The 100-day burpee challenge starts with one burpee on day one, adds one rep every day, and finishes with one hundred burpees on day one hundred, turning a monumental total into a manageable daily stair step. In this Physical Friday I check in from day 73, where the numbers are really ramping up, and explain why this format builds your body and your mind at the same time, and how the same approach moves the big rocks in business and in life.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
You start on day one with one burpee. Day two is two burpees, day three is three, and you add one rep every single day until day one hundred, when you do one hundred burpees. There is no banking extra reps like we did in the push-up challenge; you just do the number of the day. By the end you will have done thousands of burpees, but no single day ever asked you for more than one rep beyond what you did the day before.
Around day 73, right where I am now. The early days are easy, and you do not really hit the halfway point of total volume until around day 70. The last ten days alone add up to close to a thousand burpees. That late stretch is exactly where people get intimidated and quit, in the challenge and in life, and it is exactly where you need to keep moving, one rep at a time.
Because a giant number is intimidating and a small daily number is not. If somebody told you to do six thousand burpees, you would walk away, but one today, two tomorrow, three the next day is manageable, and momentum builds. Even as the work gets harder, getting the day's work done gets easier, because your body adapts and the habit is locked in. Break anything monumental into manageable chunks, do not get overwhelmed, and do it every single day.
Absolutely. You can run the same format with pull-ups, kettlebell swings, push-ups, or anything else. The format is the point, not the movement: start at one rep, add one every day, and let the stair step carry you to a number you could not have touched on day one. You can also flip it and start at one hundred and count down to one, which is what I plan to try next time, since I am already in shape for burpees.
The gym is a microcosm of life. A huge project, like transforming your business after coronavirus changed the landscape, is a monumental amount of work, but it gets done the same way the challenge does: small chunks, every day, without getting overwhelmed. Unlike the burpee challenge, in business you can bank progress; when momentum builds and your team feels good, you can make big, big moves.
Imagine a wheelbarrow full of big rocks, smaller rocks, gravel, and sand. The big rocks come out first. When you are moving toward a goal, the big rocks are the things that move the needle the most, so you do those first and do not worry about the sand at the bottom; you sweep that out at the end. A daily challenge like this keeps your mind trained on doing the most important work first, every single day.
Here is the complete format. It works with burpees, push-ups, pull-ups, kettlebell swings, or any movement you choose.
If you are not ready for a hundred straight days, run the same format for thirty days. Add one rep a day for a month and you will not believe where you get.
We are seventy-three days into the burpee challenge, and even though there are only thirty days left, this is where the volume piles on. You do not hit halfway until around day 70, and the last stretch is close to a thousand burpees in ten days. This is the exact point in any journey, in training, in business, anywhere, where it is easiest to get intimidated and stop. Do not stop. I talk through how I handle this stretch in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I am already in shape for burpees, so the slow early days of this challenge do not give me much. Next round I plan to start at one hundred and work down to one, which front-loads the hardest work when I am freshest and most excited, but for most people the standard format is better, because you may not be ready for a hundred burpees today, and the stair step builds you to it. I explain how to pick your version in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I rarely work out inside, and I rarely work out in an actual gym, but I still call it the gym, and the gym is a microcosm of life. When you intentionally and voluntarily put yourself in difficult, uncomfortable situations in a small controlled environment, you learn little lessons that apply everywhere. I honestly do not know what I would do if I did not train; I just would not be as efficient in life. I get into what the daily discomfort gives me in the episode, so press play in the player above.
A lot of people are looking at transforming their business after coronavirus completely changed the landscape of their world. You know roughly what needs to happen, but it is a monumental amount of work. Treat it like the burpee challenge: break it into manageable chunks, do a little every day, and let momentum build. Then move the big rocks first and leave the sand for the end. I walk through the big rocks analogy in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The burpee challenge is one we have come back to five or six times now, and it never stops teaching. Within a hundred days you can make a complete physical transformation, taking an exercise you could barely do and making it routine. When you prove that to yourself in your driveway or on the beach, you can apply it to any area of your life.
If you have not started, start today with one burpee. If you have a question about the challenge, email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and I will answer it. Press play in the player above.
100-day burpee challenge · burpees · push-up challenge · pull-ups · kettlebell swings · big rocks analogy · mental toughness · momentum · business transformation · coronavirus · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. Physical Friday is the podcast's weekly fitness series, where I share the workouts, training formats, and mindset lessons that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong enough to do what they love for life.
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