Burpee Progression Pt. 2

If the five beginner and intermediate variations are too easy for your badass self, try these:

VI: Chirpee with variation pull. Instead of a simple pullup, chinup, or parallel grip chinup, use a more difficult variation. Try clap pullups, wide grip pullups, running man (around the world) pullups, or in/out pullups.

VII: Chirpee with leg or knee raise. Start as normal, and as you jump to get ready for the pull, perform a leg or knee raise. Return to the hanging position and complete the pull. Add a variation pull for increased difficulty.

VIII: Chirpee with leg raise and l-sit hold. Same as VII, but hold the l-sit position through the pull. Add a variation pull for increased difficulty.

IX: Chirpee with variation pushup, leg raise and l-sit hold. Same as VIII, but replace the standard pushup with a variation. Add a variation pull for increased difficulty.

X: Chirpee to muscle up. Perform a standard chirpee, but as you finish the pull, explode into a muscle up.

One important thing to note:  burpees are primarily seen as a conditioning exercise. As you add more parts to the standard burpee, the overall movement obviously takes longer to complete. If you’re already in excellent condition, you will probably see a decrease in heart rate. The latter variations transform burpees from a conditioning exercise into a total body strength and endurance exercise. Mix and match the variations based on your goals.

Burpee Progression Pt. 1

As I’ve been burpee-obsessed lately, here’s a five part burpee progression for beginner and intermediate athletes:

I: No pushup burpee, also known as a squat thrust or squamp. Kneel down, drop into a pushup position, jump back into a kneeling position and explode upwards.

II: Standard burpee. Same as I, but add the pushup.

III: Variation pushup burpees. Same as II, but substitute these pushups variations: diamond, clap, twisting, alternating grip, triangle.

IV: Burpees with a pull, also known as chirpees (haven’t quite figured that out yet). Same as II, but add a pullup, chinup, or parallel grip chinup after the jump.

V: Variation pushup chirpees. Same as III, but add the components from IV.

Site Makeover

With college coming to a close, I decided it’s time to start posting again (regularly, seriously this time). And, of course, completely overhaul the site (including switching over to the wonderful wordpress.com).

Posts soon to come.

Paddling Toledo Bend

I headed out to Toledo Bend Reservoir late Thursday afternoon for a weekend-long paddling trip. I was slow out the door and didn’t even leave my apartment until 4:45. The drive was pretty easy..at least until it got dark. I circled all over my put-in area until I finally managed to find the campgrounds. The drive was something like 2.5 hours.Continue reading “Paddling Toledo Bend”