Are you R.H. Burpee Fit?
All great Spartans include Burpees as part of their regular exercise routine. Ever wonder who was the sadistic person that invented it? (I thought it was my elementary PE teacher, Mr. Woodcock .)
After some digging I was able to find a dissertation written by Royal Huddleston Burpee titled “ Seven quickly administered tests of physical capacity”. He attempted to narrow down 300 tests of physical capacity to a short list of tests that can be easily administered to large groups, administered in minimal time, and administered with little equipment. One test that rose to the top was the Front Leaning Rest, from the standing position (FLR). Some our nation’s finest know the FLR as the push-up position.
RH Burpee modified the FLR to accommodate his discerning criteria for a physical capacity test. The correct way to do a Burpee according the source is:
1) Bend your knees, and place your hands flat on the floor in front of you
2) Jump your legs straight out to the rear, and leave them there
3) Jump your legs back
4) Stand up
To perform the assessment:
1) Measure resting heart rate lying down
2) Measure resting heart rate standing up
3) Perform four Burpees as fast as possible, record the time
4) Measure post exercise heart rate immediately upon stopping (palpate the wrist and count the number of pulses in 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get beats per minute).
5) Measure heart rate every 15 seconds until heart rate has returned to normal. Record the time it takes to return to normal
These are the standards according to Burpee’s research:
| Item |
Normal |
Questionable Reaction |
| Standing Pulse |
68 – 96 bpm |
100 bpm or more |
| Postural pulse rate change |
0 – 12 bpm |
16 bpm or more |
| Increase in pulse rate change |
44 bpm or less |
48 bpm or more |
| Time to return to normal |
105s or less |
120 s or more |
| Breathlessness |
Not breathless |
Breathless (elevation of chest wall – forced expiration) |
| Limited motor movement |
Not limited |
Limited (cannot excute standard exercise) |
| Time to perform exercise |
11.5 s or less |
11.6 s or more |
Test yourself, how do you measure up to Burpee’s standards developed in 1940?
Learn more about Spartan training and coaching at www.spartancoaches.com
Sources:
Brupee, R.H. (1940). Seven quickly administered tests of physical capacity and their use in detecting physical incapacity fro motor activity in men and boys. Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to Education, No. 818.
Tags: spartan training
August 30, 2012 at 2:37 pm
I’m 50 yrs old, would like to master Burpee, how do I get started, or how many?