My kickboxing / muay thai instructor makes me do between 50 - 165 burpees almost every session. Despite doing this kind of exercise for some 9 months it doesn't seem to get any easier and I ALWAYS feel sick after ten of them. Please can anyone tell me:

(a) does it ever become any easier (i.e. will I ever stop feeling sick? - no other exercise makes me nauseous)?
(b) will tweaking the technique make them easier to deal with? - at the moment on the jump I can't look up - I have to concentrate on the spot on the floor where I look when on the squat thrust part of the burpee.

I'm asking because the burpees are the bits I dread in every session...

a) no - always going to be a bitch of an exercise!

b) you should try to be looking forward for the whole thing to help with keeping your back straight. if you concentrate on a spot infront of you it should help with your balance as if you were looking at the ground.

do you do the press up with these or do you skip it?

Damn! The way we do it is squat thrust, upright, jump, down to squat thrust again.

After either 50 of them, we do 50 press-ups and then 50 sits ups. Otherwise, it's 20 burpees, 20 press-ups, 20 sit ups, 19 of each, 18 of each and so on down to 10 of each...

the main reason why so many people hate this exercise is because its so good!

i do think you teacher is going a bit over the top if you do this every session.

variation is the key as well as letting your body rest and recover.

Heres a copy of my training. i change it every now and again. 2 a week along side 3 krav sessions and any home work i want to do. its a bit more of a strength/power workout but you get the variety idea.

Week 1

Chest, Triceps and Legs

Clean and Press 3x5
Bench Press 5x5
Skull Crushers 4x10

Superset 2x20
Jump Squats
Split Squats
Over-bar Jump Squats

Back, Biceps, Shoulders and Abs

Hanging Cleans 3x5
One Arm Rows 5x5
EZ Curls 4x10
Military Press 4x10

Superset 2x20
Crunches
Russian Twists
Side Bends

Week 2

Chest, Triceps and Legs

Deadlift 3x5
Clap Press Ups 3x20
Narrow Press 4x10

Jefferson Squats 3x10
Stiff Leg Deadlift 3x8

Back, Biceps, Shoulders and Abs

Dumbbell Swings 3x10
Bent Over Row 5x5
Concentration Curls 4x10
Upright Row 4x10

Superset 2x20
V-Ups
Bench Leg Ins
Bridge (one leg) 1 min

How is your breathing? It's very easy to lock all your upper torso muscles on the squat thrust without noticing. This makes it hard to maintain strong, regular breaths. And that in turn can make the landing of your jump rigid, which will jostle you quite a bit.

tonyli wrote:
How is your breathing? It's very easy to lock all your upper torso muscles on the squat thrust without noticing. This makes it hard to maintain strong, regular breaths. And that in turn can make the landing of your jump rigid, which will jostle you quite a bit.

Yeah check your breathing. A poor breathing pattern can make this already difficult exercise even harder and nauseating.

I think you also may be underestimating yourself. A lot of these exercises we "hate" and don't think we are getting better at are deceptive. Just because you never get to the point that they are a breeze doesn't mean you conditioning or abilities haven't improved.

Take your burpees for example, when you first started them you probably weren't doing them as fast as now, or jumping as high between or recovering as quickly when you were done them. A good test of your fitness is how long it takes you to recover from strenuous activity.

My strenght and conditioning coach has me do the Prowler, where you push a three treaded sled with weights on it. I swear I am no better at it now than a year ago when I started. But looking at it objectively I know I am. When I first started I pushed on the high poles (MUCH easier) and only had about 90 pounds on it. I needed a 90 second recovery between each set. Now I am pushing 180 pounds on the low bar with 45 second between sets. Do I still hate them? Are they still really, really hard? Yes and yes...but I am getting better at them and that translates to better cardio and endurance for my grappling.

CTD - I hear you! You're right - I am getting better and my explosive power is miles better than it was. And we're not doing them every session now...

I breathe out on the thrust and the jump - that feels the natural way to do it. The main thing I need to do is find one place to look at during it. And to find a sports bra that prevents any movement whatsoever - still having problems with that one!

I still dread 'em, but I know they've made all the difference to my fitness.

You know at our recent camp, I warmed up the group with burpees, and for the life of me I don't know why as I hate them damn things!!!

Had it not been for the other instructor, I would have kept the group going to a minimum of 50, but luckily for me, my co-instructor saved me from myself