The 3-Minute Burpee Test: A Minimalistic Alternative to the Conventional Estimated Oxygen Uptake [VO2max] Test

[myfaithislost]

@fbgah Damn really? I get enough back pain from grappling I'm tryna find alternatives to cardio. Gassing out is a big fear

 

[fbgah]

@myfaithislost The core strength from grappling might have you covered for burpees, esp if your deep squat ROM is good.

I can squat hams to calves until my legs go numb, & my core strength is reasonable (eg I can hold an L-sit) but I've been prone to lumbar pain recently, so I'm mostly stepping back instead of jumping at the moment, gradually introducing a few sets of 10 jump back burpees per session. I think the repeated hip hinge will train the correct lumbar bracing habit. And I'm too workshy to go above zone II, so the step back version is 'fast enough' for now.

 

[myfaithislost]

@fbgah I made a mistake. I guess 50th percentile but they don't consider weight at all so it's honestly hard to measure. So I can't tell if I am doing good. Man I wish they had weight factored.

 

[fbgah]

@myfaithislost I think VO2max is per kg bodyweight, the problem is the burpee-based estimates could be unreliable for bodyweights/heights outside the range of the Japanese college students that took part in that study!

If you can find a cycle or rowing ergometer with a reliable power meter, VO2max can be estimated from that too. Not sure about the formulas/ reliability tho.

 

[churchtexter]

@fbgah 3 min burpee test could be dangerous to perform. The burpee was designed by the military to test with and you really shouldn't do more than like 10 of them in a row for workouts and only test with them every once in a while. They can hurt your back.

 

[owll]

@churchtexter A few points:

- Military people aren't superhuman, anything physical that is done in the military can be done with civilians, everyone who's entered the military starts as civilians

- There's plenty of video footage of people doing upwards of 50 burpees in a row with no ill effect. No reason to believe that any exercise, at all, is dangerous based on an arbitrary number. It's all based on the ability and limitations of the practitioner.

- Any exercise can lead to injury if done recklessly and with no regard for a person's level of fitness, training experience and overall conditioning.

In the same way, any exercise, regardless of form can be done safely provided a person has built up to it overtime.

The nice thing about being living adaptable creatures is our bodies adjust to whatever stimulus and range of motion is put on them.

As long as the stimulus/ROM that a person is used to, isn't massively exceeded in a very short period of time, injury is never a guarantee.