November Fitness Challenge

Daily fitness challenge for the month of November. 30 burpees a day for 30 days. Modifications and breaks encouraged as needed.

I have been a functional fitness coach for several years now and recently started up a fitness group outside of the gym. We discuss fitness goals, meet weekly to do an outdoor workout, and have a daily challenge each month.

The intent of the daily challenge is to create productive habits and begin to induce adaptations mentally and physically. The at-home exercise is never more than five minutes, often less. 

Anyone can find a few minutes in the day to do something beneficial for themselves. 

That’s all you need to begin seeing changes assuming you’re doing the same challenge. The Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID) Principle is one I write about often. The more you do anything, the better you get at that specific thing. Plasticity or our body’s ability to physiologically adapt to optimize performance based on what we consistently put it through is amazing. 

Machine learning for humans. 

I’m going to begin sharing the fitness group’s daily challenge at the top of each month. 

November Daily Challenge: 30 burpees (any modification)

30 burpees a day for 30 days. I recently made a post about how a daily burpee challenge changed my life. 

I highly encourage modifications of this dynamic exercise until you are comfortable getting up and down repeatedly and able to do so safely. Many modifications prevent undue stress on the shoulders and other vulnerable parts of the body for those who don’t have the technique dialed in. See yesterday’s post and videos within it for various modifications that can be considered.

Like most of our monthly challenges, the goal is to eventually be able to go unbroken but break you this challenge into sets of an achievable but difficult number initially and then progressively increase from there. 

If you are already proficient at burpees, use this challenge to see how fast you can knock out 30.

My favorite part of these challenges is hearing the stories of progress at the end of the month. Last month, we had a 200 rotations a day jump rope challenge. This could either be 200 singles or 100 double unders for those working on that technique. Two stories shared from our members:

“I did single overs, pretty pumped I got up to 263 unbroken so pushed it up to 300 total by month’s end. I’d add 10 each time I messed up as extra incentive.

It was fun, hadn’t jumped rope in a long time 🤙🏼”

“Hadn’t jump roped probably since elementary school. The first time i tried, maybe got 10 unbroken (singles only) but within a week was at 100 unbroken, got to 200 and 300 unbroken (all singles and average speed). Since then I’ve been trying to speed it up and finish in less time. Still all single overs, haven't been able to nail down the doubles.”

It only takes a few minutes a day for a few weeks to begin to cause plasticity and notice change. The hope in these daily challenges is to supplement the focused work you’re already doing. Any day, however, can significantly change unexpectedly. A quick, physical challenge can still allow you to earn the day and do something under your control, for yourself, regardless of a chaotic schedule.

See below for a recent run at doing 30 burpees as fast as possible:

By the end of the month, hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in a few more in less than a minute.

Focus, discipline, and consistency in any domain will inevitably lead to improved performance.

We have a WhatsApp group chat for the fitness group. If interested in joining and participating in daily challenge, shoot me a message!

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Disclaimer:

The content provided is intended for general knowledge and informational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional prior to making any decisions or changes relating to your health. Kyle Shepard is not responsible for any adverse effects resulting from the use of information in this publication.

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