Day 15: Burpees

                Let’s get it out of the way, I hate burpees. In fact, I have completely avoided burpees since they were a part of our fitness testing in grade 10 gym class. When I first stumbled into a gym, I cared about how much you could bench, squat or deadlift, & couldn’t have cared less about how many burpees you could do. Even when I got more into bodyweight & cardiovascular activities in an effort to ‘cut’ or slim down, burpees never even crossed my mind.

                Enter Spartan Race, & all of a sudden the burpee is king. Given that I am in reasonably good shape, I figured, what’s the big deal, 30 burpees can’t be that hard. Cue me attempting burpees for the first time & almost having a heart attack at number 15. Two weeks into training, my all-time record is 20; just 66% of what I will need to do PER failed obstacle at the Spartan Race.

                Below I break down the burpee & go over what I am going to do to ensure that I am in burpee-shape come race day.

    

What is a burpee?

                A burpee is a relatively simple full body exercise that doesn’t require anything except a little bit of floor space & a lot of mental fortitude. The exercise includes the 6 simple, but gruelling steps below:

1. Squat down & place both hands on the floor in front of you
2. Jump both feet back into plank position
3. Drop to a push up
4. Push yourself up with your arms, & pull your feet towards your hands into a squat position
5. Jump up in the air as high as possible with your arms above your head
6. Return to a squat position & repeat

Where did the burpee originate?

                Royal H. Burpee invented the original burpee in 1939 as a fitness rest. Heart rate measures were taken before & after performing 4 burpees to determine overall fitness level. Shortly after it’s invention, the US Military adopted the burpee as part of its fitness testing program, & by 1946 the military required recruits be able to complete burpees for one full minute with 27 or less being considered poor, & 41 or more being considered excellent.

                Ever since this time, the burpee has been a mainstay in the military & on the football field, used both as an anaerobic exercise as well as a punitive measure. In the Spartan Race, the burpee is used to punish racers that are unsuccessful on obstacles; for every failed obstacle, you must do 30 burpees in a designated 'burpee zone.' With 24+ obstacles on the Spartan Super, it is important that I get familiar with the burpee over the next 85 days.

What muscles do the burpee work?

                The burpee is a great full-body exercise that will increase strength in your triceps, chest, quads, glutes, hamstrings, & core. On top of giving these muscles a great pump, burpees will vastly improve your physical conditioning, work threshold & anaerobic endurance. Although a single burpee seems simple enough, over time they can become quite taxing on the muscles & cardiovascular system if you are not adequately trained.

How do you get better at burpees?

                Fortunately, burpee output is not predetermined by genetics, & excellent results aren’t exclusive to elite-level crossfitters or bodybuilders. Unfortunately, the best way to get better at burpees, is by doing a lot of burpees.

That said, practicing the core movements involved in the burpee can also go a long way in improving overall burpee output. 

The first movement is the squat, for these I practice weighted goblet squats once per week & regularly perform ‘chair poses’ in hot yoga, both of which work the quads, glutes & hamstrings, & will increase overall muscular endurance in the legs. 

The second movement is the push-up, for these I’ve incorporated push ups into my weekly strength training program, & once again a lot of different yoga poses incorporate this type of pressing motion which will help with muscular endurance in the upper body. 

The final movement involved in the burpee is as straight jump, for which I have incorporated box jumps into my strength program, again to reinforce strong legs.

Unlike many of the obstacles which remain ambiguous until race day, the burpee is the one near guarantee in the Spartan Race. To fail to prepare to do at least a few sets of 30 burpees would be foolish, so for the time being I have incorporated burpees into my strength training program twice per week along with the accessory lifts listed above. As we move closer to race day, if I’m not seeing the improvement that I’m looking for (40+ burpees per set), then I will increase this to 3 or 4 days per week. 

100 Day Spartan