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...

The burpee year is beguiling. It is a simple enough idea – although you probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn how many questions people can generate before starting. (For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, it start  on April 1 st  with one burpee, and escalates by one burpee per day until we perform 365  on 31 st  March  next year). The first 20 to 30 days are easy. Suspiciously easy. Disappointingly easy. Almost too easy for a lot of people. Definitely within reach for the vast majority. Even the detrained and out of shape can manage this, albeit they need to pick their burpee variant carefully and they may find it to be as much a physical challenge as a mental one.   But this “too simple” thing is intriguing. It shouldn’t come as a surprise but when I hear people say it, it does catch me out really often, in every walk of life!   In a lot of group settings (or on your own if you listen to the negative voice you carry around with you) t...