Monthly Fitness Challenge: Burpee Challenge

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By Ryan Gargiulo

Burpee Pushup Challenge

Welcome to our Monthly Fitness Challenge Series!

I Hate Burpees

Everyone LOVES burpees, right? Oh, wait. Burpees are probably one of the most hated exercises on the planet.

I HATE BURPEES too. That’s why I decided to take on burpees face to face and start a my own personal Burpee Challenge!

Below, you’ll find an introduction to the Burpee Challenge followed by my personal results from the challenge.

BURPEE CHALLENGE MODIFICATIONS:

I’m going to explain two separate versions of the burpee challenge below. A beginner version for those of you who are new to burpees and/or working out along with an expert version for those of you who consider yourself to be pretty fit and able to take on a tough challenge.

No matter which version you choose, they are going to be both physically and mentally challenging.

BEGINNERS VERSION:

36 Burpees per day for one month.

Burpee Instructions:

1. Start in a standing position and lower down into a squat position before placing your hands on the floor in front of you.

2. Lean forward onto your hands and kick your feet back into a plank/pushup position. Make sure you have a flat back. *Modification: Step back into a pushup position.

3. Immediately jump your feet back into a squat position.

4. Stand up while simultaneously leaping into the air with your hands straight above your head.

Repeat!

Since we’re going for time, you’ll want to go as fast as you can without sacrificing your form. This exercise is meant to be done at a quick pace.

EXPERT VERSION:

36 Burpee Pushups per day for one month.

Burpee Pushups Instructions:

1. Start in a standing position and lower down into a squat position before placing your hands on the floor in front of you.

2. Lean forward onto your hands and kick your feet back into a plank/pushup position. Make sure you have a flat back. *Modification: Step back into a pushup position.

3. Lower down for one pushup.

Bonus: Complete steps 2 & 3 simultaneously – Drop down, kick out to plank and pushup in one motion.

4. Immediately jump your feet back into a squat position.

5. Stand up while simultaneously leaping into the air with your hands straight above your head.

Repeat!

DETAILS:

The Burpee Challenge must be done in one straight session. Yeah, that’s right. 36 straight burpees, or burpee pushups for time. You choose which version you’d like to take on.

DON’T FORGET TO RECORD YOUR TIME!

Grab yourself a stopwatch, or just use the stopwatch feature on your iPod/iPhone to track your times each day. After you finish, be sure to write down your time. Your times should obviously get lower as you progress throughout the month. Some of you may be surprised to see some significant drops in time if you really dedicate yourself.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability is key to successfully completing a monthly fitness challenge and everyone has their own ways of keeping themselves accountable.

The way I keep myself accountable is to create these monthly fitness challenges, complete them, and share my results with you!

How will you keep yourself accountable? Here are a few ideas that might help you:

  • Share this monthly fitness challenge on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Let your family and friends know know that you’re going to take on this challenge and you’re looking for motivated people to join in on the fun. It would be a real bonus to get a few of your family/friends involved and have everyone post their times.
  • Tell the folks at your gym that you’re interested in giving this challenge a shot. You’re likely to get more than a few people on board, especially since most people who are into fitness love a good challenge.
  • Create a Google Spreadsheet for yourself so that you can document your daily times.
  • Bonus: Share the spreadsheet with your loved one(s) so they can keep track of your progress and get on you if you’re slacking! ;-)

All I ask of you is that if you decide to take on this challenge, DO NOT GIVE UP!

Trust me, there are points where I wanted to quit, too. Do yourself a favor and push through the challenge for one month and at the end you’ll realize how rewarding it is to complete a monthly fitness challenge.

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MY BURPEE CHALLENGE RESULTS

I took on the Expert Version of the Burpee Challenge during the month of February. I completed 36 burpee pushups daily for 28 days straight and recorded my times each day.

See my results below:

Not feeling this challenge? Check out some of our other Monthly Fitness Challenges.

GOOD LUCK and feel free to share your results by leaving a comment below!

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