Bob Pursley, our personal trainer at C.O.A.S.T. presents his training program for our hike up Half Dome.
Yosemite Prep Workout: Burpees (really)
You might ask yourself why am I doing these but when you test your endurance you will see why.
During my prep for hiking Half Dome I decided that I needed a crash program to boost my cardiovascular and muscular endurance. While training for a Spartan Race I discovered the punishing world of burpees.
I started to add burpees into my running workout at the end of my runs and in between my weight lifting routines. I started out with one set of ten burpees at the end of my run.
As time progressed I have gone to five sets of ten burpees per workout three times a week.
Both cardiovascular and muscular endurance have greatly improved which has lessened recovery time.
SAMPLE WORKOUT:
RUN/WALK/JOG (30) minutes at the end do 10 burpees REPEAT as many times as you can.
BENEFITS OF BURPEES:
They are great for conditioning!!!!
Burpees increase aerobic capacity when done at high intensity getting your heart rate up fast.
The burpee is a full body strength training exercise that targets, arms, chest, quads, glutes, hamstrings and abs.
Burpees burn up to 50 percent more fat than moderate exercise as well as increase your metabolism throughout your day which will allow you to burn more calories resulting in weight loss without the boring treadmills or stationary bike.
The correlation between this exercise and Half Dome hiking is the activation of quads, glutes and hamstrings which are muscles associated with ascending and descending along with the aerobic benefits will allow you to climb/descend more efficiently as well as having greater aerobic capacity allowing for more oxygenated blood to flow to those large muscle groups decreasing fatigue.
HOW TO DO A BURPEE
Stand up straight then get into a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
Kick your feet back into a push up position and immediately drop your chest to the ground quickly push up and jump into the squat position.
Jump up into the air as high as you can with hands over your head.
REPEAT
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY TRAINING
