A question about Burpees....

As children we did burpees. In the Marine Corps they called the 'bend and thrusts." I like that name the best. Either way we never left the ground. Meaning...when performed we did not jump in the air from the squat position. I don't know where that came from and frankly I don't care. It's a jump. Bad for ankles, bad for knees, bad for hips and bad for lower back if you have poor form and/or posture. Just bad. The hard corps wing nuts that jump with the burpees look silly after 20 (that is a generous number) and should have stopped at 5. When you do your burpees (4 today) finish each one standing up right. Chest back. Looking forward. Hips forward. Knees locked. Then do another. You don't need to be a speed freak. Use the full range of motion.

Get your 4.

DAY 3...

Like any good progression, it is totally dependent on staying on track. The benefits happen at the end. Any weight training program will start seeing real results mid-program...not the first 1/3 of the training cycle. So, changing your program frequently falls under the category of muscle confusion which is good. But if you are not on the program long enough to begin with, it just becomes 'a work-out' and not a program. I have trained with some very smart people. Too smart for their own good. Constantly changing things around and going on to a new philosophy of training before getting simple results from the training they were doing. Meanwhile, us 'over-trainers' were still increasing our weights even thou we were "over-training." And we were over-training. No doubt in my mind. But you do have to wring that rag dry before trying something new. Look at how well everyone did on the SSST and RKC Snatch test. We have not been training for this or focusing on 'so-called' conditioning. But there we were, snatching to beat all hell and posting impressive numbers. Look around to other clubs. Ask those who travel around to other clubs (Cap, Linnea, Super Dave, Big Dan...and the others) and check how we compare. We post great numbers. Which brings me to my almost annual shameless self promotion. Dragon Door has a feature on it's website to rank RKC Instructors. Here is the link. If you haven't done so in the past I respectfully request that you put in a good word to the mother ship ON BEHALF OF THE STUDIO. Please take a minute and describe your experience with NEKB. Don't focus so much on my instruction. Rather, if you would talk about the training environment I would greatly appreciate it. People read these things. Dragon Door gets a lot of traffic and it is some of the best advertising for our studio. Plus, other instructors are watching and it's nice to have a little friendly local competition.

NOW->->->->->GET YOUR THREE BURPEES !

Some thoughts....

First, I want to introduce a guy that really puts forth an effort. This is John. John and I went to H.S. together and (as fate would have it) ended up in the same series in Marine Corps Boot Camp. John is a good guy and generally nondescript. HE is a pilot for a major airline and a good family man. If you met him in a bar you wouldn't expect this kind of brilliant behavior from him UNLESS you knew him. He is stealthy, to say the least. I love this picture of him. There is another picture I love as well but I will let this one sink in and maybe post the other one tomorrow. In Johns own words," No winkies were hurt during the photo shoot."

The Burpee Progression started yesterday. Today you perform two burpees. I am dedicated to sending out and email everyday for the next 99 days to remind you. Keep the count going at home during non-class days. Class days we will start our training with the burpees due that day. If you come to class and you have already done the burpees for that day it will just be extra training for you as you do them with the class (the love never ends). The progression has drawn out some forces. We are actually 8 days behind Steve and Brenda. They started the progression unknown to me. Cap is throwing in a push-up progression and Cat' is with us in spirit. She is going to bust them out independently.

The SSST was a monster success. Everyone did better than they thought and creating new approaches based on their individual performances. Multiple requests for a follow-up test have surfaced. I will announce it again. Very soon. Weeks, not months. Personally I am still really tight in the trap'z bilaterally. tonights training will put this to bed as we work lighter pairs. I have put very specific time aside tomorrow to get the record board up on the wall. Out pet project will be to start targeting the categories and filling in the board.