Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Short Workout Experiment

Jenny Doing Burpees

On Feb 14, I did 250 burpees. After hearing stories of people working out throughout the day and reaching a difficult number of 500-1000 burpees or pushups, I decided to give it a try.

 Studies have shown that short workouts are more beneficial than longer ones, because you can push yourself at a difficult level and you won't hit energy slumps that you might have if you were working out for more than 45 minutes. If you fuel yourself properly and drink enough water, then you should be fine. I believe that a mix of short and long workouts will help to improve your exercise regimen. I do tabata twice a week and long cardio, either running or elliptical once a week, and then the rest of the week consists of usually strength training/crossfit exercises. 

 I was originally aiming for between 300-400 burpees, but my body became so fatigued and hungry, that I was unable to make it to my goal. I started in the morning before Sunday brunch at around 10:00 am and did 70 burpees in 2 x 35 sets with a one minute break in between. Two hours later, I did 100 more burpees in sets of 25 x 4. I drank lots of water and took a 45 minute break and then proceeded to do 80 more burpees as fast I could in 20 x 4 sets. I wanted to do more, but my body could just not handle it. I planned on doing more later, but sure enough, two hours later I still felt sick and light headed, so I decided to call it quits. 

David was aiming to do 500 pushups that same day. He made it to 175 and he too just felt like he could not do anymore. 

This was an interesting experience for both of us. I do not plan to do it again for awhile. I was very sore from all the burpees, and I don’t think I drank enough water or ate enough food. I was lightheaded the whole day. But I would recommend you to try this out if you do not have time to do long workouts. I believe that if I had performed 250 burpees in a row without breaking it up over a whole day, I would have taken longer breaks to rest and might just stopped at 150 without going back to exercising. 

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