We Introduce to You…

Push Press (Week 10)
then:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
front squat (115/75)
two push-up burpee

A workout amidst a packed gym can sometimes feel like it’s simply you and a barbell. When you’re in the middle of a workout is it “you AND the barbell” trying to get the work done? Or “you vs. the barbell” trying to overcome? Post to comments.

The Two Push-up Burpee

Circa 2009 the coaches heard a lot of complaints about burpees.  They were hard.  They were unforgiving.  They scuffed up the knees.  They made men into mice, women into little girls, and left athletes feeling sorry for themselves and debating about whether to late cancel or take the burpee hit in that day’s workout.

The coaches were disturbed and decided to do something about it.  In January of 2010 they held a secret meeting at an undisclosed location to hammer out the causes of the burpee hatred and fear and to come up with a way to address the madness.

They thought long and hard and came up with a one year plan of action:

  • Phase 1: program burpees more frequently but in small doses, test burpee benchmark and track number of resulting athlete complaints and/or negative statements
  • Phase 2: start associating the burpee with desirable images such as “PR”, “easy”, and “awesome”
  • Phase 3: expand desirable image to  “super awesome” and think “yea burpees”
  • Phase 4: inject healthy combination of coaching styles into group classes – “Suck it up buttercup, it’s just a freakin’ burpee.  It’s not that hard, you lie down and then you stand up” AND “Every burpee you do is a special snowflake.”
The results were INCREDIBLE.  Folks started doing burpees – just for fun.  Complaints went down.  Burpee happiness went up.  Folks even sent us PICTURES of them doing burpees in exotic places.
With all this burpee success, we could just rest on our laurels and call it a day having won the burpee battle.  But, we can’t do that (duh).
So, it is with great pleasure that we introduce to you…

THE TWO PUSH-UP BURPEE.

5 Responses
  1. Melanie

    Um, I missed the burpee/buttercup boat and I’m still feeling the lack of lust over the one push up burpee. All the same – I have faith in the coaches they can convert me into being not just a one push up burpee luster, but a two pushup burpee luster. Mark the date. the clock is ticking. Challenge on. 🙂

  2. Wait, am I the only one who didn’t know that a burpee was supposed to include 1 full push up to begin with? I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time!!!