I figured, at the turn of the year, that no one wants to hear about what you're gonna do. Especially if you're gonna do it, and they aren't gonna do it. Especially if you're gonna do it, and when you tell them that you're gonna do it, they say something like, "Fffffuuuuuu." or "How interesting." or "Wierd." Never mind the nervous giggling when you invite them to do it along with you.
Worse still when you invite the one guy that you prettymuchknow will do it, and he just laughs it off.
So I named the event after his sorry ass, and I spoke no further of it. I vowed to simply do my burpees and do them in silence, and, do them until day 100 before taking stock of any of it. Today's that day.Since I didn't announce them, these were-and-have-been-and-still-are the Rules:
- Day 1, one burpee; Day 2, two burpees. Ad infinitum.
- Sunday is a grace day. No burpees unless you want burpees.
- If you miss a day, that's cool. You simply have to add today's burpees to tomorrow's burpees.
- Burpees suck. Individually, they suck. Grouped into a seemingly endless line, like hopeless prisoners shuffling into a gas chamber, they reallyreally suck.
Looking back, it's been a little uneventful. Some days, the burpees hung over my head like a grand piano on a thin string of dread. Some days, they were easy peasy. Some days, the first burpees' screams echoed in the hollowed-out cavities of my thighs, making me wonder if I would make it as the wear-down accrued. Many days, the burpees were the full workout of the day. Many others, they were folded into the day's workout in sets, adding to the overall work volume. And, not surprisingly, but surprisingly nicely, they have gotten easier over time.
On Day 3, I prognosticated:
>>Not so active today. What a lazy day, skipped church, reading Eragon. Considering how to best make this challenge work, doing burpees isn't going to last the year ... nor should it? Going to break the burpees into the 6 skills, put a 100-rep cap on any one exercise, and move into the next skill set, I think. Until the 100 rep cap though, I wonder about just hammering burpees each day. Think it's only fair to do so.
December's going to really suck, no two ways about it.
At Day 100, I think I might continue the burpees, maybe until Day 200. I can see that they're totally getting in the way of traditional workout progression … but that may be a good thing. Take the perfect work movement, perhaps the most feared one, and see how long you can stare it down. There I am, stuck in this staring contest that is both bad for me and good for me.
100 Days; What Have I Done With Them?
Most days, I did them on the bedroom carpet, about 2 to 1 over doing them on the gym floor, which was about 3 to 1 over doing them in the backyard during a garage-WoD.
Last Day I did them straight through, without partitioning them: Day 29
Days I did more than the daily allowance: 14
Did them drunk as a skunk: 1
Days I missed and had to carry them over to the next day: 7, counting today.
Days I did them on hotel room floors: 4
On the bikepath: 1
Grassy palisades overlooking the Pacific: 1
On day 48, I did 50 reps as 5x20 and said:
>>There's a big difference between a set of 12 burpees and a set of 20. Let's see how day 100 goes.
So I'll do 5x20 as my cash-out and see what's up today. On day 44, I did 4x11 after a Susan DD in 7.42. Okay, Susan DD, and I'll cash out with 50 in under 7.42. Or pack it up.
(That workout went like this )
... and time passes. Fast forward to the end of the reel. Here, on May 6th, I'm finally chronicl'ing the end. The end actually occured at day 120 and following, as the demands of RealLife caught up with me morning, noon and night for 4 days in a row. I couldawoulda paid up and continued... but that was like, 580+ burpees one day, then 120+ following. At this level, the burpees become the WoD. The biggest day was a 223 burpee day.
Not that that's bad, if I was stranded on the desert island, the Burpee would be the complete excercise. Now, since I'm not on that island, and have access to various weightlifting equipments and other items of punishment, the baseline movement needs to move the frick over and make way for foundational training.
Not, again, that I've been able to do any of that lately. RealLife is still exacting its unignorable siren call. But saying no to the burpees makes me feel like I still have some control. heh. But here I say goodbye to my New Year's resolution and my taskmaster - 20 days past 100 (cheers from the gallery) and 30 days short of 150 (boos from the gallery).
I did learn that burpees suck, but I can soldier through them. And, do them better and faster than most people. And, I did deposit a bit into what I've already banked within my character about doing something you don't like, don't want to do, and anticipate with some dread. But do anyway.
Burpees, I fear you not. And all you people who were invited but ghosted this, you don't know what you missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment