Unleash the Monkey Army

It's fast approaching that time of year again. Teachers and educators are joined in their wailing and gnashing of teeth by students of all ages. But much more importantly than that, September sees the return of the annual 100 day burpee ladder. This year will be 1st September to 9th December inclusive. Fancy joining in? Just an interested observer? Here's what you need to know: We'll be doing burpees every day for 100 days. It's ok, we'll start with 1 on 1st September. We will do 100 on the final day but we'll have built to it. They don't have to be done in one set. They don't have to be done in one session. There are lots of modifications to the humble burpee to make it easier or harder. Before we start, pick your minimum standard for the ladder. You can spice it up on days when you feel lively but you'll not go below this marker. Be realistic. The point of the exercise is consistency, not showing off. Just because you can do 50 or 100 on...

We're getting a little more interest in the burpee year, quite unbelievably! I say "we" with no sense of dissembling at all. The interest has little to do with me and more to do with all you closet nutters out there spreading the word to your friends. Which is brilliant! I'm not sure whether it should be worrying or reassuring that this appeals to you lot, but I am looking forward to your company over the coming months. Some people are new to the idea of burpees, some not so new but trying to get their head around the ladder. Some just like their life made easier (true, they're assuming more of a voyeuristic role in this exercise, but it is all good). So, while it is all on these pages so far, to help all of y'all, I have added an extra page as a primer . I have put links to relevant previous posts on there and will add links to more on there as I find/write more content. Burpee Primer Hope it is of use. But, since this is becoming decreasingly about me,...

Amongst many of the common reactions to my predilection for burpees, the best is a variation on the "what the heck is a burpee?" theme. I can't pinpoint when I first became aware of them. There's a pretty good chance it was a PE teacher. If not, certainly one of the former bootnecks who I seem to have gravitated towards at various points. Certainly a couple of books in my pt library (which, barring a few older titles spans the last 30 years) mention them. But what are they? They are a slice of exercise fried-gold served on a bed of awesomeness with a side order of cardio effect! Ok, enough with the hyperbole! I have seen them called squat thrusts, although not often, as those represent a different exercise in their own right, similar, but different. A squat thrust begins and ends in a squat position with your hands on the floor. You then extend your legs out backwards until you have a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders, and return to the starting pos...

So, it has been just over two months since I completed the 100 day burpee ladder (and popped out a few extra to round up the total). Since then I have noticed a couple of things: People who didn't take part feel like they missed out People who started but didn't see it off, well, they feel like they missed out   People like me, and others who aren't like me but still finished it, we feel like we're now missing out on something. So, inspired by Burt Bacharach (he was the man who sang "what the world needs now, is burpees, more burpees" wasn't he?), I'm going to hang out a chance for everybody to scratch that itch. Another ladder, but let's make it a year to remember, a burpee year to remember!   Day 1: do 1 burpee, day 2: 2, day 3: 3, etc etc until we get to day 365 when we'll pop out a cheeky 365 reps.   But, lest a few people miss out on the chance to test themselves to their own capacity, we're going to add in a couple of s...

The story so far: Our intrepid couch coach has set out, with turgid prose and malice of forethought to burpee on each day for 100 days. The rules are simple: 1 rep on day one; 2 reps on day two, and so on, climbing to day 100 when we climax with 100 reps. Allowing for a little, ahem, life interfering with the art, if one day is missed, it is acceptable to catch up on the following day by completing all of the reps owed. Miss two days and the exercise is ended - rest up for a few days, consider your failings and start again. Our story so far has paused at the end of day 50, half the total number of days notched up. Soberingly though, we've only chalked up 1,225 of the full scope of 5,050 burpees. The next week and a half passed without incident. Occasionally needing to nudge myself out of my torpor to just start. Because once started, even as the air starts to thin with elevation on the ladder, inside of 10 minutes we are finished. Then the entry for Friday 30th November reads...

I've been squaring away my training log from the burpee ladder, a good time to reflect on the 100 days and see what, if anything, I managed to learn from it. It started out innocently enough, as all daft ideas seem to. The final destination, the 100 reps, was already in my grasp. Admittedly, not within the grasp of all of the foolhardy band who joined me, but still manageable with only the slightest imagination. The challenge for me, or so I thought, would only be the day-to-day discipline. I have acquired a reputation for being focused over the years which, I would maintain is largely unfounded. I'll take it because it suits but from my perspective, it has never seemed to fit that well. Of course, there is no smoke without fire, so this seemed like the thing to do to check it out. I get bored and easily distracted. In many walks of life, once the initial rush is done and the possibilities are explored, I found myself drawn to nail the job shut and move on. I've always,...

I've had a couple of people speak to me or contact me about the 100 day burpee ladder. So, because I still have some people who read this stuff, apparently (by the way, thank you, I'm still not sure what I'm writing for but I do appreciate your time) I thought I'd put it something out here. Why 100 days? When I was younger my grandad had a book on the shelf "The last 100 days". After he died it came to our family home. Now it sits in my shelf. Granted a book on the last 100 days of the Second World War is odd heirloom to be sentimental about but I vividly remember the "100 Days" printed in pictures within the number and bright yellow. Then there's Napoleon, another childhood fascination. 100 days of his return to mainland Europe until his defeat at Waterloo. And then there is FDR whose first 100 days as president set a frankly astonishing benchmark for the presidency. It seems like a good number! Not only is it a good, solid round number bu...