The first time I ever heard of a burpee was whilst I was reading the book, Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson.
No, Charles Bronson in this case is no relation to the late actor - this guy is actually Britain’s longest held prisoner (unfairly in my opinion) and many might also call him Britain’s most violent prisoner.
Yet beneath the veneer of a quick temper lies a man who has developed both mind and body whilst living in a solitary prison cell. His book is very interesting and full of simple bodybuilding exercises that you can do without any formal equipment.
Back to burpees - I remember him talking a great deal about them as a great form of exercise.
Burpees look like a push up followed by a jump in the air and then returning to a push up and repeating the entire process. It takes a little coordination to perfect but what will follow is a very fast and explosive type of exercise that is guaranteed to burn a ton of calories.
You can see why Charles is a big fan of it because it can be used in combined spaces without any equipment, however it is also used by many sportsmen too (particular those in mixed martial arts). By the way, Charles does 2,500 push ups every day and also holds several world records!!
There are many variations of this exercise such as the classic squat thrust, the explosive burpee, the man-maker and more. I found a great article here on the many variations possible:
Many people also try out different challenges such as the 100 Burpee Challenge which is a challenge to see how quickly you can do 100 repetitions. This can vary depending on how much you weight and how tall you are but the best athletes can get a time of just over 5 minutes which is very difficult indeed.
What is hypochondria? Also known as hypochondriasis, this is when someone excessively worries about their health. I know this because I suffer from it myself, unfortunately.
What happens is that the person will notice what they believe to be a symptom and then exaggerate it out of all proportion, often only seeing the worst case scenario.
An Example
An example for me are moles on the body. We hear all the time about the need to be vigilant with any disease or cancer and the media actually do not help anyone as I will reveal to you shortly why.
So I might look at a mole and see something slightly irregular. Actually, there is no such thing as the “perfect mole”. My brain will rack about all the possible risk factors: did I get burnt when a child, do I get too much sun now?, how many moles do I have on my body, what skin type do I have etc.
Warped Logic
The brain of a hypochondriac works in a strange way. Prevalence of illness in anyone is due to many factors and doctors can assign a probability range. But hypochondriacs like myself will always see the worst case scenario and adopt the most conservative stance.
Another problem that I sometimes have is that I wonder if seeing a symptom and then deciding not to pursue it because I think I am simply exaggerating, is the wrong course of action. Maybe I am not exaggerating? This can cause a “tug of war” in the mind!
Does Vigilance Save Lives?
The reason that the media make this problem worse is that with many illnesses, there is little proof that vigilance saves any lives. In fact, doctors are finding that people who are not vigilant probably have the same survival rate as those who are. This is because it is only normal for someone to notice something that is not right and then follow up with their doctor and there is therefore perhaps no need to educate widely. Obviously, there are some exceptions where educational health awareness campaigns have saved lives but this cannot be said across the board for all diseases.
Treatment Options For Hypochondria
What about treatment options? Is there anything out there that is helpful? Speaking from a personal point of view, I tried cognitive behavioural therapy but it did not work because I disagreed with everything that the therapist said. Antidepressants may help.