Could Be Worse...I Guess

Now that I have slid from perfect, daily-bread burpee citizen to less-than-perfect, binge-and-purge, perpetually-playing-catch-up delinquent, motivation has become a serious issue.  If I dare say, almost an art.  And while you all provide me with a bottomless well of positive support - doing burpees with me at basketball, practice and even virtually over gchat, I realized a long time ago that, for me, a little negativity goes a long way.  (This became painfully obvious when I used to ask my dad to come to my soccer games and yell "you suck" and other discouragements at me from the sidelines).  Through countless teammate interventions during HS and more than a few dirty looks on the rugby pitch, I now understand that most women, and men, but especially women, respond much better to Hob's brand of encouragement than my Hobbesian (nasty, brutish and short) philosophy.  Thus, I will refrain from that type of thing on this forum.

However, fellow burpee-ites, I will not let you off that easily.  Instead I, plan to pick on your American insecurities and post photos from my time in Vietnam, and tell you how much worse things could be.  Without further ado...

Photo of my guesthouse in Ho Chi Minh City.  See that small space between the beds?  Yea?  That's where I had to do my burpees and other workouts since there aren't fancy gyms or even many parks in HCMC.  Oh and look how small that TV is and how hideous that green.  Life is really hard there, I can't believe I survived.

And look at the view out the window.  How did I even muster the courage to go outside?  I mean there used to be warplanes in that very sky!  (Mom, for the last time, the war is OVER!)

And just look at those floating houses behind the floating bodega!  Clearly, the floating grocery woman gets her exercise  from rowing, but what about the others?  Do you think they have the luxury of being able to do burpees?  I mean can you imagine all the upset stomachs and complaints from other floating villagers about the mini tidal waves? Anyway, instead of complaining, maybe you should just be thankful you have solid ground to burpee on! 

The word for the day: KUDOS

Hi! I have several shout-outs to give to burpee challengers!

#1 - KUDOS to anyone who has ever fallen behind in their burpees and either caught up or is still working to and has not given up! You all rock! I fell behind when I was sick and found out that catching up is TOUGH! Especially now that the burpee numbers are getting so high... But it wasn't until i was behind and had to experience the challenge of catching up that i realized how difficult it really is to be in that situation. so KUDOS to all of you that get behind and DON"T GIVE UP!

#2 - That being said, even more KUDOS to everyone in this challenge that hasn't ever fallen behind!!! THAT is awesome! I am curious - how many of you are out there? If you are one of those amazing people that hasn't missed a day since January 1st will you write in and let us know? I am impressed by you and your dedication!

#3 - KUDOS to everyone that is trying to do this without any direct support network. I could NEVER have gotten this far without the support of others...without the texts, emails or blogs.- it would not have happened. Reading Katie Mac's blog about pulling out made me realize how important it really is and how lucky I am to have it. A short story... When I was home recently my mom was all over my case about not taking my vitamins on a daily basis. She finally said "well - i just don't understand how you can manage to do all those burpees on a daily basis but yet not manage to take vitamins." I promptly told her that if there were people texting me and emailing me on a daily basis about taking my vitamins...if there was a blog where i could express my own experiences and read about others' experiences taking vitamins...if there were people saying "i'll wait" every day until i finished swallowing those vitamins - i am SURE that i would have no problem taking my vitamins on a daily basis! Saying that out loud to her really made me realize how important all of the support is! So KUDOS to those of you that have made it that far without it. I am extremely impressed by you! (btw...start looking for a new blog about taking vitamins as i'm sure my mother is home creating one right now... :) )

For those of you that don't have a direct support network and feel like you need some more feel free to give a shout out to get it. We are here! we can text...we can email...we can blog...we can get through this! i have no problem "waiting" while you finish your burpees for the day! :)

KUDOS to all...
still in it or not...
kudos to all :)

Day 57: Making Them Harder Makes It Easier

Since the numbers have increased and my number in the hole has remained pretty high (I'm now down to 90 in the hole - almost a record low!) I've found that the harder I make doing them (7 rounds of set of 10 with another exercise in between, or sets of 25 for time) the more I am getting out of them and the easier it is to knock off larger numbers.

I still enjoy doing 5 here or 10 there to keep knocking them off, but weaving 50 or so into my workout for the day has been helping me. And leaves me looking like this.

Day 55: Injured and racking up the make-up burpees

I hurt my wrist last week Thursday, while losing a basketball game to some 8th graders :). A wrist injury is kind of hard to work through for Burpees because you're catching yourself and bending it back all the time. Someone told me to go ahead and use dumbells for the pushup part so that I don't bend my wrists but that would actually involve me going to the gym! The beauty of burpees to me is that I could exercise outside of the gym. Still, I'm only now going to calculate the damage: I was down 29 burpees, last Thursday was day 50, Today is day 54.
29+50+51+52+53+54 - 2 (I tried to demo two burpees in two separate cases)=257. Good lord. I better get to the gym. I have to say, though, that having been in the hole before, I am confident I can get out. I am NOT giving up.

Not just Down…I’m Out.

A few weeks ago, I put in a request to be removed as an contributor here ….as I was no longer in the challenge. The response came back that I should blog about quitting ….because I couldn’t just leave silently out the backdoor.

To be honest, I’ve held off because I feel like that would be a total downer here – when there is and needs to be so much more motivation and positivity. I certainly don’t want to take anyone out with me….. And then there was a few brief moments where I thought I could stage a comeback…I was mistaken. 1004 is a big number…..and so… ladies and gents…. here we go…..

There are lots of specific reasons I could give you as to why I am no longer burpee-ing, non of them are good ones, I assure you. Instead I will tell you what I think one needs to complete this challenge…and it’s not time, it’s not strength, it’s not socks or a place to do burpees. Two very basic things …and you don’t necessarily need them both I guess...…but they are internal motivation and external support.

At the bottom of one of our friend’s email’s there is a tag that reads – The body will go wherever the mind takes it. In my case, my mind has taken me to work, to bed and maybe a few times to the bar. It has not taken me to burpee, nor to any other type of exercise in the past two months.

The other…the support part…well, I do not live or work with or near anyone else in the challenge… To those of you Burpee-ing alone around the world with no friends in the challenege…this seems like a very lame excuse…but then you clearly have more of #1 than I. I would do better if there was someone to burpee with…it became apparent to me this weekend, when Hedwig took me with her for 5 sets of 10. It was all #2!

So, it’s not that I can’t Burpee…it’s just that I won’t. And while it’s never easy to admit being a quitter, I wanted to let you all know that I respectfully excuse myself from the burpee table.

I applaud you for continuing and being so steadfast in your challenge. You are inspiring!

Day 50 Challenge

Can you believe we are at DAY 5-0!?

If you want the extra challenge time your 50 burpees and report in the comments how it went!

still in it

Hello all...I'm still in it, FOR SURE!! I've maintained doing all of mine every day (broken down into sets of 10). I was talking with another burpee participant last night and we both decided that if we fall behind, there is no way we could make them up. Surprisingly, I even maintained my burpees while spending 4 days in Las Vegas!! I've added a few places to the list of where I've done my burpees. I will try to be better at blogging as well.

Not sure if I will do the timed challenge tomorrow - I don't think I can, but I will do all fifty!!