If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I was introduced with the 100 burpees challenge by Ross Enamait of Rosstraining.com a few years back and I have to say this workout is one of the most effective routines I've ever did for improving strength, strength endurance, and conditioning. The challenge takes less than 10 minutes, depending on how you set up the workout. It's quick, efficient, and adaptable for many fitness goals.
photo credit: scrogle
Many combat athletes have been doing burpees for years. It's a classic exercise that's fun and challenging at the same time.
You can use it as a high intensity interval routine, HIIT for fat loss, bodyweight workout for endurance and speed, or as a conditioning session to improve cardiovascular fitness and improving lung capacity. If you're ever really short on time or only have several minutes to spare, then this 100 burpees workout is perfect for the circumstances.
I also highly recommend this to bodybuilders (after a bulking phase) or anyone looking to lose fat or slim down. The built-in high intensity protocol creates tremendous oxygen debt to stimulate the anaerobic energy pathways. The results is a speed-up of metabolism for up to 48 hours, more calories burned...more fat burned.
But What is a Burpee?
A burpee is a bodyweight movement that's really 3 basic bodyweight exercises in one. Put a squat thrust, pushup, and vertical jump together and you get a burpee. It's quite a dynamic movement that works the entire body. You do the burpee in one fluent motion with those 3 exercises.
Here's a youtube video demonstrating the proper form of a burpee, courtesy of user "hillwgh" and CrossFit,
So how exactly does the 100 burpees work? What is the routine?
Easy. Requires no thinking. It is what it says. Do 100 repetitions of full burpees as fast as possible, preferably in under 10 minutes. You take a density approach to this workout. The goal is to complete all 100 repetitions of burpees as fast as you can. A good time limit for beginners would be to finish in 10 minutes or under.
And each time you do the challenge, your goal is to beat your previous time and finish faster. This requires you to move faster on each rep and/or reduce the rest periods between each set of burpees.
Now, you can split the 100 reps into sets of 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. or however many reps you want. Just move quick and fast while minimizing the rest between each set. I started with sets of 8 reps each while resting 20-30 seconds and eventually worked my way up to 15 reps per set. My best time ever was around 6 and a half minutes.
But 100 reps in 10 minutes is a good target to shoot for you if you're new to this type of training.
And you can see how this 100 burpees workout is perfect for fat loss. It incorporates a high intensity factor by minimizing rest periods. You keep work rate and heart rate high for a brief period of time.
Here's a step-by-step rundown of executing a burpee:
1) Stand erect with both feet (in shoulder width position) planted on the floor, squat down with your fingers touching the floor.
2) Kick your legs back as if you're doing a squat thrust and put palms on the floor. Now you're in the up or top position of a pushup. Keep your back straight.
3) Now do a pushup. Press down until upper arms are parallel or near parallel to the floor, then press up. That's one pushup.
4) As you press up, kick your feet back to the starting position from step 1. Now squat up and jump in one dynamic and fluid motion. Just as high as you can in place. You may either keep your arms by your side or raise them to make this portion harder.
5) Land on your feet. Do not land on your heels. Rather, shift the weight to your toes and front for your feet. This is one rep. Then return to squatting position in step 1 again and repeat the movement until desired number of reps.
The entire burpee movement has to be dynamic and very fluid without stopping along the way. However, if this is your first time learning the exercise, practice it slowly first a few times until you get the hang of it. Then speed it up.
Refer back to the video above if you're confused on my text instructions. Or head on over to Ross' site at RossTraining.com to see how he does it. And check out an earlier post I wrote on "how to do a burpee."
This challenge only takes less than 10 minutes. I've seen the really advanced bodyweight guys and girls can usually complete this challenge in under 6 minutes. But they've been doing this for months and years.
So if you're ever short on time but really want to get in a workout, just drop to the floor and do the challenge. 100 reps in 10 minutes. Minimum time. No equipment necessary. Just you, your body, your mind, and the floor.
It's perfect for strength and conditioning, fat loss/dieting, and building endurance while improving the performance of all your energy pathways.
Train Hard. Train Safely. Train Smart.
If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to leave a comment below or email me at ZQH245@gmail.com or ZQH250@gmail.com
Related posts:
- 100 Burpees Fat Loss Challenge: A No-Nonsense Bodyweight Fitness Exercise Workout at Home An effective fitness exercise workout at home could be short, brief, and intense all at the same time. It doesn’t take dozens of bodyweight exercises or a plethora of “secret” and hidden movements from Wing Chun Kung Fu to get your heart pumping. Make no mistake but be informed. photo credit: spjwebster Now you’ve probably heard of [...]...
- How to Lose Body Fat with the 100 Burpees Challenge If your goal is to lose fat, improve fitness level, get fit, look no further than the workout I’m about to reveal. You might be struggling to find a good exercise training method for how to lose body fat in the most efficient way possible. The most simple exercise method, from my experience, to lose fat [...]...
- How to Do a Burpee The burpee is a body weight exercise that works the entire body. It is essentially three combined movements into one fluid exercise that will get your heart pumping and head spinning with enough repetitions. You’re squatting, jumping, and pushing up in a single burpee. You can do a burpee workout anywhere and everywhere. Check out the [...]...
- 1000 Reps Pushup Challenge Try to perform 1000 repetitions of pushups as fast as you can in a certain amount of time. Record that time and try to beat that time the next time you do this challenge again in the far future. I know many of you who can do 100 pushups non-stop in a single set will [...]...
- How to Squat The squat is one of the top 3 mass building powerlifting movements (the other two being deadlift and bench press) for building strength and muscle mass. Perform the squat using a variety of reps to target the leg muscles for a well-rounded approach. Here’s a video tutorial of executing a squat, courtesy of Velocity Sports Performance, Here [...]...
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
100 in 10 minutes is probably too intense for beginners. When I started with burpees I did 10, rested a minute, did 10 more and so on for 12 sets. This will kick anyone’s ass who isnt in some sort of shape.
You’re right Joe. Most beginners new to this type of training, or exercising in general, will likely take a lot longer than 10 minutes to do all 100 reps. It took me around 14 minutes the first time I did it. But the 100 in 10 is a good target to shoot for. It’s always nice to have a set target or goal to shoot for. You could work from 15 minutes to 12 to 11 to under 10 minutes over time.
Another alternative is to just go with 10 minutes (density approach) and see how many reps you can do in that time. There are no determined sets of any reps. You could break it down into sets of 5 and rest 15 seconds in between so you’re moving at a fast rate, with the goal of cranking out as many reps as you can. In this way, you’ll have no reason to slack off during that 10 minute session.
I find that most people could easily beat that 100 in 10 target using this method. And it’s always a plus if you don’t have more than 15 minutes to train.