is there any benefit to adding in several 1 minute max effort cardio sessions throughout the week, similar to doing grease the groove with pushups for example? lately i have started doing a 1 minute set of 100% max effort of burpess every morning, and depending on my workout for the day, also an additional 1 minute set in the evening. this is not my only form of cardio, but rather an addition. i get 24-25 burpees per minute so this is about an extra thousand or so burpees every month...
There's always going to be a benefit if you're working hard. Are there better things you can be doing with your time? Maybe 
andyman011 -There's always going to be a benefit if you're working hard. Are there better things you can be doing with your time? Maybe
i really dont understand what you are talking about. is there something better i could be doing with ONE MINUTE of my time? how is that argument even remotely applicable to what im asking?
turducken -andyman011 - There's always going to be a benefit if you're working hard. Are there better things you can be doing with your time? Maybe
i really dont understand what you are talking about. is there something better i could be doing with ONE MINUTE of my time? how is that argument even remotely applicable to what im asking?
Add up all the minutes you would spend in a month. 2 minutes a day x 30 days. That's an hour a month, you can get a full workout in for that 2 minutes a day
im guessing logic is not one of your strengths...
facepalm
Practicing burpees twice a day will improve your burpee technique, unless, of course, you injure yourself first.
Hey Turducken,
I think that there is very likely a potential benefit to this approach.
When you have time, check out this video:
Hey,
I'm gonna agree with Taku, in that I see benefits here, but I dont think they really relate to cardio in a large sense at least.
but what I could see it doing is increasing your agility, speed, power, and burpee techique as mentioned before, basically you've devoted a little bit of time everyday to some plyometric work instead of 2 big sessions a week
I personally think you'll eventually reach a point where you will get to 50-60 burpees in a minute and never be able to pass that "plateau" if you will, and when that day comes first of all congradulations and good for you thats awsome, second when that day arrives my only suggestion would be up it to a minute and a half or two full minutes.
I'm actually liking this idea a lot it reminds me of a calesthetics routine I do based on a book called "convict conditioning" basically allows you to do strength calesthetics anywhere in short burst throughout a day and still feel like you accomplished somthing the next, look it up if you like that quick and dirty thing to compliment/improve your current routines
Could help keep you loose, limber, and possibly reduce soreness from your longer workouts. Add a second minute of stretching/mobility, and I'd think it's a recipe for good health.
But check this out, too: http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_08-10-03.html#question04
Why not just sprint all out for that minute? I don't think burpees come close to the intensity of sprinting.
molsonman - Why not just sprint all out for that minute? I don't think burpees come close to the intensity of sprinting.
because then i have to put on shoes and go outside and get sweaty. burpees can be done anywhere and with limited space
arnanderson - have fun with that torn achilles
just like anyone who bench presses is going to tear his or her rotator cuff, anyone who squats is going to develop bad knees and anyone who deadlifts is going to injure his/her back, right?
Taku -
Hey Turducken,
I think that there is very likely a potential benefit to this approach.
When you have time, check out this video:
thanks for the link, but BBC blocked the video! doh!
I like the idea of a quick workout in the morning, lately I've been doing 30 push-ups, squats and sit ups in the morning, it only takes about 2 minutes and I think it really helps me get up to speed and get my body and brain working instead of being a zombie for the first hour or 2 and end up having a lazy day. 
Personally, I wouldn't come at it from a "max effort" cardio perspective. First of all, unless you're running as hard as you can for that minute, no matter what other activity you do (or how hard it is), you won't reach the same sort of intensity level that you will with running.
(I'm not saying "sprinting" because most people simply don't have the ability to sprint for 60 seconds. Yeah, I know...it's semantics. But still...)
Running, cycling, and maybe skiing are some of the only activities that allow you to hit try maximum intensity for cardio. This is because the ROM is fairly short and the point where one rep ends and the next one begins in minimal, at best. Provided you have the mental and physical capability, you can virtually almost always get in one more step/stride, one more revolution on the bike, etc.
However, with movements that have a longer ROM and/or take longer to go from one rep to another, there's simply a finite number you'll ever be able to perform in a given period of time. At the same time, as you tire, your turnover from rep to rep will increase.
Take burpees - there are so many "pause" points during a rep that the general nature of how it's performed is going to slow it down...esp as you tire out. There will only ever be so many reps you can do in XX seconds. This is why I've always thought that burpees in tabata intervals was stupid. Same principle with Swings or Snatches or the like.
Is something like tabata burpees hard? Sure they are. However, you're only ever hitting near maximum capability on the first round or two. If you start out doing say 12 burpees in 20 seconds, but by round 8, you're only doing 7-8, you're cutting your results short. Esp if you take a slightly smarter approach, do more volume in total, and b/c of that smarter approach, are able to keep up the pace of 12 in 20 seconds (albeit with slightly longer rest) for a much greater period of time. The increased volume would lead to much greater gains in work capacity.
While I don't have any data to back this up, I can't help but think this is one of the reasons why cycling ergometers were used in Tabata's original experiments - because it's a movement that lends itself to ever increasing intensity on a micro-incremental basis. It's MUCH harder to hit that point where you can't do more work in the same time period.
Anyway...that was a slight thread hijack. Sorry. lol
I also wouldn't be a fan of "max effort" cardio a couple times each day as if you were to do true max effort (like say you went out and ran 400m as hard as possible 2x/day), it's very likely you're gonna blast your CNS into oblivion at some point.
But if you backed off the intensity, and instead of looking at it as "max effort cardio", just looked at it as adding some daily extra work, then I think you're taking the right approach.
I've done and recommended what I call the Daily Ritual for years. Simply just do a little BWE each morning - no more than 5-10 mins, tops. It's not meant to be a complete workout by any means - just do a little bit to get the blood flowing and add some extra volume to your work as a whole. As the OP pointed out - daily, it's not much. Add it up over weeks and/or months, and it builds up.
I usually have recommended some pushups, squats, and the like. However many you do is up to you - what will be easy for me might be hard for you and vice versa. Burpees would be the same way.
If you could crank out 25 burpees without killing yourself, and did that 2x (or even 3x) per day, who wouldn't be better after having done 50-75 burpees per day every single day for 3 months?
It's a nomenclature issue. for the purpose of this conversation "sprint" is actually meaning = maximize your HR for 60 seconds (60-120sec is the typical range).
This is a very good training method for building cardio power, making each heart beat stronger (concentric)pumping more blood, ultimately being more efficient.
This method will work best if you've already laid the foundation of increasing your aerobic capacity first. otherwise you'll have a high performing engine with no gas in the tank.
IMHO: it's important to note that trying to sustain tru maximum heart rate for this length is extremely challenging and most people will ease off and slide back to a level around their anaerobic threshold, which is much more comfortable mentally.You need to push yourself to a very awful, uncomfortable place, so find your cave, grab your totem animal and let it rip.
I hope to get a vid of an example of this type of work being done in my gym very soon. FWIW, I prefer to use very sport-specific methods vs. general exercises, neither is right/wrong.
turducken - is there any benefit to adding in several 1 minute max effort cardio sessions throughout the week, similar to doing grease the groove with pushups for example? lately i have started doing a 1 minute set of 100% max effort of burpess every morning, and depending on my workout for the day, also an additional 1 minute set in the evening. this is not my only form of cardio, but rather an addition. i get 24-25 burpees per minute so this is about an extra thousand or so burpees every month...
It is probably a reasonable idea. I would be inclined to vary the exercise just to prevent boredom and/or overuse. Also most HIIT protocols are longer than 1 minute. Could you do 3-4 minutes?
Say 20 seconds burpees, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds dive bomber pushups, 10 seconds rest etc. In each case do the exercises as fast as possible.
I think this abstract was posted here before:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22994393
turducken -Taku -
Hey Turducken,
I think that there is very likely a potential benefit to this approach.
When you have time, check out this video:
thanks for the link, but BBC blocked the video! doh!
If you search around using the keywords
bbc horizon 2012 the truth about exercise
I'm sure you could find a copy somewhere on the internet !