
4
6 min 34 sec
60 sec
40
2/21/2012
Ladder
15
22 min 30 sec
70 sec
120
2/22/2012
Pull-up
5
8 min 41 sec
60 sec
50
2/23/2012
REST
2/24/2012
Lunges
7
12 min 43 sec
60 sec
70
2/25/2012
Mix
6
10 min 39 sec
60 sec
60
2/26/2012
REST
With my second month's worth of Burpees officially finished, I will be continuing to increase my reps over the next 4 weeks. And with motivation somewhat lacking over the past few weeks, I felt this quote from the 1966 Sportsman of the Year, Jim Ryun, was appropriate:
"Motivation is what gets you started, but habit is what keeps you going."
For the past week I've been dealing with a a case of the sniffles, and it gave me the idea to do a little research on the subject of exercising while being sick. Now I don't know about you, but in the past whenever I've come down with a cold, I've used it as an excuse to lay around feeling sorry for myself while watching old re-runs of Saved by the Bell.
Pictured: Zack Attack
If you've ever done any research on the subject, you'll know that exercising helps build up your body's immunity, in turn helping it to fight off colds, infections, etc... But what if you exercise while you're sick.
One bit of information I came across in my search, is the difference between moderately exercising versus high-stress exercising while being sick. Per WebMD:
"While immunity is boosted when you work out moderately, the opposite may be true for high-performance athletes, such as runners, swimmers, and other athletes that push their physical limits with intense training without sufficient recovery. For example, there's evidence of suppressed immunity during times of prolonged and intense exercise training with an increased number of upper respiratory infections."
Long story short, don't work your body too hard when you're sick.
Pictured: A Body Over-worked
As you can see from WebMD (a somewhat trusted source...), working out can be beneficial when you're sick so long as you do it in moderation.
Now, by no means do I feel you should exercise if you've got a fever or are throwing up everywhere, but if you're debating skipping your workout because your nose is a little stuffy, then I say suck it up.
In the end, I decided to suck it up and push through my workouts for the week. Below are the results:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
2/13/2012
Climber
4
6 min 27 sec
60 sec
40
2/14/2012
Ladder
15
22 min 27sec
70 sec
120
2/15/2012
Pull-up
5
9 min 10 sec
60 sec
50
2/16/2012
REST
2/17/2012
Lunges
7
12 min 52 sec
60 sec
70
2/18/2012
Mix
6
10 min 46 sec
60 sec
60
2/19/2012
REST
I'll leave you all today with a quote from a well known author and historian, Thomas Fuller, I feel resonates with a lot of us that struggle to keep up a good workout regime:
My name is Drew Snyder, and I'm a cheese cake addict. No, not just the normal fluffy white cheese cake you can find at almost any restaurant in New York City. No, I'm in love with fried cheese cake.
Pictured: Heaven
Yes, that's right. A few weeks ago, I unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) indulged in this guilty pleasure when it was erroneously brought to our table by our unknowing, yet thoughtful waiter. I like to picture Paula Dean waiting back in the kitchen telling the waiter that the skinny guy up front needs some cake to fatten him up...
Pictured: The Devil
Now, I'm writing this post not to make myself feel better for getting this off my chest, but rather to reassure all of you that it's okay to fall off the wagon every now and again. It's not the end of the world (unless the Mayan conspirators are right...).
For most people, "falling off the wagon" means to take up drinking again after you've quit for good. But I'm going to use this phrase to describe any mistakes people make while trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Of course, as I said above, I made my first mistake of the year by going against "The Burpee Diet" and eating some pretty fattening cheesecake.
Of course now, I could either sit and regretfully dwell upon this slip-up, or I can use this as motivation to work harder throughout my workouts. I choose what's behind door number 2.
With all that being said, my workout results from Week 6 are listed below:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
2/6/2012
Climber
4
6 min 39 sec
60 sec
40
2/7/2012
Ladder
15
22 min 25 sec
70 sec
120
2/8/2012
Pull-up
5
9 min 29 sec
60 sec
50
2/9/2012
REST
2/10/2012
Lunges
7
13 min 26 sec
60 sec
70
2/11/2012
Mix
6
11 min 23 sec
60 sec
60
2/12/2012
REST
And today I leave you with a quote from the great American essayist, lecturer, and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."
I've now marched on through the first four weeks repeating the same workout over and over again while slowly increasing the number of reps I performed each day, and now I feel it's time to change things up a bit.
As you may or may not have known already, there are countless ways to vary up your workouts, especially when it comes to Burpees. But for now I'm specifically going to focus on three new moves that I'll be adding to my weekly workouts over the next month.
#1 - The Pullup
#2 - The Mountain Climber
#3 - The Lunge
Now you may be asking yourselves, "What about the Burpees?!", but don't you worry your pretty little heads. These forms of exercise can easily be added to the workout without compromising the original Burpee technique, the squat thrust.
I've also attached a quick video not only displaying all three moves, but also showing that this workout is great even in a confined space, such as my office...or a jail cell.
And as always, I've listed my weekly workout results below for the start of Month 2:
Date
Workout
Sets
Total Time
Beak Time Per Set
Total Burpees
1/30/2012
Climber
4
7 min 45 sec
60 sec
40
1/31/2012
Ladder
15
22 min 30 sec
70 sec
120
2/1/2012
Pull-up
5
9 min 38 sec
60 sec
50
2/2/2012
REST
2/3/2012
Lunges
7
13 min 36 sec
60 sec
70
2/4/2012
Mix
6
11 min 42 sec
60 sec
60
2/5/2012
REST
side note:
Pull-ups per set = 10 reps (3 on Mix days)
Lunges per set = 10 reps (2 on Mix days)
Mountain Climbers per set = 10 reps (1 on Mix days)
And in the spirit of change, I'll leave you with a quote from the great Aristotle:
