The Burpee, bastardo and complexes

  Origin

The exercise may have been originated by a man named Lieutenant Thomas Burpee (1757-1839). He was an officer in the New Hampshire Militia during the Revolutionary War and was described as “having the innate Burpee fondness for martial exercises” in A History of the Town of New London, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. Lt. Burpee may have used the combination of pushups and squat thrusts as a means of drilling, conditioning, and disciplining the troops under his command. In addition, the exercise may have also been used by the troops as a way to stay warm during the winters in wartime New England.

The jump burpee, the bastardo, the 8 count are all variations of the standard burpee and the stalwart of the British Military and martial artists.

Why is this exercise such a favourite, simple it is an all over body exercise that targets the aerobic system, endurance and strength and conditioning exercise.

It is performed in four steps: The standard burpee is as below

• Begin in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Kick your feet back,
• Immediately return your feet to the squat position,
• Stand up from the squat position. (position of attention)

 Variants

•  
  • Bastardo- athlete completes a press up in between
  • Long-jump burpee: the athlete jumps forward, not upward.
  • Tuck jump burpee: the athlete pulls his knees to his chest while jumping.
  • Jump-over burpee: the athlete jumps over an obstacle between burpees.
  • One-armed bastardo: the athlete uses only one arm for the whole exercise including the pushup.
  • Kettlebell burpee: the athlete holds a pair of dumbbells while performing the exercise.
  • Parkour burpee: following one burpee on the ground, the athlete jumps upon a table and performs the second burpee on the table, then jumps back to the initial position
  • Hindu push up burpee: instead of a regular push up, do a hindu push up
  • Bouncing Burpee- with the legs extended the athlete bounces both legs to the right, centre,left centre then back to the start position.
• Other variants
• Wall burpees / incline burpees / air burpees: the athlete kicks his feet up against a wall / up on a table / up in the air, instead of back.
• The 8 count body builder is another variant of the burpee. Counts 1-8 are as follows: (1) put your hands down, (2) push out your feet, (3) and (4) do a jumping jack on the ground, (5) and (6) perform a pushup, (7) bring your feet back forward, (8) jump in the air.

COMPLEXES

We need to look at the exercise individually (the burpee) and progress this move rather than regress it.

Complexes come in various forms but progress the exercise to another level. These complex moves can be placed in any type of training, exercise or use any equipment, complexes should come in the forms of two moves as a minimum requisite and cover different types of exercise demands

Variations include

1. Strength to speed
2. Plyometric to strength
3. Endurance to plyometric
4. Plyometric to speed
5. Dynamic to strength

 Examples of exercises that compliment progression rather than regression are

1. Turkish get up to Tuck jump Burpee
2. Squat to concertina press up
3. Squat thrust to incline press up
4. Press up to sit (through sagital plane)
5. Doris burpee to pull up

Give the complexes ago and see how quickly you progress in all over body functionality

I need your opinion leave a comment with your favourite burpee or complex!

Military Fitness Test

 

How do you stack up?

Yes I know it’s the dreaded term we all hear, either at the gym as we watch staff post the monthly gym challenge on the board, or as part of our fitness training with a trainer, or even as part of our working lives.

It’s also something some of us never even think about; we go to the gym, or run, swim, cycle and lift weights day in and day out and sometimes see the benefits of what we reap. However, do we really know if we are making progress.

Some of us are disciplined enough to keep training diaries and can see progress on the type of training we are conducting. But! Do we actually know it’s working – well that’s where fitness tests or fitness assessments come into their own.

Generally speaking, there are unlimited numbers of tests some standard, some invented by trainers or coaches for a specific purpose; however they all do the same thing. They give a baseline on the standard of fitness a person has and further tests evaluate progress.

Most general fitness tests cover the following main areas

Strength
Speed
Suppleness
Stamina

Don’t worry about the “ins and outs” of the test and the “why”, all we need to know is that it’s a way of testing and evaluating our progress in relation to our programme. In the main, we should test ourselves approximately every six weeks and try to ensure that the tests are conducted as close as possible to the previous test conditions.

After this, we can incorporate the tests into our training programme and make the necessary alterations to ensure that we progress rather than regress.

Try thie simple tests next time your at the gym or outside and see how you stack up. You don’t need any fancy equipment, most of it can be done outside or within the confines of a gym, make sure you have a pen and paper to record your results.

Military Fitness Test

The following test is an adaptation of the personal fitness test, used by the Army to test fitness standards. All you need is a stopwatch and partner to count and score your results.

The test consists of a series of basic exercises designed to test strength and stamina:
· A timed 1500 meter run (best effort)
· Maximum repetitions of the following exercises over a 2 minute period:-

Sit ups

Press ups

Burpees

 

 

The scoring system is as follows:
How to Score the Assessment

Exercise Level Novice

 

 

1500m Run 7.40mns+

 

Press Ups 1-20 reps

 

Sit Ups 10-37 reps

 

Burpees 1-15 reps

 

Exercise Level Intermediate
1500m Run Under 6.30mins

 

Press Ups 21-40 reps

 

Sit Ups 38-61 reps

 

Burpees 15-30 reps

 

 

 

Exercise Level Advanced
1500m Run 4.20-6.25

 

Press Ups 41-60 reps

 

Sit Ups 62+ reps

 

Burpees 31+ reps

 

 

Press Ups- for 2 minutes- Standard full press up, arms just over shoulder width apart, legs together, back straight. You should lower your body until it is one inch from the floor, if you have a training partner see the following:

Male – One fist your chest should touch your partners fist which is placed on the floor below your chest thumb on top
Female – You should attempt to complete full press ups alternatively- Half press ups knees on floor, your partner should have one fist on top of the other.

Sit Ups – for 2 minutes- Lie on your back, feet flat, knees bend, shoulder blades only should touch the ground, hands on thighs. When you start the sit up, your wrists must pass your knees to be counted, on the way back your shoulder blades only should touch the ground

 

 

 

1500m run as fast as you can-

Treadmill,  incline, level 1, speed as fast as you can

The test and assessment are only a guide to your overall fitness ability and many factors such as

· Rest
· Training
· Eating
· Competing
· Commitment to the test

May [and can] affect your results each time.

That’s the end of the Military Fitness Test. All you have to do is conduct the test, score your results and tweak your training to improve in all areas, weak and strong alike. Just remember to conduct the tests as close to the original test conditions as possible each time. Over testing is just as bad as over training!

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