IIIIITTTTTT’SSSS BAAAAAAACCKKK! I’m not one for New Years resolutions but I’m going to need a kick in the ass to start the new year, so starting January 2nd, the 30 Day No Excuses Burpee Challenge is ON for a month. For those of you who don’t know what the “30 Day No Excuses Burpee Challenge” is, back in Mid-October I decided I needed to stop making excuses and challenge myself and to a fitness goal and burpees for 30 days was it. After getting a HUGE initial response from the challenge, I realized that besides helping people get healthy by creating this physical challenge, I could also help kids who are less fortunate and not able to play sports, get the opportunity to play sports and also get healthy and active.  You’re probably wondering how? Well let me tell you. I’m the Northern Canadian Community Leader for Be The Game™ Sportswear Inc. Be The Game is a national, community driven organization whose mission is to encourage children and individuals to give back and make a difference within their community and beyond through the sale of cool, cutting edge merchandise. The belief that life is always richer when you give back is a personal philosophy that BTG founder, Joe Drexler, has made and this, in turn, is the driving force behind the company’s culture.  Together we designed a T-Shirt that shows your dedication to the challenge and helps get kids healthy and in to sports. Did you know that 1 in 3 Canadian families are unable to provide their children with the life changing opportunity to play organized sports?  I was floored when I heard that statistic too! So with BTG, we’re releasing the kick-ass shirt for sale and 10% of ALL PROFITS are going to help get kids in to sports.  You get active by participating, you get a KICK-ASS shirt and kids get to be active and have the chance to do something they otherwise wouldn’t have.  It’s a WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN!!!! Now on to the challenge itself… You may be sitting there saying “what the hell is a burpee?” so here’s my best explanation: The burpee is a full body exercise used in strength training and as aerobic exercise. It is performed in five steps: Begin in a standing position. Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground. Kick your feet back to put yourself in to a pushup position Now reverse the movement by returning your feet back towards your hands to the squat position while Stand back up. That’s 1 burpee. There are many variations and I’ll talk about them in the video, so check them out. THE CHALLENGE Depneding on your fitness level, start with the determined amount of burpees for your level and increase that amount by one burpee each day for 30 days. There are three levels of difficulty and a few different variations of the burpee you can try so find which one works for you. Beginner: If you are a beginner to fitness or exercise, this may be a good place for you to start. Your goal is to do 1 burpee on your first day. You can do a standard burpee as described above if you’d like or any variation that you need to, but do 1 burpee today. Tomorrow you’re going to do 2 burpees and on day three you’re going to do 3 burpees. Increase the amount of burpees you do by 1 each day so by day 30 you should be doing 30 burpees a day. Intermediate: The intermediate challenge is for someone who’s fitness levels are pretty good. You may not have done a burpee before but you could pull off 3-5 without stopping. Your challenge is to start at 8 burpees and you’re doing at least a standard burpee or one of the harder variations. Again, you’re to add 1 burpee a day for 30 days. Advanced: You may be at the same fitness levels as the intermediate (or more advanced) but you’re like me and always want to push yourself harder and further. Your challenge is to do 15 burpees today. Yup, 15! And if you’re up for it, you’re going for 15 burpees in a row. OH, and did I mention you’re doing the more advanced burpee with a jump and a clap in it too? That’s right. You’re gunna cry! And as the other levels, you’re adding a burpee a day to your total amount and I’d love to see if you can end up doing 45 burpees in a row without stopping by the end of day 30. There you have it, the No Excuses 30 Day Burpee Challenge. Please feel free to ask any questions. Post any comments and PLEASE share your experiences with everyone. Comment on this post to let me know you’re in, post on my Facebook Page and please use the #NoExcusesYIS on Twitter.   The Shirt We are offering the shirt in white or black in both Mens and Womens styles.  Sizes are S, M. L, XL, XXL. COST: $25 + HST is $28.25 plus $8 S/H for a total of $36.25 We will also throw in a free BE THE GAME vehicle decal so you can show your support for what we are doing. PAYMENT: There are three payment options. 1. PayPal – You do not need a PayPal account to pay via PayPal. You can safely and securly use your Credit Card if you wish but of course if you do have a PayPal account you can use it too.  Use fundraising@bethegame.pro as the payment email and add to the message/memo “Be The Burpee T-Shirt” with your colour, size and style. 2. You can also send the money via email money transfer through your online banking to fundraising@bethegame.pro putting “Be The Burpee T-Shirt” in the memo with your colour, size and style. 3. Good old fashion snail mail to the following address: BE THE GAME Sportswear & Fundraising Inc. 118 Westminster Dr. Oakville, ON Canada L6L 4H6 Cheques to made payable to BE THE GAME Sportswear & Fundraising.  ...