Thursday, April 9, 2009

Day 99 - Burpees are great

Since it is day 99 (enter huge smiley face here) and since we are now in the final stretch and the work is that much harder, I figured I'd put a post out to state all of the great things about burpees. We have had PLENTY of posts on why we hate them - but I'm going to restrict comments to this post to ONLY GOOD THINGS...here is what I like about burpees, and the effects from them that I've seen in the last 99 days that I've been doing them:

1. Muscle tone (yeah!)
2. Significant increase strength (arms, shoulders, quads)
3. The ability to walk up the numerous stairs in my subway station without becoming winded
4. Form has become crisper/easier. eg: The jump out, the jump in, the push-up and jump up all actually flow together.
5. Shoulder pain from nagging rugby injury has for the most part subsided
6. Having a consistent (and "never gets old") conversation topic amongst my group of friends
7. Completing something that on the first day, I never thought I would complete. I have this huge sense of accomplishment that I never anticipated having
8. Doing burpees everywhere and getting strange looks for it - I love the list that this group has created!!
9. Having a great wake up call in the morning. After doing 4 sets of ten as soon as I get out of bed, the level of energy I have for the day has increased significantly
10. That they are (almost) OVER!!!!!!!

What do you like/love about burpees??

4 comments:

  1. I looooove the fitness benefits. My core feels so strong and is more defined than it's ever been. Same thing with my arms.

    I also love how the challenge transformed something so daunting into something so doable. I hated burpees when I started. They seemed like this impossible beast that I could not wrangle. Now, even with a bum ankle I can bang out a set of 15 and have no qualms about doing another one.

    Plus, though this is frivolous, I feel really badass when I'm doing them. I know I mentioned earlier that I disliked the gawking at the gym, but when someone says "Wow, you work out really hard," or "Watching you do that makes me feel tired," it makes me feel pretty cool.

    Finally, from my past experiences of catching up and my current mission to overcome debt (414 to do before challenge end whittled down from 679 yesterday), I've realized that large obstacles can be overcome with will power and some outside encouragement. Inch by Inch, Row by Row. 400 burpees? Bring it on.

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  2. I agree with your list as well. To add to it I've found that burpees have helped my posture in a way no other core excercise has.

    Um and having one of the International men's 7s players feel my abs and say "WHOA thats amazing for a girl!"
    I can't remember why this happened probably talking about burpees...

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  3. I love the burpee support group we have on this blog! I'm going to miss the constant back-and-forth. Perhaps we should come up with another reason to blog/comment every day...

    Rosie--your comment reminded me of the rugby video that paraphrases the Any Given Sunday speech. It's all a game of inches. Bring it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4cgrKx6-Ls

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  4. I love how my arms look right now, I love how strong I feel when I do them. I relish the combined strength and cardio aspect of doing them. I love that I don't need any equipment or much space to do them, and I feel like they are a seriously good workout.

    I can't believe how many good pushups I can do in a row! I kick ass! :)

    I am also in AWE that Anuj and I are finishing this! I am REALLY proud of us, and of all of you!

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