Do 10,000 Burpees: A World Record-Holder's Workout Plan

Josh Zitomer reveals the workout plan that trained him perform a world record 10,000 burpees in 48 hours.

Imagine 48 hours of doing nothing but burpees. No sleep, hardly eating — just burpees. That nightmare was Josh Zitomer's reality. The trainer and ultra-triathlete became the new burpee world-record holder after notching 10,000 in 48 hours last month to raise money for a children's charity. Obviously, this gargantuan physical effort took a lot of mental prep.

"I had two strategies," he explains. "The first was sets of 250." After each set, Zitomer would pause long enough for water, a few sips of an electrolyte-packed sports drink, and small bites of calorie-dense foods such as oatmeal with nuts and raisins and PB&Js with nutella (around the 7,000th burpee, Zitomer allowed himself a slice of pizza — "Heaven!"). Once sets of 250 proved too difficult, he focused on just moving forward — busting out 8 minutes of burpees at a time, then 2 minutes rest. Ultimately, he attributes his ability to power through to mind over matter. "Around 6,000, I had to become robotic and go through the motions as if there were no pain," he says. "We're all capable of enduring so much more pain than we give ourselves credit for — most of us just aren't used to straying outside of our comfort zone."

Zitomer picked up a few other tips on the way to 10,000. Here, the burpee-master shares how to make this killer move hurt a little bit less. Read more