Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A new appreciation of TGIF


This is the third week of my burpee challenge of performing 54 burpees at the end of my Monday through Friday workouts. I gave a status report of my first week's effort on January 12th here:

So far so good

The following is my second week status report:

Monday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee. Note that each rep of my standard burpee includes a strict pushup and a jump with hands overhead.

Time to complete: 7:05 - prior week time was 7:51.

Tuesday
A single set of 54 reps of the burpee/jumping pullup/double front kick combo with a different grip for a 6 reps circuit (standard grip pullup – standard grip chinup – close grip pullup – close grip chinup – wide grip pullup – wide grip chinup). I did the pushup part of the burpee using the pushup handles on the bottom of my pullup/bar dip work exercise equipment, so my pushup depth was much deeper.

Time to complete: 10:07 - prior week time was 10:25 but did not include the double front kick.

Wednesday
A single set of 54 reps of a combo that included a burpee at the end. I used a pair of 15 lb dumbbells - the only ones I own - collecting dust in my basement to perform a combo of bent over dumbbell rows/dumbbell overhead swings/dumbbell squat and overhead press (also known as thrusters)/standard burpee equals 1 rep.

Time to complete: 13:21 - no prior time for comparison. This was a tough one! The toughest part of this combo was the dumbbell squat and overhead press. I definitely don't want to go much heavier with this one since I'm doing 54 reps, maybe 20 lb. next time.

Thursday
A single set of 54 reps of the combo of a standard burpee followed by 2 walking lunges with a front kick (left and right). This was the first time I tried this combo and realized afterwards that I completed 108 front kicks.

Time to complete: 12:28 - no prior time for comparison.

Friday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee.

Time to complete: 6:34 - an improvement over Monday's time of 7:05.

My times are slowly improving but are much slower than the past when I was doing higher-volume bodyweight-only training, burpees and running. Training in the Olympic lifts has definitely resulted in some cardiovascular erosion. I'll keep at it and I'm sure my times will continue to improve.

This Monday through Friday burpee challenge is a tough-as-nails closing chore to my workouts. One thing about them is that they have given me a new appreciation of TGIF.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

2 comments:

Franklin said...

Just checking in on the fitness dude .. fantastic burpee work! Way to go!

Pierini Fitness said...

Thanks for stopping by Franklin. The 54 rep burpee challenge is tough but I'm hanging in for the long haul.

How about a similar theme for you - burpees, kettlebells, etc. - a single set of reps equal to your age on your next birthday at the end of your workout.

Makes us realize how old we are getting.

Have a great day!