Despite its unusual name, the burpee is a dynamic exercise that engages multiple major muscle groups. It combines a push-up with a jump in the air, offering a comprehensive workout. While demanding, burpees provide diverse benefits, particularly for those aiming to build strength and endurance, burn calories, boost cardio fitness, and lose weight.
What is a Burpee?
At its core, a burpee is a two-part exercise: a push-up immediately followed by a jump. This combination makes it a full-body movement that challenges your muscles and cardiovascular system.
The Benefits of Burpees
If you're on the fence about incorporating burpees into your routine, consider the following advantages:
Calorie Burning Powerhouse
Burpees are exceptional calorie burners. Most individuals can perform approximately 20 burpees per minute. A 155-pound person can burn roughly 250 calories in a 20-minute burpee session. Increasing the intensity of your burpees will lead to even greater calorie expenditure.
Full-Body Workout
Burpees are a calisthenics exercise, utilizing your body weight for resistance. They provide a full-body workout that builds muscle strength and endurance in both the upper and lower body. A standard burpee engages muscles in your legs, hips, buttocks, abdomen, arms, chest, and shoulders. Burpees combine elements of strength training, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. The push-up phase strengthens the upper body, while the squat and jump phases engage the lower body. This full-body engagement leads to improved muscle tone and strength, enhancing overall physical resilience and functional fitness.
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Boosts Cardio Fitness and Burns Fat
Burpees can be integrated into a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) regimen. HIIT workouts alternate between short bursts of intense exercise and brief rest periods. Studies suggest that HIIT is an effective method for burning body fat, especially in the abdominal region. A large study in 2015 indicated that more vigorous exercise is associated with a longer lifespan.
Beyond fat burning, incorporating burpees into your routine provides various cardiovascular benefits, including:
- Stronger heart and lungs
- Improved blood flow
- Reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved cholesterol levels
- Enhanced brain function
Regularly performing burpees can improve cardiovascular endurance by strengthening the heart and lungs. As a result, your body becomes more efficient at oxygenating blood, which improves stamina and reduces the risk of heart disease.
Convenience and Versatility
Burpees require no equipment, just your body weight and sufficient space. This makes them ideal for small apartments, hotel rooms, or offices. The move's versatility allows for modifications by adding weights, extra pushups, or jumps.
Improved Agility and Coordination
The rapid transitions between movements in a burpee-from standing to squatting, to jumping, and then back to standing-require coordination, balance, and agility. These movements train your body to move more efficiently, which can enhance your performance in various sports and daily activities.
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Enhanced Flexibility
The dynamic nature of burpees involves movements that stretch and flex different muscle groups. For instance, the squat position stretches the hip flexors and the hamstrings, while the push-up stretches the chest and shoulders. Over time, this can lead to improved flexibility and reduced risk of injuries.
Core Strength and Stability
Burpees engage the core muscles throughout the exercise, especially during the plank and push-up phases. A strong core is essential for maintaining proper posture, reducing back pain, and improving balance and stability. This, in turn, contributes to better overall body mechanics and movement efficiency.
Time Efficiency
Burpees are an efficient exercise that provides a full-body workout in a short amount of time. This makes them ideal for individuals with busy schedules who need to maximize their workout time. Even a few minutes of burpees can deliver significant health benefits, making them a go-to exercise for those looking to stay fit without spending hours in the gym.
Boosted Mental Health
Like other forms of high-intensity exercise, burpees can release endorphins, the body's natural "feel-good" hormones. These endorphins help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, leading to an overall improvement in mental well-being. Additionally, the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a challenging workout can boost self-esteem and confidence.
Mastering the Burpee
The easiest way to understand a burpee is to think of it as a push-up followed by a jump squat. Aim for several quick repetitions to engage your heart and lungs.
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Here's how to do a burpee:
- Start with feet hip-distance apart, standing tall, arms by sides. This is the starting position.
- Hinge forward at the hips, placing the hands down by the feet to jump the feet back into a high plank.
- Continue to brace the core while lowering the chest to the ground into a full push-up.
- After rising from the push-up, jump the feet towards the hands, landing softly in a squat.
- Rise to standing position. That’s one rep. (You can add a jump at the end of the movement if you want, which will make it more challenging!)
Modifications for All Fitness Levels
If a standard burpee is too challenging initially, adjustments can be made to reduce the intensity.
Easier Variations
- Skip the pushup and jump: Begin with a squat thrust. Start in a squatting position, kick your legs back to a pushup position, and return to the starting stance.
- Skip the jump: Omit the jump after the pushup, returning directly to the squat position.
- Skip the pushup: Hold a plank position for a few seconds instead of doing a pushup. Partial pushups can also be performed until you build strength.
Challenging Variations
- Burpee box jump: Use a plyo box or bench. Perform a modified pushup with hands on the box, then jump onto the box instead of jumping into the air.
- Burpee with a Bosu ball: Hold the outer edges of a Bosu ball while squatting. Lower the ball to the floor, do a pushup with your hands on the flat surface, then lift the ball overhead as you stand.
- Burpee with dumbbells: Hold a 5-pound dumbbell in each hand while squatting. Lower to the ground, do a pushup while holding the dumbbells, then stand and raise the dumbbells overhead.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
As for common errors when doing burpees, those tend to occur at the bottom of the movement, or the push-up. A lot of people collapsing to the ground instead of completing a full push-up. Many times, after hitting a plank, people just completely let go of their core and let their hips sink and chest drop. This is the quickest way to lose out on any pectoral strengthening. The simple solution is to go back to perfecting that push-up.
Safety First
Like all exercises, burpees are effective only when performed safely. Begin slowly with a few repetitions. Gradually increase the reps as you become comfortable and pain-free. Aim for 8-10 consecutive reps before pausing. Burpees can strain the wrists and shoulders due to the pushup component. Avoid twisting your wrists during landing.
Ensure you have mastered the basic components before adding weights or extra elements. Burpees can be exhausting, but this is what makes them effective for building strength, endurance, and cardio fitness. If unsure of proper form, consult a certified personal trainer. If you're new to exercise, HIIT, or have a health condition, consult your healthcare provider before incorporating burpees.
How Often Should You Do Burpees?
If you’re confident in your burpee abilities, you can do them at any point of a workout, but note that they’ll tire you out quickly regardless of timing. Don’t do more than 10 to 12 reps at a time for three to four sets, and aim to incorporate them into your workout only two to four days per week.
The Origin of the Burpee
Exercise physiologist Royal Burpee developed the burpee in the late 1930s as a fitness assessment tool during his PhD research at Columbia. His granddaughter, Sheryl Burpee Dluginski, noted that his goal was to find an efficient way to measure people’s physical fitness capabilities.