If you don’t know what a burpee is, I guess you’re lucky. It’s one of the most hated movements in crossfit, but it’s growing on me. Rather than explaining it, check out this video:

Last year I decided to do a 365 day burpee challenge, which means starting with one burpee and doing one more burpee each consecutive day. Day 1 = 1 burpee, day 2 = 2 burpees, day 3 = 3 burpees, etc. I started on the first day of the fall semester along with a bunch of people from CFS.

The rules for our challenge:
1. Chest must touch the ground, and you must jump at the top of the movement.
2. Reps may be spread out throughout the day.
3. You can take as long as you want to make up missed burpees, but you must be completely caught up by the end of the competition (example – if you miss day 30, the next day you should do 30+31, or you could do a few extra per day for a few days until caught up).
4. You cannot bank burpees by doing extra ahead of time.
5. Burpees during normal crossfit WODs count toward the daily total.
6. The competition will end when all have dropped out except one!

We had a proposed end date of the end of the spring 2013 semester, but I really want to go for an entire year if I can. Currently it’s down to me and one guy, a former marine, so we’re basically going until one of us gets severely injured and has to quit. It’s a battle of willpower!

Today is day #155.

I even did burpees on vacation, and here’s the proof.

If you are looking for a mental and physical challenge that’s really easy to start (but gets more difficult to maintain) – I highly recommend trying your own burpee challenge! It’s especially fun with a few friends, to encourage each other and share tips. I like doing burpees while I’m reading textbooks to keep me alert and awake (read one page, 10 burpees, read another page, 10 burpees, etc.), or to give me a reason to get up from my desk and stretch my legs. I keep a yoga mat in my office for burpees…. I guess I’ll go do some right now.