So you think you’re in great shape?

The mother of all exercises as far as I’m concerned is the burpee.  It’s a super basic exercise but it packs a mean punch that could make the most interesting man in the world cry.

Burpees are also an extreme way to build stamina and endurance with short bursts of intensity.  This is one exercise that I can crush anybody who has their ego trash talking everybody else’s fitness strengths.

In my Xtreme Burpee Challenge we’re going to determine you’re level of physical conditioning and I’m going to give you a very simple and fast burpee program you can do to build your stamina so you leave Lance Armstrong gasping for air.

How do you do a burpee?

Start standing up and then squat down until your hands are on the floor.  Then quickly jump your legs back behind you so you’re now in the push-up position.  Immediately shoot your feet back up to where they just were (by your hands) and then jump up in the air with your hands outreached over your head.  That counts as one, after the jump land back in the squatting position and keep going.

The Xtreme Burpee Challenge Test

Use a stopwatch of a Gymboss Interval Timer to see how many burpees you can fully complete in 60 seconds.  I also call this the B.Y.O.B. Test aka Bring Your Own Bucket!

Where Do You Rank In The Burpee Challenge?

In 60 seconds you did…

• 15 or less burpees = You are officially pathetic.
• About 25 burpees = You are in Average Joe shape.
• Around 35 burpees = You’re in good shape, above average stamina.
• 45 burpees and beyond = You’re a frickin’ pro!

If you scored pathetic or even if you didn’t get the numbers you’re looking for then you’re in luck.  I’ve created a program using Tabata programming…one of the best and most effective fat melting and physical conditioning protocols alive.

Grab your Gymboss Interval Timer and set it for 20 seconds of work and then 10 seconds of rest.  Make sure you try to do as many burpees as you can during those 20 seconds.  Repeat this for 8 total times, which will end up being 4 minutes.  I prefer do to this after you do your weight lifting routine or before you do your cardio.

Week 1: Do one set of Tabata intervals (8 total intervals in 4 minutes)

Week 2: Do two sets of Tabata intervals (16 total interval in 8 minutes).

Week 3: Do one set of Tabata intervals at a new times (30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest)

Week 4: Do two set of Tabata intervals at the new times (30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest)

Week 5: Take the Xtreme Burpee Challenge and see how well you’re improved…are you a pro yet?

This is also a great challenge to give you friends who think they’re in awesome shape, like I said earlier it’ll make the strongest guy in the gym whimper like a baby who lost their bottle.  Have fun!

Also check out the image below for the Gymboss Interval Timer I was talking about, it’s a great cheap tool that I use daily for my workouts.

Your coach,

Josh