Okay, so doing the 100 Pushup Challenge a second time wasn't for me. But since I've decided that I really need to get my metabolism going and build back at least some of the muscle I've lost since moving 3500 miles away from my gym to a place where a great baguette is $1.40 and a pound of chicken at the regular grocery store is $20, I'm going to try to 100-Day Burpee Challenge.
The deal with the challenge is that you do Burpees for 100 days. On the first day you do one, the second day two, and so forth, until you get to 100 days/100 burpees. If you miss a day, you have a deficit of that many burpees that you are responsible for somehow making up.
Being in fairly decent shape, and wanting to start melting fat off my butt asap, I started at day 50. Today I did 57.
One of the things that i think is great about this challenge is that anyone can complete this, and it rewards consistency and dedication above all else -- which is basically the #1 thing the vast majority of people need to improve their running, no? I'm doing mine in three sets at the end of my run, but you can do them really however you want -- if you want to do individual burpees throughout the day until you hit that many, that's just as valid for the challenge as one set. There is no universal standard for performance aside from just doing them.
So, anyone in? I'd love to have someone to talk to about how dead my legs are!
Being in fairly decent shape, and wanting to start melting fat off my butt asap, I started at day 50. Today I did 57. You did 57 Burpees? That's amazing! I'm bared from all upper body exericses for at least another two weeks, maybe longer, but this sounds exciting. I'm looking forward to following your progress.
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Eh, I did 57 in the course of three sets with 45 sec rests. Tonight 58. I guess I will try to keep going on the three sets until I get to 33/33/34, but doing a single set of 33 seems insane right now.
Glad to hear someone has any interest in following my progress, btw! I think it helps for me to be able to routinely write/gripe about it. And I've really got to do something to regain some of my lost muscle. The exercise ball is not a bad option, but doing it *in* my apt makes it less conducive to spending a bunch of time on -- just kind of depressing. I've found a playground nearby me with a nice artificial surface to do the burpees on. Everyone stares but it's super convenient and who cares.
57 was fine but what sucked was missing a day, doing 55, running 6.5 mi, and doing 56. TIRED LEGS! Sadly the pushup portion isn't really doing much for me yet as three sets of pushups isn't a big deal for me.
Got up to 60 yesterday, again in 3 sets (19/19/22) with 45...eh, this time, 1 min rest between. I'm thinking that even though there is not "rest" day in this program -- ever! -- it might be to my advantage to once every 6 or 7 days, break them up temporally somehow. Like, do 3 sets of 10 before my run and the rest after or something. As much as I know the longer sets are good for me, this is definitely a pretty strenuous workout for me.
Also of note: I am getting a little leaner! Hard to say if it's the burpees, the lack of butter, butter cookies, cheese, patisserie, carbs, and other junk food in my diet, or what, but I feel like the tide has changed and I am headed back in the right direction. i realized that the nice thing about burpees is that they do push me to exhaustion, which I am kind of convinced, esp as a muscle-y person, is when i start really getting firmer/seeing results in my leanness.
Looking forward to the next 40 days...kind of!
You are crazy. I'd probably need 2 days in between each of your workouts. I generally only do burpees with weighted rows in them (basically hold weights the entire time and after the pushup do a row one arm at a time) but I could not imagine doing even half as many as you are doing.
Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson
Had to break them up into short sets this evening -- did 5x10, 1x11 with 30 sec rest inbetween. I'm realizing that if the descent from the jump and the squat down become one motion, these get a lot harder on my legs.
But mostly wanted to record that a French teenager literally came an interrupted me and was like, "excuse me, why are you doing that?" me: "pourquoi non?" him: "yes but it's halloween it's not the time for doing exercises." me: "pourquoi non?" UGH...can't wait to get back to the land where exercise is seen as a virtue. or frankly, where people just let you do your thing. (also had four different groups of young adult dudes "race" me during my run.)
There is good news and bad news.
Bad news first: I took four days off. And I am "cheating" and resuming where I left off, instead of counting it against myself. I figure that if I'm sleeping 3 hrs a night between 9 and 12 am to work on a deadline, it's okay to push the burpees back. Because the point is to make it to 100, somehow.
The good, nay, great news: I feel like I am shedding weight! Strangely, faster than I am gaining muscle, but I'll take it! Anything is better than where i was a month ago. As I posted earlier, it's hard to tell why I'm losing weight -- my diet has gotten a bit better in the last month too (can you believe I haven't eaten bread since...Sept?), but i really think the burpees are helping. Also, I'm losing weight in my LEGS, which never happens! YAY!
Tonight was 62...no, wait, shit..I thought I did 62, but I just realized I only did 60. Well, I'll guess I'll move to 61 tomorrow, though that was what I did before I took a break.
62 tonight. Not sure about these 20+ sets. Tonight was 19/19/24 and tomorrow should move to 21/21/21, but...these are really killing me. 4 sets would be 15/15/15/18 -- that seems more reasonable, BUT, I think there is something to be said for really killing myself with these. Hmmm.
67! Amazing. I can't wait to get the all clear to actually use my shoulder again... my upper body strength is going to hell.
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OK, so this is something I think most fit (and obsessive) people can do, no rules to how many need to get done for each set, just do X number of burpees depending on the day you are on. So if I want to do 10 sets of 10 burpees throughout the day that's fine. I think most of us could do that right now.
I know what makes this difficult is that you need to do them for 100 days in a row, and the last 30 days or so are a bitch to get done everyday.
I googled this challenge and got referenced to this site for rules a couple times:
http://crossfitpeachtree.com/PDFs/burpeechallenge.pdf
this site says if you miss a day, you have to make it up, so if you skip day 10 you need to do 21 burpees on day 11. Not so bad until day 50 and above.
Or if you want to jump in on day 50, see Rule #4, it states: If you don't start the challenge with us today, you can "buy-in" at any time by doing ALL the missed day's burpees on your first day.
Not sure if that means just do 50 day one, or do 49 plus 50, or if you would need to make up hundreds of burpees the first day (do day 1 thru 49, plus day 50).
It would be better if there was some sorta minimium set requirement. But that would make it too difficult and no one would actually fininsh. This way people can say they did 100 burpees and not be held to any standard.
I do think doing burpees over a 30+ day period like Steph is doing will greatly improve your overall fitness level and lower body fat, just like attempting the 100 pushup challenge builds upper body strength, over the 6+ weeks. Regardless of how many you end up doing consecutively with good form.
Again, I realize in the end if you do 693 burpees in the last week that's good. But it would be nice to know you did them in only 1-4 sets each day and not spread out over 10 sets and 12 hours everyday.
I know, I'm a bastard to put it nicely.
staying healthy while running = many slow miles
Two more fellowship deadlines = another small setback. But I keep going! Mostly this is just a workout log at this point but who cares?
Anyway, I did 66 today after my run. Whew! Also did 2x20xeach leg of single leg squats using the rope grid vertical climber at the "aire de jouer" (playground), and 21/25/21/21/29 pushups, which hurt. (After the burpees)
Sadly, you know how I thought that this had kickstarted my metabolism or something? Well, I'm starting to wonder if it's not just more an advanced stage of muscle atrophy that I had never known before. Frankly, I blame France -- you would think that 40 mpw and burpees would be enough to prevent muscle loss (sadly, replaced with fat), but that is apparently wrong. Then again, that is what you get for being in the best shape of your life -- you lose it. I guess. So, adding more body weight I guess. Boo.
So I am clear to do a limited number of push ups, maybe this is something I should be doing to slowing build myself back up. I cannot imagine doing 100 burpees, but I can imagine doing thirty or so.
OK, I couldn't help myself. I'm going to try my best to do the 100 burpee thing.
I started on day 50, and missed 2 days in the first week or so.
But I caught up today, a total of 195 burpees in 3 different sessions. I hope I don't fall that far behind again.
Still not sure how comitted I am to doing them everyday, I'm crazy, but this at times zaps my knees - as Stepaniet mentioned.
Surprisingly, todays sets didn't seem to bother me. My heart rate goes up pretty high though.
I'm hoping to do 6 or 7 sets with a minute (or more) rest between during the last week. No need to kill myself, if there are no rules. That seems like it will still be a pretty good workout along the way.
I'll check in again and let you know how things are going.
Anyone here?
I figure Stephaniet should be just about done by now.
I'm still jugging along, up to day 83. I should finish on Jan 7th if my calculations are correct. At least one reason I'm looking forward to the new year.
I do these mostly at home when no one is watching. But on days I do them at the gym someone always asks me about them or reminiscences about the last time they did them many years ago.
If no one is left here, that just goes to prove how crazy it was to do this and also how sad my life really is.
Happy holidaze everyone
Another week and I'm still going strong, I haven't missed a day in over a week (good for me).
90 today, in 6 sets of 15.
I hope to finish the 100 w/ 5 sets of 20 burpees.
Doing one days worth of burpees doesn't seem to bother my knees, it's when I add in a missed day or two that gets them sore the next day or two.
This has got me moving for a second workout a day, I might start doing my P90X workouts again. although they are a little long time wise to commit to the program again. I'm hoping to increase my running next year.