This video sprung up on my IG feed whilst I was lazing by the pool on Saturday December 16, 2023...
*I was asked by Adrian and the Team at Swiss 8 to be an Ambassador for them many years ago, as they were starting out as a Mental Health Charity to better serve the Veteran Community. There's been many iterations from both sides, however we're still connected and fighting the good fight, albeit in different countries.
Tribe. Routine. Identity. Purpose. Swiss 8 - Delivering Proactive Mental Health Coaching via their Recalibr8 App!
...then I got a message.
"Fellas, I've set a goal of doing 2024 Burpees over 30 days to bring in the new year. If you want to join, hit the link below and add your details, and update the running tally as you knock them off. I think it will be a great way to challenge ourselves and each other, stay connected, and build some momentum to start the year!" - One of the boys
I had to strategise to buy in
Steady and consistent.
Stay in the game.
Accumulate, yet spread the work.
The odds will always favour the man with a plan
I hit a few calculations.
Roughly 67 a day for 30 days. Nice one. This should be relatively easy...
I forgot about the tactics
I had an overall plan, however, to my detriment, I didn't set rules and regulations around how I was going to knock those numbers off each day.
I work in a gym. In my mind, I knew I could hit a set of 20, then continue on with my work. In saying that, Burpees are not a staple exercise in my training programs. So a lot of the times when I was on the gym floor, I just flat-out forgot.
However, when I did remember...
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory, however tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” - A very famous and relevant quote from the epic work, 'The Art of War'.
The banter was on point
One of the main things that kept me in the game early on was the steady stream of messages coming in from the group chat.
I had a laugh, threw back some chat, before cursing as I realised I was already a few days behind on my 67 per day average commitment, about a week in. Let's go. Set of 20.
However, I wasn't off the hook. The boys smelled blood.
Christmas and new years came and went
Whilst I was struggling to hit my 67 a day, some of the lads were banging out hundreds at a time.
In fact, one guy had finished all 2024 Burpees in 11 days...and he just kept stacking them up for the remaining 19 days.
WEAPONS!
I was still behind by roughly 200 Burpees, yet I was still hanging in there.
I started experiencing sciatica for the first time
Before I go any further, I will add that myself and the large majority of the group which undertook this challenge are Veterans. As soldiers, we carried heavy loads over long distances, in sometimes extreme weather conditions, under various states of fatigue. The accumulation of spinal compression through the simple equation of Load + Distance x Time and Frequency =
In saying that, the vast majority of the mates that I served with more than a decade ago, still keep themselves in great shape, so they can be at their best as fathers, husbands, partners, social athletes, businessmen, entrepreneurs, coaches, business owners etc.
Ironically, these happen to be the same men who kept themselves in peak physical condition throughout their Military Careers, to enable them to become the best Soldiers they could be.
*Time spent here... ...made for an easier time here
Anyway, back to the story.
My allocated work time is split between building my own business, and the work I do with Apollo Gym as a Consultant, based in Phuket, Thailand.
Half that time is spent on the gym floor coaching (on my feet and active), with the other half sat at a desk in the home office (seated and inactive).
The last 6 months or so I have spent significantly more time in a seated position than I have in any other 6 month period of my life. And I've noticed it. This low-level, dull sensation that's always there in the background. Whispering. Nothing unusual. Except the whispers turned into a murmur.
With roughly 10 days remaining, and after an extended period of being seated, I pivoted in my office chair, lent forward and went to take the same step I'd already taken many times that day, and boom! A little jolt that felt like a misfire, and sat me back down as quickly as I had tried to stand up.
Whilst I had felt a little nervy in the hips and lower back in more recent times after a physical working career, as well as being a lifelong recreational athlete, I'd never felt that shock which I had heard described many times by multiple different people, for myself.
Fuck. I think sciatica has finally come for me
I had to pause and reflect
Pain is a signal. Whether it is telling you that the stove is too hot, the water is too cold, this exercise hurts my elbow, or that you've lived a hard charging life and you feel every part of it. It's like your check engine light. If you don't address why the pain signal is being sent, the light stays on, even if you dampen it.
There are a whole bunch of nerves which branch out from the base of the spinal cord, one
of those being the sciatic nerve, which originates from the vicinity where the spine and pelvis meet and interact. This is a particularly critical junction in the body, connecting the spine with our locomotive abilities.
Dysfunction here means a flow on effect up and down the kinetic chain. Everything is connected. We are controlled by the brain, driven by the signals our sensory feedback mechanisms provide.
Ultimately, sciatica is pain, numbness or tingling caused from irritation and/or compression of the sciatic nerve.
My sciatic nerve was telling me something was up. Common causes of sciatic nerve irritation include:
Herniated or bulging disk
Spondylolisthesis (vertebral shift)
Overactive piriformis muscle (sciatic nerve runs below it)
General lifelong lower back/hip wear and tear, related to lifestyle and career choices, and injury history
Luckily, I've been in the game long enough to know that there were things that I could do to address this new potential problem before it became an ongoing issue.
Rehab and prehab are the same thing. One you choose to do, the other you're forced to do
I had been ignoring the signals
If I'm honest, my training regime had been all over the place for about 6 months as I'd parted ways with the gym which had employed me for the previous 6 years. I was figuring out my next moves related to how I was going to continue living my life in Thailand. Training had become a luxury rather than a necessity. The minimal training time I did have, I had chosen to do the "fun stuff". And in the background, those signals were slowly but gradually getting louder.
I had some work to do!
First action step was to remove or limit the things causing issues
Burpees
Extended periods of sitting
Not warming up sufficiently before training
Next, I had to create some consistency around training times
10 - 20 minute blocks
2 - 3 times per day
3 - 5 days per week minimum
Then I had to prioritise the "boring" stuff in order to do the "work"
Corrective Exercise
Mobility
Stability
I knew what I had to do, I just hadn't been doing it
At this point, there was a little over a week left in the challenge, and I was roughly 370 Burpees behind on my 67/per day average, with a total of 800+ to go. Meanwhile, other lads were wrapping up their challenge with celebratory GIF's
Finally, I was very intentional with how I began doing Burpees again. Or Burps, as my mate calls them
Under tension throughout entirety of movement
Low intensity, high frequency
I stacked things I was already doing, as triggers to initiate action
Every time I refilled my water bottle, I hit some reps.
Every time I had a bathroom break, I hit some reps.
I was still there, but there was a lot of work to get through heading into the final week.
I had just started regaining some momentum when...
I was concussed from a knee at MMA sparring
I work with, and train alongside many professional fighters.
In an MMA sparring session early in the final week of the challenge, I ate an accidental knee from a new training partner I'd never worked with before.
It didn't knock me out, however it did rock me, and I had to take a knee before I stepped off the mats. This happened Thursday 11th of January.
Over the next couple of days, I limited anything strenuous. Whilst I did a few Burpees here and there, I really didn't push myself in anything that would unnecessarily raise blood pressure, as I was feeling the effects post knee-to-the-face. Meanwhile, I had 3 days to knock out the final 600+ to complete the Challenge.
Time to get serious
My work time at the gym, as it is for most trainers and coaches, is a morning block, and an afternoon/evening block. Time in between is spent taking care of admin, and building the Online Coaching Platform.
For me to bring this home, I needed 200+ Burpees a day
When I was in the home office, I set a countdown timer for every 20 minutes. On the bell, I stopped what I was doing, and knocked out a dozen. Whenever I went to the bathroom, I hit another dozen. The refilling of water bottles equaled a dozen more reps. I stacked them up over the next few days, and was finally in the groove.
Final push to the finish
I had started my challenge a day late, so as the messages came through of the guys completing their own challenges, I was still left with low triple digits to complete on the final day. However, the accumulation of work over the previous few days had me within reach.
A few sets of 20 had me closing in on the final 100 reps
*If I have to do Burpees, so to do you guys
As mentioned earlier, Burpees are not a staple in my programming. It doesn't mean they never make an appearance, or that I don't do them myself, or have my classes/clients do them...it just means it's pretty uncommon. I don't think it's a good training exercise, however I see the benefit in using it as a testing tool, particularly if we want to add fatigue to the system and/or test work capacity with minimal equipment and/or space
And here we are.
100 to go.
10 reps on the minute for 10 minutes.
At least that was what I began with.
A couple of sets in, I transitioned to 5 reps every 30 seconds.
Let's bring it home!
And just like that...
There were no fireworks
There were no celebrations other than what each individual did to reward themselves for undertaking the challenge. I ordered a pizza and went for a massage. This is not an uncommon occurrence. It happens once every few weeks, on a weekend. It was a school night.
We congratulated each other and shared a few words about the positive impact that undertaking this challenge had on us, then consolidated all of our resources for one post on social media which got about 70 likes.
And that was that...
But was it really?
When the Burpees finished, I got a message from one of the lads on my rugby team, asking if I was playing in the internal rugby match with our rugby team, the Phuket Vagabonds, the following weekend.
I hadn't played rugby in seven months, however I had been to two touch football sessions.
Same same, but different.
As mentioned earlier, my training had not been a priority for the last six months.
Fuck it. Let's see where my baseline/maintenance performance levels are at.
My focus shifted to bulletproofing my body as much as I could in a little under two weeks.
Strength and Stability - Injury prevention. Improved force production/absorption/transfer capabilities
Sprints, Jumps, Throws - Perform explosive movements in multiple directions
Conditioning - Energy system work
The next 8 days or so, I dedicated 10 - 20 minutes to each category in the template above, on top of my daily 10-minute Mobility routine I had re-established. A couple of days rest to allow the adaptations from the specific work over the last week to take hold, and it was game time.
I put in a solid stint, along with the rest of the makeshift Southern Hemisphere Team for bragging rights against the North, in a game they had been talking mad shit about, and were expected to win.
I tweaked my hamstring, however, was awarded MVP for the match and was awarded a beer to scull in front of everyone in celebration!
I started writing this blog
I've written and rewritten this blog multiple times through the various iterations. I've dedicated hours and hours to it.
A week after I first sat down and started consolidating my thoughts on screen, I sit here wondering how to round out this experience.
I've gone back through the messages and videos, and relived the timeline as the words on this screen have told my story in a Challenge that many others also participated in. It made me wonder what others experienced. So I reached out and asked them. It has initiated further conversations with the lads in the group, on a more individual level. There has been some good laughs, as well as shared triumphs and adversities, in equal measure. Overall, I consider it a success.
I've gradually changed my perspective on challenges
Authenticity and integrity are high on my list of desirable traits. As a PT/Coach who has been in the fitness industry for over a decade, I've always looked at group challenges as a little gimmicky, a simple marketing tactic used by average trainers to get customers excited, take their money, get them short-term results by using extreme tactics, then offer zero follow-up. As a result, I grew to despise short-term challenges.
In more recent years however, I have gradually reframed what it means to participate in a challenge, and how they can be conducted to ensure the participant is getting what is advertised. Of course, any challenge, whether mental or physical, has associated pros and cons, with the cons having far outweighed the pros in years gone by.
For me, it was always a matter of short-term versus long-term progress.
I now believe a group fitness challenge can be beneficial within a well-structured, periodised training plan that considers all factors of overall health and fitness, so long as the pre-requisites have been met.
Live life to the fullest. Train to your potential. Perform at your best.
Motivation types matter
A factor to be considered in the short-term versus long-term approach has to do with the type of motivation people use as their default.
Intrinsic motivation is when you engage in a behavior because you find it rewarding. You are performing an activity for its own sake rather than from the desire for some external reward. The behavior itself is its own reward.
Extrinsic motivation is when we are motivated to perform a behavior or engage in an activity because we want to earn a reward or avoid punishment. You will engage in behavior not because you enjoy it or because you find it satisfying, but because you expect to get something in return or avoid something unpleasant.
Generally speaking, I am intrinsically motivated. It's the reason I recorded 167 Episodes for the Live Train Perform Podcast over two years, during the pandemic. I put a fuckload of hours into it, with minimal tech experience and no idea what I was doing. I'm proud of my ability to stay the course and release a minimum of one episode per week, consistently over two years.
The goal was never to make money, and I haven't made a cent from it, other than the handful of people who reached out and enquired about my online coaching services I never advertise. I needed a resource library which I could refer people to for the next 20 years.
I wanted to improve my communication skills, and test, build, refine and improve my knowledge in my current field. It was a great way to upskill as a coach.
That's reward enough!
A few months ago I received an email from my Podcast Hosting Platform, congratulating me for hitting the 50,000 download mark. I thought about how long it had been since I had released an episode.
Eighteen months.
Not bad.
Where was it when I last checked? Don't recall.
Cool.
And that was that. I forgot about it. Until we got here.
When I looked at these numbers today (6th February 2024), it did give me a little buzz, I'll be honest.
8,000+ downloads in the 18-month period since I published the last episode in the first iteration of the Live Train Perform Podcast. Not bad. Maybe I should bring it back?
Hit me in the comments with your favourite episode/guest, and let me know if you would like to see the Podcast return!
The circle of life
Sometimes it's easy to let things slip if you're accountable only to yourself. Doing this challenge kept me accountable to myself, because I was accountable to the group
This was my final input into the Burpee Challenge group message. And I realised, it is the same type of motivation which kept me showing up, week after week, over two straight years, to deliver an episode of the Live Train Perform Podcast.
Create your why to make your time
Fitness for me is about being mentally and physically prepared enough to undertake any challenge I choose to pursue, whilst being resilient enough to withstand any adversities that are outside of my control!
I'm 38 years old. I've lived a very physically demanding life.
I had my first MMA fight 2 days after my 38th birthday.
I competed in my first grappling match in recent months.
I spar with professional fighters semi regularly.
I played rugby on two weeks notice, and put in a man of the match performance (although I did tweak my hamstring a little, which has since healed)
Training is no longer about hammering myself. It is about staying in the game!
How I stay in the game for as little as 10-minutes a day!
Create your own group fitness challenge
If you want to ensure you are getting bang-for-buck from your training time, and kick off your own 30-Day Challenge, I'm here for it.
Sign Up For The 60-Day RAMP Package ($57) - Mobility - Stability - Prime
Receive The Build-The-Base Pack FREE ($27) - 10-in-20 Module - Corrective Exercise Concepts
Make a commitment to yourself and a group of friends/family (10-minutes per day for 30-days minimum) - Create your own group - Set an individual or group challenge
Prove to yourself that you are who you say you are by smashing the next 30-Days!*
*Optional $2 monthly subscription after 60 days, in order to retain all 90-Days of Coaching
Live life to the fullest.
Train to your potential.
Perform at your best!
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