The fastest way yet to get completely exhausted

Yesterday's workout had all the makings of not being too terrible. Or maybe I built it up in my head that way because I had to go cut the grass afterwards. Regardless, I was quite mistaken, but happy about it. I'd been meaning to do more of a full body workout for a while now, and I was not disappointed. I was sucking wind, dripping sweat off my glasses, and so thoroughly exhausted at the end of it I just stayed on the floor for about 5 minutes before doing anything else.

Over-the-bar Burpee

Burpee Demo. The over-the-bar part comes in by simply jumping over the bar you used for power cleans.

The workout itself is rather basic, but this is just a front, don't let that pretty face fool you. It involves rounds of Power Clean (which is the combination of deadlift to hang clean) plus Over-the-bar Burpees. 5 rounds, for time, and a {15, 12, 9, 6, 3} rep scheme for the rounds. I happen to be fairly bad at both exercises, so it was especially fun.

I learned a few things during this adventure. The primary lesson is that the more fatigued you are, the better your power clean form becomes because most of the muscles you could use for cheating the move are tired. Next, the proper starting position for a burpee is not a locked-out pushup position. Rather, start in a crouch with your arms locked and knees bent and pulled up next to your elbows. You essentially imitate a dog's sitting position but with your butt off the floor. From there, kick your feet out while simultaneously dropping your chest to the floor. Oddly enough, this uses a lot less energy that slowly lowering yourself from the pushup position. Oh, the things we learn out of necessity.

Even after learning such lessons, Rounds 1 through 4 were brutal. By Round 5, I was so thoroughly ready for it all to be over, I did a full Power Clean and Jerk to end the Power Clean round, and finished the last burpee with a nice half twist...so I could land facing the conquered bar.