Today, I got on the wii and downloaded the YouTube channel so that I could workout in 56" glory rather than my little iPad screen. I called up PiYo workouts and promptly rejected the hour and a half one (I'm ambitious, not crazy). The 25 minute one looked promising. So, I selected and completed that one - challenging but doable. I think I might be hooked.
Next, I decided I wasn't done and called up HIIT workouts. I picked a 20 minute HIIT and Strength video and set to work. What happened next should not have been a surprise to me. I should have known, at least conceptually, that it was a possibility. I mean, I teach water aerobics. I've been known to muse about a base exercise trying to figure out ways to make it new/fresh/exciting. So, really, the fact that someone else did this with burpees shouldn't have caught me off guard. I am, however, of the opinion that burpees are evil. Who, in their right mind, goes and tries to make them more evil?
Today, my friends, I learned not one but three new variations of the burpee. Let me enlighten you so that you too may join me in my sweat soaked exhaustion. Number 1 - Burpee Hold - Start the burpee as you normally would. When you get to the part where you hop up from a squat, stop. Hold it there for a second or two. Now, you'd think that this would be an improvement. I mean that little hop up is hell. Turns out holding the low squat isn't much fun either. Number 2 - Burpee Splits - Complete one burpee as you normally would. Before starting your next burpee, do two split jumps. Basically, from a standing position, jump to a lunge position but not quite as low. Then jump to switch legs and hop back to starting position.
And lastly, we get to what in my opinion is a new level of hell. Number 3 - Round of Applause - Squat down and ready yourself to jump your legs out. However, instead of jumping them out to a plank position, push them up above your head and clap your feet together. Picture a child starting to learn to do a hand stand and you'll have a pretty good visual. When your feet return to the ground, jump up sweeping your arms out and up to clap above your head like you would for a jumping jack.
While I obviously survived my foray into burpee land, I do not think I will be repeating these by choice anytime soon. That is, of course, unless I am demonstrating them to some other poor, unsuspecting exerciser who will then be doomed to hell along with me.