#332 Meet Mr. Royal H. Burpee

I’ve mentioned the fact that I love to do 100+ burpees every day but I realized I haven’t formally introduced you to Mr. Royal H. Burpee. (My apologies!)

Yep. The burpee is named after an actual guy. And his name is “Royal H. Burpee.” (Isn’t that awesome? Hah.)

Our friend Royal Burpee was an American physiologist in the 1930s. He came up with the movement that now bears his name.

Joe De Sena calls it “a sort of high intensity jumping jack and push-up.”

Here’s how he describes the movement in Spartan Up!: “Beginning from a standing position, drop into a squat until your hands are actually touching the ground. Without hesitation, kick your legs back to assume the up position of the pushup; do a pushup; and again without hesitation, draw your legs back into a lower squat position before standing up to starting position. From there, drop into another rep.”

I show you how to do the burpee a few different ways in our Spartan Training 101 class (see the bonus video). And, you can watch De Sena model that here. (Plus his team shows us a couple modified versions here. And, here’s a look at Joe and some guys doing burpees at an airport.)

Now, I’m thinking about burpees more these days because near the end of 2017, my friend, former Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine watched our +1 on how I do 11 sets of 11 burpees Champions Do More style. He told me that he was going to do 100,000 burpees in 2018 to raise some money to support the troops with post-traumatic stress.

(btw: You can join the cause at burpeesforvets.com!)

(I’m chipping in 50,000 burpees to the cause this year!)

All that to say: Burpees are awesome. If you’ve never tried them before, start with a step-back modified version to get your body used to doing them and learn to love ‘em!!

Note: When I first started doing burpees two and a half years ago, I did too many at once and hurt my shoulder a bit. So, I took a week off and then had fun doing ONE burpee and then adding a burpee every day until I could (easily) do 100 burpees in a row.

Now, you may not want to do them, which is fine. But, if you’re wondering whether or not you can do them, keep this in mind: Joe De Sena’s daughter banged out 300 in a row when she was four. 🤓

As Henry Ford says, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

You got this!

Today’s +1: If this is your first time hanging out with our friend Royal H. Burpee, how about 11 step-back burpees?! And… If you’re a pro, and you’re really feeling it, give me 111 today!! 🙂