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