Summer 2020 burpees x 100 countdown

On June 1st, I decided to get ready for Summer 2020 by chasing it every day doing a burpees x 100 workout.  This would be 20 days of 100 burpees a day or 2,000 burpees completed on the first day of Summer 2020 which in my part of the world is June 20, 2020.

Here’s my day 7 effort done Sunday evening in the park.  The weather was burpees-friendly at 73F degrees with low humidity and a pleasant breeze.

I can hardly wait for Summer 2020 to arrive and I’ll celebrate with my final day 20 effort during my Summer 2020 burpees countdown.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Real men do burpees

I may have shared before, but pardon me if I didn’t, that one of my current goals is to perform 100 burpees in 10 minutes or less. My best modern time thus far is 11:53 so I have a way to go. It gets harder as you get older or at least that’s my excuse.

There’s no shortage of burpees junkies sharing their amazing performances on YouTube and the videos I view are a source of inspiration.  Yet, while they inspire me, I must pursue my progress within my own middle-age man abilities, limitations and terms.  

I’m not going to bang out 100 burpees in 6 to 8 minutes no matter how hard I train and try. But, a 10-minute goal is a sensible one so that’s what I’m shooting for by the end of Summer 2020. First stop, however, is completing 100 burpees in 11:00 or less. I hope to be there by the first day of Summer 2020 so that gives me two months to progress at a pleasant pace.

If you view YouTube burpees videos, you’ll see a couple different variations. One is the original burpee that was designed as a fitness test by physiologist Mr. Royal H. Burpee.

The original burpee

Other versions include ones adding a pushup and a jump with arms extended overhead, Navy Seals’ burpees and prison burpees. 

I prefer the version that includes a pushup and a jump with arms extended overhead jump for each burpee done. They’re all good and tough as can be if you do them fast enough and for many repetitions.

Why do I bother, or punish myself, doing burpees?  

Because they keep me honest that, no matter how fit I believe I am, burpees remind me that maybe I could be a little fitter. Not that being a little fitter makes me any better of a person. If I’m a jerk, doing a bazillion burpees won’t make me any less of a jerk.

Nonetheless, I’ll keep on doing burpees because real men do burpees.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Do 100 burpees

Good Friday greetings to all Pierini Fitness sports fans.  It’s been one week exactly since my last post.  This is the time of the year when I work more hours and am therefore challenged in other departments, such as fitness and adding new content here.

My workouts are still taking place but they’re shorter.  One way to take full advantage of a shortened workout is to make sure there’s intensity.  I’m doing this by doing burpees; they’re never easy.

Right now, I’m focused on trying to complete 100 burpees in 11 minutes or less.  I’m not quite there yet but am moving in the right direction.

A couple days ago, after a quick 100 burpees workout, I bumped into an acquaintance at the post office who deduced by my appearance and lingering panting for breathing that I had just finished a challenging workout.  I described the workout I had just completed.  He then asked me why I do burpees to which I replied is that they keep me humble.

Hopefully, soon I’ll have something to share and hopefully it’ll be that I met my short-term goal of completing 100 burpees in 11 minutes or less.  Despite how busy I currently am, I’ll always have enough time available to do 100 burpees.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A speeding bus with my name on it

Last Monday, I shared my latest interest in heart rate recovery (HRR) after my workouts after recently reading an article written by a medical doctor cardiologist.  This article shared the doctor’s experience in measuring his HRR after a workout he did and how research evidence indicates that HRR is a simple and powerful predictor of mortality. 

Again, what’s HRR?

It’s the rate of decline in heart rate beats per minute (bpm) after you quit exercising and again a minute later (and/or two minutes later) and subtract one from the other.

There’s a 1999 study that examined the relationship between HRR and mortality risk.  This research revealed an average one-minute HRR of 17 bpm, but 26 percent of patients had an HRR of less than 13 bpm. Patients with an HRR of less than 13 bpm had a double risk of dying.

Another follow-up study of about 10 thousand patients found that an HRR of less than 13 bpm doubled the 5-year risk of death.

Yet another study reported that a 2-minute HRR of less than 22 bpm provided a better measure predicting mortality at seven years than the one-minute test.

Being an analytical beast, I decided to capture my HRR for three recent cardiovascular conditioning workouts.  Below is an HRR analysis executive briefing of them.  Note that my perceived maximum HR is 180 bpm.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Workout – Run 6.0 miles in 1:04:44. 

HRR analysis - end of run 160 bpm - 1:00 = 120 bpm (-40 bpm) - 2:00 = 111 (-49 bpm). 

Monday, January 20, 2020

Workout – Bodyweight squats for 110 reps completed in 4:48.

HRR analysis - start 110 bpm end of BW squats 147 bpm - 1:00 = 116 bpm (-31bpm) - 2:00 = 106 (-41 bpm). 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Workout - 20kg kettlebell snatch, right side x 5 reps and left-side 5 reps every minute on the minute for 10 rounds completed in 9:48.

HRR analysis - end of workout 157 bpm - 1:00 = 133 bpm (-24 bpm) - 2:00 = 117 bpm (-40 bpm).

These results indicate I enjoy a lower risk of cardiovascular-related mortality, so I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing with my cardiovascular conditioning training.

But there are no guarantees in life regarding my premature mortality.    I could have an early meeting with the Grim Reaper if, for example, one day I’m crossing the street and am met by a speeding bus having my name on it.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

I'm interested in my HRR

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.  According to statistics appearing on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, heart disease leads the top ten pack, accounting for 31 percent of all deaths for 2017, the latest-published information.

National Center for Health Statistics - USA Numbers for Leading Causes of Death

• Heart disease: 647,457
• Cancer: 599,108
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
• Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
• Diabetes: 83,564
• Influenza and pneumonia: 55,672
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,633
• Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173

The above statistics are for all ages, both male and female.  Since Pierini Fitness will be a “newly-crowned” Medicare Man next month, he decided to see what the statistics are for age 65 years and above males.  According to the same source, for males age 65 years and older all races and origins, diseases of the heart contributed to 27 percent of all deaths for 2017.  This was surprising in that the percentage for all age groups male and female.

Nonetheless, it’s too high for Pierini Fitness and has opened his eyes to the importance of doing everything possible for his cardiovascular conditioning and health.  Obviously, diet is important, yet what the best way to eat for good cardiovascular health is a topic of heated discussion among the many nutrition expert factions in the world all believing they know best.  I’ll say nothing more about cardiovascular health nutrition in this post, saving that discussion, perhaps, for a different day.

But I continue to believe that exercise does contribute to my cardiovascular conditioning and health.  To have some objective way of assessing, I like numbers, such as heart rate statistics obtained from my Garmin heart rate fitness monitor that I capture with each workout.  I’m an analytical junkie when it comes to my fitness, health and wellness.

Last year, about this time, I reported the results of a YMCA Bench Step Test for Cardiovascular Fitness.  This test rated my performance as excellent, so I was pleased. 

Click here if you want to learn more

I recently read an article written by a medical doctor cardiologist who goes by the cyberspace name of The Skeptical Cardiologist.  He has a website where he shares his unbiased and evidence-based articles he has written discussing the effects of diet, drugs and procedures on heart disease.

The article I read shared the doctor’s experience in measuring his heart rate recovery (HRR) after a workout he did and how research evidence indicates that HRR is a simple and powerful predictor of mortality.  

What’s HRR?

It’s the rate of decline in heart rate after you quit exercising.  It’s measured by taking your heart rate (beats per minute of bpm) right after you stop exercising and again a minute later (and/or two minutes later) and subtract one from the other.

The Skeptical Cardiologist’s article referred to a 1999 study that reported the results of a cardiovascular research study measuring HRR and mortality risk.  In the research, the median HRR was 17 bpm but 26 percent had an HRR of less than 13 bpm. Patients with an HRR of less than 13 bpm had a double risk of dying.

Another follow-up study of about 10 thousand patients found that an HRR of less than 13 bpm doubled the 5-year risk of death.

Yet another study reported that a 2-minute HRR of less than 22 bpm provided a better measure predicting mortality at seven years than the one-minute test.

Click here if you would like to reach the article - I highly recommend it!

While regularly measuring heart rate performance during my workouts, the HRR stat hasn’t regularly been one of them but it’ll now be moving forward.

Yup, I’m interested in my HRR.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Tabata Burpees

Yesterday, Sunday late morning, I went to the park for a quick workout.  It included a single set of pull-ups of 15 reps.  Then, I wrapped up my workout with a 4-minute quickie of Tabata burpees.

Tabata burpees are done following the Tabata protocol of 8 rounds of high-intensity exercise work with a brief 20 seconds recovery.  In my case, it was 20 seconds of doing as many burpees as I could. 

I did this workout only once before five years ago but only shared the first round of effort, because I was embarrassed at my performance for the latter rounds.  That time, I completed 48 burpees but ended up being off-cadence and it took me 5 minutes to complete all 8 rounds.

Yesterday, I did better but still have work to do.  I completed 45 burpees in the prescribed 8 rounds and got all 8 rounds completed in the prescribed 4 minutes, despite having a “technical difficulty” during the first round of trying to sync by Garmin heart rate monitor timer with my Gymboss timer.  Nonetheless, I was satisfied with my effort.

All the burpees I’ve been doing lately is training to help me achieve one of my Fall 2019 fitness goals of completing 100 burpees in 12 minutes.  It’s a goal I expect to achieve early, likely this month.  Then, God willing, I’ll continue marching forward to see how much more progress I can make.

I’ll never go wrong banging out a quick 4 minute workout of Tabata burpees.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Burpees one-minute test

Whenever I need to be humbled, one minute of burpees seems to get the job done, such as how many burpees I can complete in one minute.

I admire the younger people who can bang out so many more than me but I'm grateful that at age 64, I'm able to do burpees.  Here’s my latest effort yesterday:

Whenever I need a quick test of my middle-aged man fitness, or need to be humbled, I’ll get the job done with a burpees one-minute test.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum