By NOEL MURPHY
TRY this next time you’re feeling fit.
Squat so your hands and feet are flat on the ground. Next, jump and kick your feet back into a plank position and drop into a push-up with your nose touching the ground.
Good so far? Okay, jump your feet back to a squat, with your palms and feet flat on the ground. Then stand to attention with your chest out and your arms by your sides.
Right, that’s one burpee. Now do it 420 times.
That’s what Geelong expat Ben Henzgen did this month over in California – at precisely 4.20pm for 21 days leading up to the date 4/20.
And all in the name of research into medical marijuana.
Henzgen wanted to show that marijuana use should not necessarily be linked to lethargic layabout dope-smokers. His frenetic 420 burpees was anything but lazy – he managed to do them in a killer time of 32 minutes 30 seconds, whittled down from 40 minutes when he started his campaign.
A kinesiology physical education and nutrition student at Hancock College, a musician, long-distance cyclist, Aussie rules and Cats fanatic and unofficial ambassador, and fitness nut, Henzgen staged his three-week burpee marathon in a Santa Maria Irish pub O’Sullivans, raising several hundred dollars.
The cash will go to the American Medical Association with the hope of encouraging med students into researching the benefits of medical marijuana.
“They fund research into treatments and cures for illnesses such as many cancers, and they advocate the use of medical marijuana,” he said.
As for the stamina required to get through 420 push-ups plus as many squats, leaps and bounds again, he was all about determination.
“Beforehand I tell myself: ‘Keep going no matter what’,” he said.
“Then, while performing them, I tell myself: ‘If I don’t give 100 per cent I’m only cheating myself’.
“Afterwards, I look in the mirror, and answer these questions in silence, while contemplating ways to improve.
“I’ve been practising burpees for a while, and my fitness from bicycling is translatable.
“Medical marijuana is effective in so many contexts, there’s even research documenting effectiveness as a treatment for cancer; and inhibiting tumor growth.”
