Burpees

Another goal that I set for myself early in the year was to be able to do 100 burpees in 10 minutes. I know what you're thinking. "Nervda, what the hell is a burpee?"

A burpee is a calisthenic and cardio exercise in one.

1. From a standing position, squat down, touching your hands to the floor.
   
2. Kick your feet out to a pushup position.
   
3. Do a pushup.
   
4. Bring your feet back to the squat position.
   
5. Jump straight up in the air.
   

Can't visualize it? Here, have a look.

I'm not nearly as smooth as that guy.

The first time I tried to do burpees, I just did 50 as quickly as I could. It took me almost 9 minutes. I thought I was gonna die. I've never had my heart racing quite so hard. And I've done some seriously difficult workouts before.

I knew that without planning, this challenge would beat my ass down. So here's the approach that I took.

In order to do 100 in 10 minutes, I would do sets of 10 reps. I would do 5 sets of 10 until I got under 5 minutes for 50. I did this workout once a week. It took me 6 weeks to get under 5 minutes. Then I'd add one set of ten and do that amount until I average under one minute for each set for two consecutive workouts. This way, I wouldn't bite off more than I could chew.

My first burpee workout was in February. Today, I did 9 sets of 10 burpees in 8:33. I probably could have pushed out another set of 10 and hit the target, but I held off. I think I'll go for the 100 next Tuesday.

36,600

The only workout that I do daily at this point is doing 100 pushups. That's it. That's the whole workout. It doesn't matter what type, or how many reps per set. Just get 100 done every 24 hours.

I made this my new year's resolution this year, to make it through one year with 100 pushups per day. This is an excuse proof resolution. You don't need to go to gym. All you need is a floor.

I was talking with my cousin the other day and he said that he hadn't worked out when he was working in London last year, as the gym was too expensive for him. I said, "Pushups are free, bitch."

I'm trying to do as much working out as possible with as little equipment as possible. This crazy pushup idea really got me moving down this path. Check out bodyweightculture.com for lots of amazing workouts that you can do without any special equipment.

I've had this resolution before. I kept it up all the way through 2002. I'm not really sure why I stopped. It's an easy thing to implement and gives really great results.

If you're thinking of starting this program, pick three times a day that you can devote to doing pushups. Here's an example program:

On a Sunday, test yourself and see how many pushups you can do in one set. Let's say that this number is 20. Your set for the week will be half of this number. So every time you do a set, do 10 pushups. Do as many sets as necessary to reach 100.

Every morning, do as many sets of your target number as it takes to get to 50. Do it again when get ready for bed.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Before and After

Summer's finally here. A friend of mine and I are challenging each other to a summertime physical transformation. I've got a couple of different goals for this summer and I'm going to blog them. It'll be a way for me to be accountable for my activity.

Goal #1: To get my weight under 185 pounds. That's a great milestone weight for me. That's what I weighed when I finished high school. As an adult, I've reached that weight one other time, in the fall of 2004.

I'm back on Weight Watchers, tracking my daily food intake. I've also really stepped up my workouts. I'll write separate entries about some of my new workouts as part of the process.

I started out the challenge weighing 207 pounds. That was three weeks ago. This morning, I weighed 201. I'm moving in the right direction.

Anyhow, that picture above is of me starting out the Team Hoyt 5K last Thursday night. I look so composed.

The picture below is me at the finish line. I look decomposed:



Two quick things to note. That's Jasper chasing me in! You can see his hand and shoe just off of my right hip. Number two, I'm actually airborne. Sweet.