IKSC’s Burpee November has been a thing since 2011. To give credit where it’s due, it came from Lisa Shafer and Kettlebell Inc. She suggested on the forums that we should try doing 100 burpees a day throughout the month. Some of us bit in and did it. It has been a tradition ever since, with some modifications here and there.
It always works. There are few times I will say that something will guarantee some kind of result, but this is one. I don’t really look at these monthly events like a huge “challenge” as much as a movement quota. I like to think of them as forcing me to get some kind of small exercise breaks in throughout the day.
This year’s breakdown went like this. 500 per week for advanced, 350 per week intermediate, 250 per week for beginners. Any modification was allowed. Even dropping into a plank position and then regaining the standing position is allowed if someone isn’t able to do anything else. Getting up and down from the floor is absolutely a necessary life skill that most adults shy away from as they age.
Others chose versions with added resistance, like double kettlebell burpee-cleans, kettlebell burpee-deadlifts, or burpee-pullups, where you do a burpee under a pullup bar then grab the bar at the top and do a pullup. These variations were counted at a 2:1 ratio.
It for me, it helped maintain body comp almost effortlessly. I’m 45 now, and I that is past the age genetics can carry you. It has to be lifestyle. I can’t get away with eating other than a diet that is aligned with my DNA (i.e. what would be called a paleo diet) and doing exercises that are effective.
I mostly chose to do burpee variations that used kettlebells or burpee pullups and stayed effortlessly lean at 224lbs at the end of the month. Nope, I don’t look that much different than I have for several years. My body is pretty happy right about here, and since I primarily do martial art as a physical activity outside the gym I compare my physique to what a heavyweight MMA fighter looks like, rather than a physique model.
