2000 burpees later...

BURPTASTIC - or not! Either way over the past two months I have completed over 2000 burpees and there are a few things I have learned.
 
Currently I’m on day 65 of my 100 days of burpees challenge (Day 1 = 1 burpee, Day 2 = 2 burpee... Day 100 = 100 burpees) - there’s also the burpees we do during WODS (workouts) making my total more than 2000.

So over the weeks I’ve compiled this list of the best and worst things about burpees and this challenge.

Good things?
    1 - When someone says 20 burpees I’m no longer afraid.
    2 - My benchpress has improved - from struggling to do 40kg for one rep to easily doing 40kg for 5 reps - I’d like to think the challenge has helped this otherwise, thanks CFNS.
    3 - My pushups have obviously improved.
    4 - My house is cleaner - strange but I’ll put the radio on do 6 to 11 burpees and clean for the rest of the song until the next song starts.
    5 - This works - try to do Saturday + Sunday’s allocation on the one day, or Sun/Mon so you can have Sunday off.
    6 - I’ve tried all the variations of burpees and am starting to find the one that works best for me with a few suggestions from onlookers :)
   
The Bad...
    1 - I’ve done more than 2000 burpees.
    2 - burpees and hangover = no fun for me.
    3 - It sucks I have to scale them otherwise I get too sore for regular training.
    4 - If I forget to finish a day I have more than 100 to do the next time.
    5 - Burpee and Burpee WOD days suck.
    6 - Sometimes people look at me weird and ask what are you doing? Insert recorded message here.

Will I do this again next year? That’s a good question, right now I’d say no, but time heals old wounds so... maybe I’ll do 100 days of something else challenge next time.

Check my last post for the official 100 days of burpees challenge rules

12.5 at last - current results, breakdown, strategies as a first timer

MY gut instinct was right, the last workout from 2011 is perfect as the last workout this year. So, that's exactly what we got (I shouldn't have changed my prediction at the last second, I would have been right otherwise).

Today we'll go through the Crossfit Games 2012 12.5 break down, have a look a at current results, my strategies and goals.

The 12.5 WOD is....

A 7 minute AMRAP

3-6-9-12-15-18-21....

Thrusters (Men: 100lbs/45kg Women: 65lbs/30kg)

Chest to bar Pullups

So each round you do 3 of each movement, then 6, then 9 and so on until the 7 minutes is up.

Thrusters - it starts with the weight on the ground and you clean it up to your shoulders, or get it there any way you can. With the bar on your shoulders squat down until your hip crease is below your knees. Then drive up and push the bar overhead until your legs, hips and arms are all locked out. Then it's just a matter of doing it again until you've finished the round. You can do a squat clean into a thruster for the first one and it'll get counted.

For me here's the tricky bit

Chest to bar pullup - this one can be done strict, butterfly or kipping as long as your chest hits the bar and your arms are extended at the bottom.

Every rep is counted for this one and currently the top scores are:

Australia
Men 136 -18 rounds + 10 thrusters
Women 105 - 15 rounds + 15 thrusters

Worldwide
Men 159 - 18 completed + 21 thrusters +12 pullups
Women 137 - 18 completed + 11 thrusters

So looking at this if I were confident with the movements I'd aim to finish round 9 or 12. However, I have never done a chest to bar pullup in my life.

Here's my plan
Thrusters should be fine as long as I go low enough because I'm doing a low number of reps I'll just take it easy here. If this weren't the case I'd squat clean it up straight into a thruster. If you're having problems with your depth get in early before the workout and stretch.

I can do kipping pullups, the most I've ever done is 50 in one WOD (in sets of 1-6) so in theory I should be able to get onto the bar. My hands are not ripped at the moment just a slight blister on the thumb so I wont go to crazy with strapping. I'll just aim to hold onto the bar nice and tight.

Before the WOD begins I'm going to go back to basics with C2B on the bands working my way from green to orange then I'll do a few without any, I hope. I may strap for this just to keep my hands protected so they're good for the actuall WOD.

I hope to get the start of the 9 thrusters round but all honesty I'd be happy to get up to the 6 round.

Check back soon to find out how I went and my final blog for the 2012 crossfit games (as I'm quite certain I wont make the cut for regionals... This year round anyway)

(Video - The official 12.5 crossfit games 2012 break down)

Below is last years break down... It's not as fast paced and exciting but it is extensive and really goes into depth about how to rep and no rep.