Been doing the 100-day burpee challenge... Been pretty easy so far, but today we begin double digits. There's a thread going on at the mainsite message boards as well.

Really like the optional skill and technique training. I have only managed to make it in to the rowing one, but I definitely learned a lot. I will certainly be in for today's class, since I actually pulled a back muscle while stretching over the weekend.

I am in on the 100 burpee challenge!

What is this burpee challenge you speak of?

Ok, i've informed myself.

Doesn't this seem a bit easy though? I don't quite see the point.

I am in on the challenge. What day are we up to or are we going to start from 1 today?

I'm guessing it'll be relatively easy until approximately day 30, and then will go rapidly downhill. The last 30 or 40 days will be quite difficult. 60+ burpees every day for 40 days? That's a whole lot of burpees... bound to make you much better at them. Also, I think a lot of the point is working on your form.

nice.. I have 55 to make up from July 14. Starting tomorrow, this will be a good way to get in two workouts per day w/o going to the gym twice.

No you don't start with 1 today... You have to "buy-in". Meaning we are on day 10, so you have to do all your previous days burpees today. So like Chris said, its 55 due today.

Justin- I meant are we doing a separate challenge for NYC or are we following the challenge posted there. Sorry for the confusion.

Sam-

I'd offer up this 'enhancement' on the burpee challenge to make it (in my mind, at least) more challenging, and more worthwhile. Change rule 3 to:

3. If for some reason you miss a day, start again from day 1.

90% of CrossFit, to paraphrase Woody Allen, is just showing up. In other words, consistency is king. Over the course of the next 100 days, I'm sure there will be several where you're too sick or too busy or too [insert excuse here] to fit in ten minutes of burpees. And the point of my new, improved burpee challenge would be: tough shit, do your burpees anyway.

I think I'm going to try it myself. Anyone else in?

What's the deal with Santa Cruz calling for a 6-point burpee?

Also, I've been a big proponent of jumping from the push up and landing on the heels. Jumping to your heels will result in a more vertical jump since, if you jump to land on your toes, your continuing forward momentum will compell you to hop forward rather than straight up.

I suck at burpees, which means I have no choice but to join in on the challenge...

I think I'm going to follow Josh's version -- and miss a day every two/three days.

Seriously though, this is basically a sloooowwwwwwww way of working up to a jailhouse 14. Focusing on form (perfect push-ups, high jump, strong clap) rather than speed might make it interesting.

Given that every man and his dog are doing this challenge, i'm in too.

Are we starting from 1 today, or doing 55 to "buy in" to the Santa Cruz version?

My reason for questioning it was it seems like this sort of challenge would be useful for a skill that many people are lacking in. (example double unders, handstands/hspu, o-lifting etc).

Well my world starts and stops at CFNYC and The Triple-B, so I really could care less about following Santa Cruz's timeline. But if that's what the people are doing, then i shall do 55 today

There is so much wrong with this challenge, yet Josh finds a way to make it worse. Kudos to Josh!

As Bad Sam suggested this challenge would be ideally suited for something like double unders or handstand pushups but really nothing says "challenge" like burpees every day.

Who are these people in Santa Cruz and why are they always fucking with me?

Had a good time at the stretching and mobility seminar. I definitely feel looser and much less stressed, which usually isn’t the case after a hard row. In between the mobility and the stretching, I made up the 2K WoD with Avery:

2K Row: 7:13

Happy with the time and the advice Allison gave out at the rowing seminar really helped. It was also nice to have the rower tell you how long it would take you at your current pace. Definitely provided a push to go faster as my estimated time slipped from 6:50 to 7:00 and then up to 7:13. Good stuff.

It is possible to make the challenge better (worse) still. Use Josh's approach of starting over after each missed day, but start (and restart, when necessary) at 100, and work down to 1.

Why even bother decreasing? Just do 100 every day for 100 days, making up all missed days on the following day.

What about rest days during this burpee (yay burpee) challenge? Crossfit advocated proper rest and recovery. How are you doing that when you are doing 75+ burpees everyday for three weeks plus a WOD every three days? Clearly it is not a good idea (even before Josh chimed in), but I'm not convinced it is a smart Crossfit approach.

Dan Def,

Indeed Crossfit advocates rest days, but Crossfit isn't an exact science. Crossfit works amazingly well as a GPP program but that shouldn't stop people experimenting with variations to see what happens.

Example: Quite a few top Crossfitters have started doing Performance Menu workouts instead of the Crossfit WOD's (speal included) as there has been talk the the programming results in better overall gains.

I don't think we should take a dogmatic approach where we assume that just doing the WOD's is going to be the perfect program. The body responds to the stimuli we give it, maybe giving it a lot of burpees every day will help decrease our recovery times, improve VO2 max, improve muscle endurance, etc etc.

There really is no way of knowing unless we try it. Since burpees are a body-weight exercise, I don't think a great deal of muscle damage is done by performing them. It's not as though we are being told to do max effort deadlifts daily, which really wouldn't be good for the body..

I second Dan Def's criticism. This is a waste of energy, if you're still able to do 50+ burpees on top of the WOD's, Lifting, and sports aspect of Crossfit you aren't applying yourself intensively enough. I'm working mainsite WODs and Virtuosity 3 days on/off and I barely have anything in the tank by day 3 while still making pr's across the board.

Actually, never mind, this part of the challenge means that the intensity aspect is moot. I guess this isn't so hard.

2. You can complete each day's burpees all at once, or broken up and done at different times throughout the day

Also, this rule means that by simply adding 3 sets of 10 burpees to your CFWU you are basically already on day 30.

5. Any burpees you complete during your regular workout can count towards that day’s Challenge burpees, if you want them to

My last message was under the impression that (a) all burpees had to be done consecutively for time and (b) that they didn't accomodate existing WOD burpees.

Also, for the record; the only way to make this a "challenge" would be to make them burpee boxjumps, right Keith?

Rest doesnt mean do nothing... For some, that may be what you need. For others maybe not. Rest is something different for everyone. Also, you dont have to do all the burpees at one time. They can be broken up throughout the day. So for example on day 81 say its a rest day, You dont have to go out and do all 81 burpees at once. Break them up and work on GTG for them. Breaking up burpees to say 5-10 at a time solit sporadically out the day is hardly going to kill your recovery.

you are all crazy for even considering this nonsense. I am coming off of severe strep throat and finally got into the gym today. I (like an idiot) decided filthy 50 was a good place to start. I forgot how much this sux.

first time as rx'd
43 min

owch

burpees were the worst part. Took forever. Thus, the reason i am really not feeling this discussion.

at least i got some more snot out ;)

Thor-- Break up the Burpees (yay burpees) througtout the day!?!?!? I'm not sure how practical that is for most people, myself included. If I did it, it would be first thing in the morning, at one shot, for time, before getting into the shower. Then I'd do my WOD in the evening after work. I'm not sure how this would work on weekends.

MESSAGE TO ALL ABOUT SHORT HAND:
unless the short hand is a universally known shorthand term term such as USA, FBI, CIA, NY, assume we all don't know what you are talking about. Sam-- what does GPP stand for? Thor--what is GTG?

I'm looking to be convinced about this burpee challenge, but haven't been as of yet.

Dan,
FWIW, I'm not a fan of shorthand. However, IMHO, it can sometimes be useful. OTOH, you're right, if you don't know the "code", you're SOL. IOW, YMMV

FTR, GPP means general physical preparation and GTG means grease the groove.

HTH

Dan Def,

I'm not totally convinced by the challenge either, however, I know if I don't do it and Erica does, I will be getting called a pussy every day for the next 100 days.

Incidentally, a jailhouse 100 would be 5050 burpees.

This challenge doesn't seem easy to me at all. It'll be interesting to see what it does to everyone.

Those who don't seem convinced, the best way to find out is to try it out and stop when you've had it. (WTF?)

um maybe i am lazy but could someone actually in one sentence state precicely what the challenge is

thanks!

Michelle- People started a "count up" on July 14th from one burpee to 100 by starting at one on the first day and doing one more burpee each day than you did before until hitting 100 burpees on the 100th day. If you want to start now, you do all burpees already done, in this case, 55.

rest day swim
1000m w/ fins
500m Back balance (working up to the sidestroke)
max pullups: 12

about 55min

thanks Kurt. but you dont have to do them for time or anything-just making sure you get them all in that day?

i am so in for this. especially since i will be in a tiny tiny villiage in portugal for 10 days with not much to do and NO GYM. i might just have to double up on the burpee challenge. ok starting tomorrow its 56.

Did the 55 makeup burpees today with bad sam(Thanks for being at BBB so I could do them). Our burpee standard was at the top of the jump, to clap and touch the top bar on the pullup contraption (about 8.5 feet). It was tough but made a good goal to have on each rep.

Afterwards did 107 unbroken DU's

Was fun doing the 55 burpees today with Kevin. Thanks for keeping me honest on the jump up!

I have to say, setting a strict standard on the jump really made those burpees a lot tougher.

Yesterday's 5 x 3 Push Jerk WOD: 135, 140, 145, 145, 145

Made up the row 2k WOD after the mobility session.

8:10.7

Not bad for not having rowed in awhile...

Thanks to Kurt for rowing with me and Allison for all the helpful stretching tips!