Brimington man completes one mile of burpees for charity

For most people the thought of doing one minute of burpees would not be that appealing.
Gavin Holmes during one-mile burpees challenge.Gavin Holmes during one-mile burpees challenge.
Gavin Holmes during one-mile burpees challenge.

So imagine the pain Gavin Holmes, 41, of Brimington, went through when he completed one mile of what is one of the hardest, but most effective, ways to shred fat.

But the personal trainer did not do it as part of his fitness schedule.

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Gavin Holmes during his one-mile burpees challenge.Gavin Holmes during his one-mile burpees challenge.
Gavin Holmes during his one-mile burpees challenge.

“I always try to pick a charity that has a link to me or someone I know, and my nephew Archie is type 1 diabetic so I thought it would be the ideal charity,” Gavin said.

In 2016 Gavin did a year of raising money for the M.E Association, including 99 miles of races.

He said: "I joked that I would have to find a way to round up the mileage in an interesting way and someone suggested burpees. As it happened I ended up doing around 180 miles so the burpees was scrapped.

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“This year I decided to do six challenges for JDRF. The six challenges are the spire ultra - a 34 mile race around Chesterfield, a marathon on a treadmill, Beachy Head Marathon, a three-hour spinathon, my first ever 100 mile trail race, and I then had one more to find, and the mile of burpees came to mind.

“They are one of my favourite exercises to use in classes and with clients, because they challenge every bit of the body. I realise that my clients don’t ever really see me doing them so they seemed the logical choice.”

As well as being a personal trainer, Gavin is also running a coach and studio events manager at Places Gym in Chesterfield.

And he may have made the record books, with his effort of 840 burpees in one hour and 11 minutes looking like he sits top of the burpees table.

Gavin, who has written book called ‘Outrunning M.E’, added: “It went surprisingly well, largely because of the support on my team that day keeping me going."

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