Wednesday, 26 December 2007

150 Burpees

Puppies:
For time:
40 Burpees
110 Squat thrusts
Jumping to the ceiling of the shed, 10 inches above max reach.

My shoulders and elbows are still a little off, but knees and hips should be OK.

40 Burpees - some questionable push-up form:
5:21
+ 110 Squat Thrusts - lots of questionable language:
Total 25:09

Technically changing to squat thrusts should have had a higher metabolic cost, but at the pace I wound up doing them, I don't think so!

I've only ever once done burpees before, so I'm interested to see where they get me in the next few days. My tight achilles was sore toward the end from not landing flat footed from the plank position consistently.
One hip is sore, I'm not quite sure what that's from, either the same jump forward or the low squat to get my hands on the ground.
I was very pleased that I was able to land flat-footed quite often and that I made it through 40 full burpees. The last time I hadn't long been started crossfitting and I just couldn't do the push-ups at all.
I also had a bit of a rhythm going when I was stringing two or more together. Not a Brendan G "dive at the ground and kick your legs back" rhythm, but something that hints of that

Aside from the problem areas I spoke of, my main limitation was straight lack of fitness, which is completely expected. I'll see how things hold together in the next couple of days and will spend some time on the foam roller I'm sure.

Wasn't sure if knee position is mandated. Should they be between your arms when you bend down and when you jump forward, or outside, or is it optional? I had them outside most of the time because it's bloody hard to get them to fit inside, which is what I suspect taxed my hip a bit. But the movement would be next to impossible for me to do flatfooted if I didn't.

Official demo shows Eva and Zach with knees outside on the recovery, inside or at the same distance on the down cycle. They put their hands down in front of their legs on the way down. so their knees are kind of butting into their elbows. At speed most people seem to bring their knees forward to the same width as their elbows and are either pushing off the ground as their knees come through where their elbows where, or land in the same position as they started, knees just brushing their elbows. I can do that if I'm not gasping for air.

Laura said:
Setting for the jump is important. It makes a difference on the back issue. so does using good pushup form through the thruster/press up combo.
Good point, thank-you.

In the video they said "flat back" just before the jump and I doubt I'm doing that. I'll need to take a video to check it out at some stage, but I can't see how I am at this stage.
I knew my push-ups were going to be ropey, I figured I'd see how they played out. I'm happy that I'm not disastrously out of touch with where I should be, but that flat back thing is going to take work.

4 y.o niece watched me for part of it, "Do more!", while I'm resting and heaving my lungs out, and showing me how it was supposed to be done.
Born coach, hate her already, or I would if she weren't so darn cute.

2 comments:

TexasPatrick said...

Craig,

I find burpees have two trouble spots for me: at the squat thrust part where there is a tendency to let the plank go soft and the stomach arches to the ground, and the set up for the jump where if I don't jump my feet forward in a wideish stance, (outside my hands) I can get a sore back from that too.

Granted, all that is a lot of bollocks when you're near the end of the workout, but holding that steady during the workout helps my form degrade that much much more slowly.

Craig Massey said...

No, that's really good. Thanks Patrick.