Why should we do burpees even when we hate them?
There are many reasons to avoid doing burpees.
Yes, that is technically one reason, but it’s a pretty good one so we’ll count it as 5.
On the other hand, there are many reasons to incorporate them into your normal routine.
1) Full body strength workout, working upper body, lower body, and core
2) Quickly raises heart rate
3) High intensity exercise, helping to increase anaerobic capacity
6) Able to do anywhere and add in any workout
Looks like the burpee pros beat out the cons by 1. Let’s learn to love them! 🙂
After completing all 3 rounds of 10 burrpees, you’ll feel like the coolest, strongest, most intense person on the planet. Go ahead and soak up this feeling!
Classic Burpees: Lower down into a squat position and place your hands on the ground in front of you. Kick your feet back into a rush up position. Raise your body back up and return your feet back to the squat position as quickly as possible. Immediately jump up as high as you can and land back in the squat position. Flow through this in one seamless, quick motion. Repeat 10 times.
Today’s workout is cardio. It’s bodyweight strength training. It’s intense and effective. Two bonuses are that it requires no equipment and it will take you 5 – 10 minutes to complete.
Bonus: When you’re done, quiet your body and mind with some Yoga Poses for Runners.
Beastly Bonus: Want to do a little more today? Try this 5 minute workout. 5 moves – :50 each with :10 rest. Who will try it? (Do this before yoga!)
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Our other ‘to do” today is our weekly weigh in. No, you don’t have to post your weight. You can if you want, but it is not necessary or required. If you want to stay more accountable you can post your weight or PM it to your buddy!
Why do we weigh ourselves weekly instead of daily?
If you’re like most people, you want to see results that justify your hard work. And that result, usually has to do with seeing the number on the scale go steadily down. So you weigh yourself every day because you need a reason to keep going.
Everything is fine, until the unthinkable happens: the scale stops going down. Or, after one “cheat day” you find yourself 8 pounds heavier and you think, “Oh no! Everything I’ve done for the past 2 weeks is for nothing!” Repeat this a few times and before you know it, you’ve given up on working out and you’ve dumped your diet.
The truth is, you were probably doing a good job before you quit. You probably just got discouraged because you did what no one should ever do: you weighed yourself too much and read too much into it.
Every day is too much. Even every few days is too much. Here are 5 reasons why your scale misled you and made you feel discouraged.
1) You’re confusing “weight loss” with “fat loss” – It’s a safe bet to assume that when people want to lose weight, what they really mean is that they want to lose fat. The problem is, many people use the words “weight loss” and “fat loss” interchangeably, which are two separate concepts.
When you lose weight, you lose more than just fat.
Muscle and water are two other components that make up your weight, and when you lose weight, you can lose some of each.
You can drop weight but dropping actual fat takes time– more time than you think. Without going on an unhealthy near-starvation diet, you can only expect to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week at best.
Don’t expect to lose 10 pounds in a week, because even if you do, that weight is not going to be all fat. Losing muscle is not good for your health, and you will want to preserve it as much as you can.
2) Your glycogen levels are changing, which can cause large weight swings in either direction – Glycogen is a short-term energy source that your body taps into when it needs immediate energy. Although it is produced from many different types of foods, foods rich in carbohydrates like bread trigger glycogen production more than any other food source. It’s a very good energy source, so much so that this is the major reason why marathon runners have “pasta parties” the day before the race: it’s to fuel up on glycogen! You might also know this by another term: carb-loading. Carb loading is NOT a bad thing for runners. They key is to do it smart and not to overdo it. We don’t need as much as we think we do….we’ll talk about this more on another day.
3. You’re retaining water due to your salt intake – Sodium is linked with water retention, and it is the job of your kidneys to expel unneeded sodium out of your body. Until your kidneys are able to do that, you will temporarily be holding onto extra water. If your daily water and sodium intake habits change from day to day, this can contribute your holding onto differing amounts of water, which will cause changes in your daily weight.
So, if you were on a diet but flooded your body with more salt than you normally have, you can expect to see a temporary increase in weight. It doesn’t mean that all your hard work is for nothing; it just means that you’re experiencing additional water weight because of the extra sodium in your body.
4. Your muscle gains are outweighing your fat loss – If you’re lifting weights as part of your strategy to burn fat and lose weight, you’re doing something right! Adding resistance training to your fat/weight loss plan is a great way to protect and preserve muscle loss as you subtract fat from your frame.
However, if you’re pushing yourself hard, you’re going to see some things on the scale that may surprise you. Your weight might actually not go down; it might go up! Why?
This is because as you are losing fat, you are replacing that weight with muscle. Your weight may not go down, but your body fat percentage will! That’s important for ALL athletes!
5. You’re weighing yourself at different times of the day, under different conditions – If you’re weighing yourself whenever you feel like it without being consistent in terms of what time you weigh and what you’ve done during the day up to that point, the scale is going to mislead you every single time.
Generally, people’s weight increases during the day due to the food and drinks they consume. Food and drinks also produce waste, which can also lead to additional weight gain throughout the day. Naturally, this weight gain is temporary, but if you weighed yourself in the morning on an empty stomach, and then without thinking weighed yourself 5 days later in the middle of the day, you can’t compare those weights against each other.
Today we are weighing ourselves first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Write it down, share it with your buddy, post it IF you want to. Don’t worry about anyone else’s weight. This is your journey. We will weigh ourselves each Wednesday. If you are following the “rules” you will see a difference.
Don’t let the scale trick you! Look for consistent, steady, and gradual changes in your weight. As difficult as it sounds, if you are using just a scale to determine your progress, you have to space out your weigh-ins. If you still aren’t seeing weight changes in that period of time, you need to take another look at your diet and exercise plans and potentially make some adjustments.
If you want a more precise measurement, get your body composition analyzed and track your body fat percentage.
Because your weight is made up of many different elements and can fluctuate for so many different reasons, assessing your weight by tracking your body composition is a much better way to determine how you’re meeting your goals.
If you diet and exercise properly with enough patience and determination, you will reach your goals!
Why should we do burpees even when we hate them?
There are many reasons to avoid doing burpees.
Yes, that is technically one reason, but it’s a pretty good one so we’ll count it as 5.
On the other hand, there are many reasons to incorporate them into your normal routine.
1) Full body strength workout, working upper body, lower body, and core
2) Quickly raises heart rate
3) High intensity exercise, helping to increase anaerobic capacity
6) Able to do anywhere and add in any workout
Looks like the burpee pros beat out the cons by 1. Let’s learn to love them! 🙂
After completing all 3 rounds of 10 burrpees, you’ll feel like the coolest, strongest, most intense person on the planet. Go ahead and soak up this feeling!
Classic Burpees: Lower down into a squat position and place your hands on the ground in front of you. Kick your feet back into a rush up position. Raise your body back up and return your feet back to the squat position as quickly as possible. Immediately jump up as high as you can and land back in the squat position. Flow through this in one seamless, quick motion. Repeat 10 times.
Today’s workout is cardio. It’s bodyweight strength training. It’s intense and effective. Two bonuses are that it requires no equipment and it will take you 5 – 10 minutes to complete.
Bonus: When you’re done, quiet your body and mind with some Yoga Poses for Runners.
Beastly Bonus: Want to do a little more today? Try this 5 minute workout. 5 moves – :50 each with :10 rest. Who will try it? (Do this before yoga!)
Our other ‘to do” today is our weekly weigh in. No, you don’t have to post your weight. You can if you want, but it is not necessary or required. If you want to stay more accountable you can post your weight or PM it to your buddy!
Why do we weigh ourselves weekly instead of daily?
If you’re like most people, you want to see results that justify your hard work. And that result, usually has to do with seeing the number on the scale go steadily down. So you weigh yourself every day because you need a reason to keep going.
Everything is fine, until the unthinkable happens: the scale stops going down. Or, after one “cheat day” you find yourself 8 pounds heavier and you think, “Oh no! Everything I’ve done for the past 2 weeks is for nothing!” Repeat this a few times and before you know it, you’ve given up on working out and you’ve dumped your diet.
The truth is, you were probably doing a good job before you quit. You probably just got discouraged because you did what no one should ever do: you weighed yourself too much and read too much into it.
Every day is too much. Even every few days is too much. Here are 5 reasons why your scale misled you and made you feel discouraged.
1) You’re confusing “weight loss” with “fat loss” – It’s a safe bet to assume that when people want to lose weight, what they really mean is that they want to lose fat. The problem is, many people use the words “weight loss” and “fat loss” interchangeably, which are two separate concepts.
When you lose weight, you lose more than just fat.
Muscle and water are two other components that make up your weight, and when you lose weight, you can lose some of each.
You can drop weight but dropping actual fat takes time– more time than you think. Without going on an unhealthy near-starvation diet, you can only expect to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week at best.
Don’t expect to lose 10 pounds in a week, because even if you do, that weight is not going to be all fat. Losing muscle is not good for your health, and you will want to preserve it as much as you can.
2) Your glycogen levels are changing, which can cause large weight swings in either direction – Glycogen is a short-term energy source that your body taps into when it needs immediate energy. Although it is produced from many different types of foods, foods rich in carbohydrates like bread trigger glycogen production more than any other food source. It’s a very good energy source, so much so that this is the major reason why marathon runners have “pasta parties” the day before the race: it’s to fuel up on glycogen! You might also know this by another term: carb-loading. Carb loading is NOT a bad thing for runners. They key is to do it smart and not to overdo it. We don’t need as much as we think we do….we’ll talk about this more on another day.
3. You’re retaining water due to your salt intake – Sodium is linked with water retention, and it is the job of your kidneys to expel unneeded sodium out of your body. Until your kidneys are able to do that, you will temporarily be holding onto extra water. If your daily water and sodium intake habits change from day to day, this can contribute your holding onto differing amounts of water, which will cause changes in your daily weight.
So, if you were on a diet but flooded your body with more salt than you normally have, you can expect to see a temporary increase in weight. It doesn’t mean that all your hard work is for nothing; it just means that you’re experiencing additional water weight because of the extra sodium in your body.
4. Your muscle gains are outweighing your fat loss – If you’re lifting weights as part of your strategy to burn fat and lose weight, you’re doing something right! Adding resistance training to your fat/weight loss plan is a great way to protect and preserve muscle loss as you subtract fat from your frame.
However, if you’re pushing yourself hard, you’re going to see some things on the scale that may surprise you. Your weight might actually not go down; it might go up! Why?
This is because as you are losing fat, you are replacing that weight with muscle. Your weight may not go down, but your body fat percentage will! That’s important for ALL athletes!
5. You’re weighing yourself at different times of the day, under different conditions – If you’re weighing yourself whenever you feel like it without being consistent in terms of what time you weigh and what you’ve done during the day up to that point, the scale is going to mislead you every single time.
Generally, people’s weight increases during the day due to the food and drinks they consume. Food and drinks also produce waste, which can also lead to additional weight gain throughout the day. Naturally, this weight gain is temporary, but if you weighed yourself in the morning on an empty stomach, and then without thinking weighed yourself 5 days later in the middle of the day, you can’t compare those weights against each other.
Today we are weighing ourselves first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Write it down, share it with your buddy, post it IF you want to. Don’t worry about anyone else’s weight. This is your journey. We will weigh ourselves each Wednesday. If you are following the “rules” you will see a difference.
Don’t let the scale trick you! Look for consistent, steady, and gradual changes in your weight. As difficult as it sounds, if you are using just a scale to determine your progress, you have to space out your weigh-ins. If you still aren’t seeing weight changes in that period of time, you need to take another look at your diet and exercise plans and potentially make some adjustments.
If you want a more precise measurement, get your body composition analyzed and track your body fat percentage.
Because your weight is made up of many different elements and can fluctuate for so many different reasons, assessing your weight by tracking your body composition is a much better way to determine how you’re meeting your goals.
If you diet and exercise properly with enough patience and determination, you will reach your goals!
Strong to the Core 