61st birthday burpee challenge

This middle-aged man has a history of starting birthday-theme fitness challenges of some type beginning with a new calendar year. 

He did so about a decade ago when he trained to self-administer the Marine Physical Fitness Test to himself on his birthday with a goal of scoring 250 points (300 points is a perfect score).   It took me three birthday attempts over three years to finally get my 250 points and that was the last time I took this test; wouldn’t even try now.

Then seven years ago I came up with another beginning-of-the-year birthday-related fitness challenge of completing 54 burpees each Monday through Friday at the end of my workouts.  This was a demanding challenge yet I stepped up to the plate and delivered a perfect attendance score.  In the chase, I improved my cardiovascular conditioning and that was nice.

Now it’s time for another beginning-of-the-year birthday-related fitness challenge and this one will again be a burpee challenge.  I’ll perform 100 burpees each Monday through Friday from January 1^st until my 61^st birthday about six-weeks from now. 

I’ll take off the day before my birthday to be fresh on my birthday when I’ll perform the 100 burpees as fast as possible in a timed test.  That will give me 35 days of work or 3,500 total burpees for this new little birthday-related fitness challenge.

To make it interesting and extra challenging, I’ll incorporate these 100 burpees with kettlebell work on some days.  I’ll also be smart with pace and intensities so as to not burn myself out.  That’s something very easy to do with burpees.

Do I have any particular goal time in mind?  Having thought about it really hard, I’ve decided no I don’t other than to improve my benchmark time and that is the time it took me last Friday – January 1^st – to complete 100 burpees.

Oh, I guess I do have one other goal in this pursuit and that is to have "perfect attendance".

That early morning workout consisted of 100 burpees that I completed in 10 rounds of 10 burpees each round.  My plan was to start a new round every 1:30 and I pretty much kept that pace with some rounds being a little faster and some rounds a little slower.

My time to complete the 100 burpees was 14:34.  All burpees were of the variety including a flopping pushup and a jump with both hands overhead reaching for the stars.

This should be fitness fun of the bittersweet variety. 

The bitter will be that completing 100 burpees each Monday through Friday is a demanding chore that will challenge me both mentally and physically.

The sweet will be that if I complete this challenge as prescribed, I’ll walk away with a nice uptick in my cardiovascular conditioning.  That’s a nice birthday gift to give myself.

Come along for the ride and cheer my on as I tackle my 61^st birthday burpee challenge.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Happy New Year 2016

As the ambassador of all middle-aged men around the world, this chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness extends to all who visit prayers and well-wishes for your good faith, family, fitness, fortune and health during this Happy New Year 2016.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Simple as breathing

Thank you for visiting Pierini Fitness this past 2015 calendar year.  This chief executive blogger has tried his best to deliver original middle-aged man reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life.

Some of my 140 reflections this year may have been duds or sleepers to you but hopefully others have given you some tasty food for thought, making you think about who you are and who you want to be.  If this has been your case at least once, then in some small way my mission has been accomplished.  If it happened more than once, that’s all the better and hopefully, God willing, more will be served to you this upcoming 2016 year.

You see, in the mind of this chief executive blogger, at this point in our lives our pursuits should be driven by goodness which means different things to different people.  We’ve all had our opportunities to be the center of our attention, the wise-guy, the punk, to be self-absorbed with ourselves, and to dance to the tune of a song named “Me Me Me”.

At this chapter in our middle-aged man lives, we should all be dancing to the tune of a different drummer; one that is upbeat and outward for the goodness of others rather inward-driven and for our own selfish pleasure. 

Under the law of abundance, reciprocal good will come to us from our efforts of doing good directed towards others because good is infinitely abundant.  Think of our benevolence as a calm pond on a bright sunny day.  When we look at it, we see a mirror image of ourselves that is so calm and surreal, a goodness that is ours to cherish and enjoy.

At this point in our middle-aged man lives, we should have figured it out about how to do this right. 

For us, living a good and honest life for us should be as simple as breathing.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Time for another burpee challenge

Almost seven years ago I came up with a bright idea that became known as my burpee challenge. 

Starting on January 1^st until my birthday about six weeks later, I challenged myself to complete 54 burpees at the end of my workout each Monday through Friday.  There was a little self-imposed punishment in this challenge if I failed to get my daily 54 burpees completed.

The theme of this challenge was “no burpees today no food tomorrow”.  Why 54?  That was how old I would be on my birthday.

I had fun with this little challenge, stuck to it never missing a burpee day and, therefore, never missing a meal the following day.

On my 54^th birthday, I completed 54 burpees for the last time and called this project a success.  Somewhere along the way I had a nice uptick in my cardiovascular conditioning and, I’m sure, became mentally tougher too.

I’ve done burpees here and there since then but not with the regularity and tenacity I had during that brief period.

So as I think about how to physically challenge myself with my fitness training, I’ve come up with the bright idea that it’s time for another burpee challenge. 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum 

RIP Meadowlark Lemon

Yesterday morning’s internet reading of the news took my eyes to a headline that read: Former Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon dies at 83.  

This was news this middle-aged man wanted to read because it brought back a youthful memory.

Meadowlark Lemon was the leader-of-the-pack of the basketball entertainment show known as the Harlem Globetrotters.  During the Harlem Globetrotter’s prime years from the mid-1950's to the late 1970's, Meadowlark Lemon was the team’s star clown prince delighting fans with his acrobatic and magic-like basketball skills and humor.

As a young boy of less than a dozen years, I fondly remember going to our hometown Memorial Auditorium one evening with a friend to see the Harlem Globetrotters take on and “whup”, again, their perennial losing opponents, the Washington Generals.

It was a show that left both of us laughing so hard and giving us great stories to tell our classmates the following morning at school.

This was an innocent era when parents felt safe letting their young children walk the neighborhood streets, take the bus downtown and even get dropped off at the local downtown auditorium to watch an evening show of the Harlem Globetrotters Show. 

A time when black was black, white was white, good guys were good guys and bad guys were bad guys.  The goodness line in the sand was something easily visible with the naked eye and confusion, in the context of the good life, was a mere word in the dictionary.

But that was then and this is now.

The memory of this boyhood experience is mine forever and for this I’m so grateful.  Thanks for the pleasant memories and RIP Meadowlark Lemon.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Will last forever

Friday of this week will be the first day of a new calendar year so it’s only natural for this middle-aged man, and perhaps you, to give serious thought to your dreams and resolutions for the New Year 2016.

It’s that ritualistic annual opportunity coming at the end of a year to dream and ponder about the life we’d like to have that may be much different than the life we now have.

Some of these dreams may be emotionally complex and incapable of being shared with others because they’re not sufficiently clear in our mind to be expressed with words.  Other dreams, in contrast, may be easily explainable and be great examples of dreaming at its finest.  Like winning the lottery, or finding and reconnecting with a lost friend or relative.

I recently read about how one person who has lived a long life shared how in their younger years they wanted to get in a car and go and drive all over the country.  Stop in little towns, get little jobs, live in a little room, live a simple life but learn big while making so many friends.

That was a fun read and it allowed me to experience a momentary dream-like state of being while I visualized and imagined what it would be like living this person’s youthful dream. 

But in a classic moment of both “wherever I go there I am” and being grateful for my many blessings, I was able to clearly define what my best dream is for the coming year. 

And what might that be?

One where I dream the dream I’m living at this very moment will last forever.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Merry Christmas 2015

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Merry Christmas Eve greeting to you

Guadalajara, Mexico - December 24, 2011

In this modern and politically-correct world in which we live, the PC police would have us believe that a good old-fashioned Merry Christmas greeting is something we shouldn’t extend to others.  If they had it their way, it would be a Happy Holiday greeting at best.

We dance to a traditional drummer here at Pierini Fitness; always have and always will.

So on behalf of the chief executive blogger and all the traditional middle-aged men around the world, here’s a Merry Christmas Eve greeting to you.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

This December 23rd

With two days to go until Christmas Day, what should this middle-aged man to today?

How about maybe nothing?

Why?

This middle-aged man is under the weather this December 23^rd.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Pierini 5-To-1 Single KB Complex

Yesterday I put together another new, for me, kettle bell (KB) complex for a test drive and I really liked it.  

It’s a single KB variety consisting of the following:

1. 5 reps of swing
2. 4 reps of clean
3. 3 reps of front squat
4. 2 reps of snatch
5. 1 rep of strict overhead press with an overhead lockout hold for a 10 full breath count.

I did my right side first, did a swing switch, and then repeated on my left side for one round. My cadence was to rest 60 seconds between rounds.  I used my 24kg KB, the heavier of the two I own.

My original plan was to complete as many quality rounds as possible in 30 minutes but right before I began, I mentally changed the planned duration to 20 minutes.  

It turns out my eyes were bigger than my stomach because I quit after 5 rounds which took me 15:20 to complete.

I really like this workout and will keep it in my KB complex inventory to do list.  Give it a try and let me know if you like it.  I’ve given it a name for ease of identifying.

Even though there’s nothing new under the sun, it’ll heretofore be known as the Pierini 5-To-1 Single KB Complex.

Pox Domini sit simper vobiscum