Tag Archives: burpees

BOSU, Cardio, Fitness, Power Moves, Push-Ups, Running, Treadmill

Burpees, Burpees, Burpees 3/23-3/29

March 29, 2014 Kim 61 Comments

I usually mix up my 44s from one day to the next but this week I decided to make it all about the burpee!! (I don’t know what I was thinking!!!)

Sunday 3/23 – 44 side burpees. First off, this one was actually 88 total burpees – crazy!!! Instead of jumping back, I jumped out to the side – push-up – jumped back in then repeated to the other side and counted that as 1 rep.

You can tell in the video that the side push-up is just a bit different – my hands are more staggered and I sort of went down to one side each time. This was NOT easy!!! It took me around 10 minutes to finish all my reps because I had to have some breaks!!!

Monday 3/24 – 44 dead man burpees. This one is sort of fun but my chest was sore for days after this. When you go back, lay down on the ground and extend your arms to the sides – then push up from the ground.

This might have been my favorite move from the week.

I ran today – the plan was to get in at least one 20 mile run but that didn’t happen because my right calf has been giving me problems. Instead I ran 4 miles and walked another 4.3.

Tuesday 3/25 – 44 sumo burpees. Probably the “easiest” style of burpees I did all week. I think being in the sumo position and doing wide push-ups is a little easier!

For the #HappyFitMarch challenge today we were supposed to set a new PR for wall sit. I decided to make the wall sit extra “fun” and put wobble balls under my feet – 4:01.

I did a DVD that I haven’t in awhile – TaeBo Amped – Rockin’ Abs. This is about 45 minutes of cardio and it is geared to working your core. You use the “amplifier” –

Using this stick adds all kinds of intensity!

Wednesday 3/26 –44 decline burpees. These were HARD!!!! They might have been my least favorite from the week. Jumping my feet backwards onto the step was a little scary!!

The push-ups were not easy!

I did my Mash-Up Conditioning DVD that I won from Kim @ BusyBod and did 4 more of the Tempos (3, 4, 5 and 6). I have done all but Tempo 7 now. I like the format of the workout and I will like it more each time through. The first time was a bit of a challenge because you lose a little time trying to figure out what the move is supposed to be.

Thursday 3/27 – 44 medicine ball burpees. These were the only burpees all week that I took the push-up out! I did one push-up with my hands on the medicine ball and about busted my face!!!

So, technically, I guess these aren’t true burpees but I’m counting them for this week!!!

I did one of my favorite workouts – Turbo Fire – Fire 60 and Abs 10. Both of these are great workouts and I always have fun with Chalean and the rest of the Turbo Fire crew.

I also decided to try a run and see how my calf was doing. I ended up running 10 miles at a nice easy pace (8:30) and then did 1.2 miles cool down. Thankfully running slower didn’t really aggravate my calf!!!

Friday 3/28 – 44 side plank burpees. Jump back – side plank – push-up – side plank other side – push-up – jump in and jump up – repeat.

These were nice because they had to be a little slower than a standard burpee in order to get the most out of the side planks. But, I had to do 88 push-ups to complete all 44 reps!!!

My workout was nice and easy – 2 Pilates DVDs – Fat Burning Pilates and Burn & Firm Pilates. I don’t do Pilates often but it really is a nice change of pace!

Saturday 3/29 – 44 BOSU squat jump burpees. For my 7th day of burpees I wanted to do a good one. I came up with a fun move using my favorite piece of equipment (besides my treadmill, of course) –

The move was to jump off the BOSU – jump back and do a push-up with hands on the BOSU (this was a challenge for me since it was more of a tricep push-up) – jump in – jump onto BOSU – do a squat jump and stick it – repeat!

Fun times!!!!

And, I ran today because we were supposed to do a mile for #HappyFitMarch and compare it to the previous Saturdays. I did a total of 5 miles –

My final mile was 6:12 which isn’t my fastest but I didn’t want to push too hard today because speeding up I could feel my calf pulling again.

Overall, even with my calf not cooperating, it was a great week. Lots of burpees – 7 days, 7 different kinds – 352 total burpees!!!!

And, I’m almost to my March goal of 150 miles!!! 2 more days should definitely put me over!!!

What’s your favorite way to burpee?

Happy Saturday!!!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Lunges, Plyo, Push-Ups, Quad

Sunday Deserves Some Sunshine

January 5, 2014 Kim 49 Comments

Today’s 44 took one of my favorite moves (burpees) and added in one of my least favorite (jumping lunges) for a great challenge!!!

The move – a burpee (don’t forget he push-up!) jump up and immediately do 2 lunge jumps.

(FYI – the burpees in the demo actually make # 45, 46 & 47!)

Last night Hunter was trying to give me some more ideas for my 44s and he suggested a burpee with a tuck jump. I told him I did those this summer on the beach in Florida!!! He didn’t believe me so I had to find the video to prove it!!!

While we were looking at YouTube, we came across this video –

44 (must be fate!) of the best burpee exercises ever!!! I can’t wait to try more of these!!!

Mona @ Moxie-Dude was super sweet and nominated me for a sunshine award.

I decided that this bitterly cold and snowy Sunday would be the perfect day to share some sunshine!!!!

I know there are supposed to be rules to these things but I pretty much suck at following them!! I decided to start by answering Mona’s questions and then go from there.

1. If the internet suddenly disappeared and you couldn’t blog anymore, what would you choose as a “release” for your writing and creativity?
Well, I don’t know that I am super creative in my writing anyway – I would probably just spend the extra time on my treadmill!!!

2. What’s a perfect Saturday morning to you?
I would say it is a day that I sleep in but that doesn’t really happen. I do like the mornings when I don’t have to set an alarm and jump out of bed first thing. I would take my time getting up, do my workout, have Chris and both boys home and not have to spend the day running all over the place or doing any errands – in other words LAZY!!

3. Where do you see yourself and your blog in 3 years from now?
I will be 47 so I guess if I can stick with it that long, I will be doing daily 47s!!! As for blogging, I hope to have met in person some of the incredible people that I have met online!!!

4. Is your family supportive of your blogging?
Yes, they are 100% supportive. Chris reads my post every single day (and usually texts me after to make a comment of some sort so I know he read it). The boys don’t seem to mind being part of my blog on many occasions and are more than willing to help me out with pictures/videos!!

5. What’s you fav quick, easy and delicious dinner recipe? (this one made me laugh – if you haven’t read Mona’s blog, you really should check it out!!!)
My favorite easy meal is going to involve the crock-pot for sure!!! Hard to pick just one! I’m going to go with French Dip because it is so easy!!!

Put a frozen roast in the crock pot. Mix 2 c water, 1/2 c soy sauce (we use low-sodium), a bay leaf, some garlic powder, a few peppercorns, rosemary & thyme (just sprinkle some in). Cook on low all day. Shred. Serve on Kaiser rolls with swiss cheese and use the juice to dip.

6. Where is your favorite place to write?
This could read where is your favorite place to ___________? No matter what is in the blank, my answer is the same!!! THE BEACH!!!

7. If you had to start your blog all over, what changes would you make?
I think that I would have started commenting on other blogs sooner. I was a complete newbie in the blog world and didn’t have a clue what I was doing for months!!!

What would you keep?
This one is easy – I would keep all of the bloggy friends I have made because they (y’all) are the best part of blogging!!

8. Vacation…with or without kids?
With!! When the boys were younger I liked it when Chris and I could get away by ourselves. Now, the boys are fun to have on vacation and that is part of the experience. I’m hoping that even when they leave the nest they will still take vacations with us and one day that their spouses and kids will come, too!!

9. What’s your best advice for overcoming writer’s block?
Since I’m not really a writer, I don’t truly deal with this!!! I just make up some random stuff and move on!

And, like I said at the beginning – I’m not good at these the traditional way. So I’m not making up 9 or 10 or 12 new questions and tag people – I can’t tag people because I think it supposed to be just a few and I would want to tag at least 100 people!!!

Instead – I will make up one question.

How do you spread sunshine? What is the temperature where you are?

So I lied and asked 2 questions!!! We are actually at 10 degrees with about 4-5 inches of snow so I guess I can’t complain (but I will!) compared to all y’all even further north!

Happy Sunday!!

Kim

Fitness, Push-Ups

Favorite Exercises

October 20, 2013 Kim 47 Comments

Today’s 44 was another push-up variation and it was hard!!! I used –

Step Stability Ball — Step
Stability Ball

To do the push-ups, I put my toes on the step and my hands on either side of the ball.

Just getting in this position was hard – I don’t think you can tell but my arms were shaking!!! From here, I just did normal push-ups.

I couldn’t get my chest all the way to the ball without killing myself so I went as low as I could. Using the stability ball for push-ups is always super hard for me!

It’s no secret that I like to workout and try new moves! Today I thought I would share

Push-ups: As few as 5 years ago, the only way I even attempted push-ups was on my knees. Quite honestly, I never even considered trying them any other way. Now I like to try all sorts of push-up variations. Here are just a few:

Alt. sides of the BOSU - walk over in between — Alt. sides of the BOSU – walk over in between

Squats: Squats have always been one of my favorites!! I used to do 100s of squats at a time way back in my 20s!!! There are so many ways to do squats but I’m just picking a few today!

lift and hold — Start on ball – lift, hover, hold before lowering back down

single leg squats – right toe is barely touching floor

Burpees: Burpees are one of those moves that many people hate. This is another move I used to dread. There was a time not many years ago that when I did workout DVDs and burpees were included, I used that time as a water break!!! Now, I have all kinds of fun with this move!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RpUfTqSsc’]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thv3mJioVSA’]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCSfRRoiuA4′]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQT6e33BNuM’]

Burpees with rotating squat jump:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtBPSB1xiDo’]

I could actually go on and on with my list of favorite exercises because I like to work every part of my body and there are really only a few moves that I still don’t like – JUMPING LUNGES!!!

What are some of your favorite exercises? Do you like to do different variations?

Happy Sunday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

Running Because I Want to Not Because I Have to

October 19, 2013 Kim 50 Comments

Because I was so excited to do weighted burpees on Thursday, I didn’t do Nellie’s (Brooklyn Active Mama) Wednesday workout yet – so today I did 44 toe touches.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyo4p5cw-7c&feature=youtu.be’]

This is a move that you will feel after just a few!!! 44 of these were a challenge!!!

And – because it’s been a week since the last time I ran, I ran today. All week long I’ve thought about how far I would run today – I thought about doing 50 miles (on my treadmill, of course!) just because I know I have it in me. Then I thought about running 25 so that I could complete the 50 (over the course of a week but whatever….).

However, this morning, I ran the way I felt – because that is what running is all about for me!!! I did 7 miles in 45:43 (1.5% incline) and then another 1.5 miles at a nice easy pace to cool down.

I have realized that I am not a person who like to follow a running training plan at this point in my life. I just want to run for the pure enjoyment I get from running.

I know lots of people thrive on training plans and knowing exactly what each day will bring but when I run that way, I start to resent everything about running – and I hate that feeling.

Some days I want to run 5-9 miles at a quick pace just because – so I do!

Some days I feel like doing some intervals – so I do them!!

Some days – the idea of running for 3-5 hours is my idea of a good time!!!

Some days I don’t want to run at all – so I pick a different workout and I am completely OK with it.

Today, I decided that I don’t have to prove anything with my running – I just want to continue to enjoy it!!! And one day, that might mean lacing up my shoes and running 50 miles just because I want to!!! (today was not that day!)

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Biceps, Butt, Core, Fitness, Quad, Shoulders

Jordan

August 3, 2013 Kim 31 Comments

Today for my 43 I did a move that worked my entire body!! I used my stability ball and a pair of 12 pound dumbbells and did a squat with a bicep curl to a shoulder press. Here are the steps:

From the starting position, the right leg will squat while the left leg pushes the ball out to the side.

Stand while pulling left leg back in to body – curl weights and press overhead.

By adding the side leg movement, I was able to get my heart rate up while working on my balance (always good for the core!).

Of course, I couldn’t let my left leg be left out!!!

2 sets of 43 – my shoulders were on fire by the time I finished all those presses!!!

Today was the 3rd and final day of the “Stronger by the Minute” workout this week. I’m enjoying this little 6 week challenge series with Taylor because the idea of repeating the same workout 3 times in a week and trying to improve each time is right up my alley!! I love the self-competition!!!

From the first time completing this week’s workout until today, I improved each time on all 3 circuits – 2 of the circuits I was able to improve by over a full round!!!

The third circuit consists of 4 different burpees (all HARD), with 5 reps of each – as many rounds as possible in 6 minutes. 6 minutes doesn’t seem like much until you spend the entire 6 minutes doing burpees!!!! Today I did 56 burpees in that time!!!

Most of the time when you see Jordan, you see his great smile!!!

My firstborn is fixing to be in high school (and he can drive!) and I could not be more proud of him!!! He is a young man who truly cares about everyone around him!!

Things like school talent shows cause him stress because he feels bad for the kids who perform that really aren’t that good. While his buddies or other kids in the audience are snickering he totally empathizes with the person on stage!! He is the same way when we watch any of the singing/talent shows at home – instead of laughing, he feels bad for them!

He goes out of his way to make sure that everyone around him is happy or content. If there are limited chairs somewhere, he is usually the first to offer his chair. When his friends are trying to decide what to do he is content to let them decide – he is agreeable to just about anything.

Even though he isn’t the guy trying to have his way all the time, he is very much his own person. If you know Jordan personally (or have read my blog for awhile) you know that Jordan wears all white every day!! His standard “uniform” consists of white Nike shorts and white Nike T-shirt (plus white Nikes). I just restocked (in a bigger size) his white wardrobe for next year – took numerous stores and some driving but well worth the time!!! I love the fact that he is unique and content to be different!!!

This summer, Jordan has pretty much taken over cleaning up after every meal. Not because we told him he has to – he just likes it!!! Pretty amazing!

I know that I’m a little biased but I think that Jordan is an incredible young man!! It is truly one of the biggest joys of my life to watch him grow up. I know these next 4 years are going to fly by and I intend to treasure every minute that I can with my sweet boy!!!