Very few exercises that we do at our Functional Interval Training sessions are met with the same amount of enthusiasm (of the negative variety) as the Burpee. I guess I can understand this because they're hard to do and some people don't like doing things that are hard. But the simple fact of the matter is that the burpee is probably the single most effective bodyweight exercise that you can perform. It builds strength, explosiveness, speed, agility, endurance. It enhances range of motion and mobility. I can't think of a single muscle that is not called into play during a repetition of the burpee. The more muscles you use, the more effective the exercise, the more functional strength you develop, the more fat you burn.. For my workout today I took a page out of John Grube's book (aka "
The Wildman") and did a reverse/forward pyramid of burpees going from 15-14-13-12----3-2-1-1-2-3----12-13-14-15, resting for 30 seconds between every set.. I followed that up with a rev/fwrd pyramid of power wheel rollouts in a 10-9-8---3-2-1-1-2-3---8-9-10 format with 20 seconds rest between sets....
Workout totals: 240 burpees (actually i think i did 241. going back to the instant replay we'll see that i did 15 in both of my last two sets) and 110 power wheel rollouts.. here's the video of me suffering through the last couple sets of burpees and rollouts (with the help of my friend Jake)..
Yes, burpees are hard, and so are the power wheel rollouts. But they are fantastic full body exercises that build great functional strength and should not be avoided. If they were easy then everybody would be doing them and everybody would be walking around with the physique of a Greek statue.. But they're hard, so people avoid them. If you're reading this then you want to be in the best shape possible. So no more avoiding hard exercises. No time like the present, give me 20 burpees!!
Enjoy,
Kevin
No comments:
Post a Comment