I should have learned my lesson a few weeks ago when I had to do 321 burpees on Sunday. I didnt. So today required 400 to meet my weekly goal. Its 11:53PM and I am done.

Catch Up Day

Burpees required today to make a 500 week.

Sucked. But done.

United States Naval Academy

 

A fun bus trip to Annapolis that included a tour of the US Naval Academy.  Burpees complete on the verdana of the Museum and in front of the a well-IDd gate.

 

 

A Challenge Within A Challenge

I love CrossFit challenges. They are some of the most fun WODs in the sport.

I knew that sooner or later the next challenge would come up and it would inflict an even more odd component to the mix of daily burpees, WODs and miscellaneous fitness training.

Tricia declared a personal goal of doing a 1m run, 50 air squats and 50 pushups for every day in July.

Of course I was immediately in.

I assumed that burpees would count in place of the pushups as a burpee is really a super pushup.

Thankfully, the judge made her ruling and they DO count.

Day one complete.

Ongoing List of Neat Places I Have Done Burpees

 

 

This is a list of some of the interesting places I have done burpees. Italics indicates those prior to the start of the "100,000 Burpee Challenge". The list will be updated as I remember other places and add locations in the future.

 

 

Acadia National Park - on top of the 'you cant push the rock off' rock on South Bubble Mountain

 

Under the St Louis Arch

In the Grand Canyon overlooking a waterfalls

 

 

Minor League Baseball skybox

 

 

With PaleOMG CrossFit superchick Juli Bauer (yes, I look spasmodic but the first try at a pic in the tiny booth space caused me to almost bang into her butt. Didn't want her thinking I was some sort of weirdo)

 

In front of the Yuengling Brewery - US Flag proudly flying overhead

 

• United States Naval Academy

 

In The Beginning...

 

Lookup 'burpees' in a popular online dictionary and you will find this:

World English Dictionary

burpee  (ˈbɜːpiː)
— n
1.	a squat thrust that starts and ends in a standing position
2.	( US ) a piece of absorbent material placed on the shoulder while burping a baby
[C20: sense 1 from Burpee test , a measure of endurance and coordination devised by R.H. Burpee , US psychologist]

l do not remember when I first started doing burpees but I can remember doing some version of a squat thrust as far back as age ten or eleven.

Like 99% of people I never harbored a deep love for this exercise. They suck in general and even more so when completed in combat boots 

A bunch of years passed with few burpees in my life. When I discovered CrossFit I quickly learned that burpees were back. With a vengeance. 

While I doubt I would ever say I LOVE them, I definitely like them. They are a great combination of flexibility, cardio, strength and are always a mental challenge. They can be done anywhere (although I go outside to do burpees at work - do not want to touch the germy floor of a medical facility) and they were formalized by a Pennsylvanian with a strong military connection (more on Mr Burpee later) 

I really like CrossFit challenges and special events and participated in a few burpee-based gigs. 

One was the 115 day long "Royal Burpee Challenge" (1 on day one, 2 on day 2, etc) that ended on Mr Burpee's 115th Birthday. Unfortunately, the big celebration at the end never materialized (it was supposed to include a Guinness World Record attempt for the most people doing burpees at once) 

After doing a few minor burpee challenges I decided that I am a bigger fan of them than the average CrossFitter.  A quick Google search for burpee tshirts finds a bunch professing a hatred for them. None were printed with anything stating a love for them (even a liking). 

The Spring of 2013 led me to CrossFit Pottstown's "100 Burpee A Day" challenge. At the end of the month, with over 3000 burpees completed, I felt it would be a crying shame to let all those go to waste. 

So, I decided to attempt a burpee challenge that has never before been done. Picking a target number was the tough part. It needed to be a goal that was doable. The mythical number ONE MILLION came to mind but the iphone calculator QUICKLY ruled that out - a million is a LOT.  I would have to do a zillion burpees a day forever to hit that goal.  

One hundred thousand eventually was what I settled on. It was a ridiculously large amount of burpees but still doable. Painfully doable but doable 

My daily goal is 100. That is not always physically, chronologically or mentally doable and I don't fret about those days. But sticking to this target will allow me to complete the 100,000 before my next milestone birthday. 

See the next post for the details of this challenge. Care to join me?  :p