Sean Judkins is a PE teacher at Agora School in Portals, and he has the reputation of being a bit of an action man. He’s achieved some impressive physical challenges on the island over the years, including long endurance races running, cycling and kayaking across and around the Tramuntana Mountains. The events have been huge efforts, requiring a lot of training and organisation leading up to race day, and always for charity. It might have seemed interesting but also daunting to anyone wanting to join in, so for 2024 Sean has come up with a plan which everyone can join in with: the 366 Burpee Challenge. In essence, you are challenged to do one more burpee everyday than the day before.
“The good thing is that by doing one more burpee everyday the training and the preparation becomes the event itself. Yesterday will have helped for today, and today sets us up for tomorrow. So when it starts to get hard, you can think of it as just “one more than yesterday”. As Sean says. “For obvious reasons, there can be no control to ensure that all of the burpees are done – as with all things, our greatest critic should be ourselves…”
The 366 Burpee Challenge
What is it? An incremental daily habit challenge where everyday for 2024 the participants will do one more burpee than they did the previous day. Each day, add one more - e.g. do 20 on the 20th January and finish on December 31st completing 366 (fittingly enough it’s a Leap Year)! Once the number of burpees becomes higher, you can spread them out over the day, you do not need to do them all in one go.
By the end of the year the participants will have performed 67,179 burpees.
Hang on, what’s a burpee?
For those of you who don’t know, the burpee is a squat thrust with an additional stand between repetitions, it is a full body exercise used in strength training. The basic movement as described by its namesake, physiologist Royal H. Burpee, is performed in four steps from a standing position and known as a “four-count burpee”
1. Move into a squat position with your hands on the ground.
2. Kick your feet back into an extended plank position, while keeping your arms extended.
3. Immediately return your feet into a squat position.
4. Stand up from the squat position.
5. Jump
You can modify it by stepping back into a plank instead. Many variants of the basic burpee exist, and they often include a push-up and a jump.
The exercise was invented in 1939 by US physiologist Royal Huddleston Burpee Sr., who used it in the burpee test to assess fitness. Burpee earned a PhD in applied physiology from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1940 and created the “burpee” exercise as part of his PhD thesis as a quick and simple fitness test, which may be used as a measure of agility and coordination. The original burpee was a “four-count burpee” consisting of movements through four different positions, and in the fitness test, the burpee was performed four times, with five heart rate measurements taken before and after the four successive burpees to measure the efficiency of the heart at pumping blood and how quickly the heart rate returns to normal.
Who can join in?
Anyone can join in. You can modify the exercise to your own abilities and circumstances. It’s also a great challenge for groups: yacht crews, families, friends, to do together. Choose picturesque locations to take photos or short videos for FB/Insta. Ask for sponsors to support both you (encouragement) and your charity (through sponsorship donations) – make the event your own!
Is it for charity?
Yes! All participants are encouraged to choose a charity and find sponsors.
How do I register?
Complete the inscription form on the event page of the www.tramuntathlon.com website.
Make a 50€/£/$ donation to ANY registered official charity, worldwide.
Provide evidence of the donation (email to info@tramuntathlon.com).
Post a video/photo (and tag the Tramuntathlon Facebook/Instagram) of your first day as a “participant” if you are a social media user.
Sporadically (or daily if you wish) keep them informed via posts on FB/Insta to help spread the word.
Sean and Tramuntathlon will organise occasional meet-ups and events as possible.
January 1st is kick off, or should we say, jump off?
The first burpee will be done on the beach on January 1st 2024. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come along. For more info contact Sean by email: info@tramuntathlon.com or WhatsApp +34 680806244. If you can’t start on the 1st you have until January 31st to sign up and start. If you start on the 10th January, your first effort must be 10 burpees for example, so better to start sooner than later.
The burpee: if there is a more hated exercise in the gym I have yet to do it, but athlete Chris Spealler said, “Find your weaknesses, make friends with them, and then beat them to death”. This seems like a great opportunity to do exactly that. Let Sean know if you are taking him up on his challenge for 2024!
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