Burpees are a difficult exercise that works many of the major muscle groups in your body, despite the funny name and perhaps not being as well-known as pushups or squats.
The two movements that make up a burpee are a pushup and an airborne leap.
Burpee repetition fatigue is common, but the benefits of this adaptable exercise may be worthwhile, especially if you’re looking to improve your cardio fitness and burn calories while gaining strength and endurance.
The proper and safe way to perform burpees is shown here, along with some burpee variation ideas you can use for either an easier or more difficult burpee.
What are the advantages of doing a burpee?
If you’re unsure whether to join the burpee trend, take into account the following advantages.
Burns Calories
For the most part, 20 burpees can be completed in one minute. Based on this, the table below displays the number of calories that can be burned by performing burpees continuously for a minute.
| Weight | Calories burned |
| 125-pound person | 10 |
| 155-pound person | 12.5 |
| 185-pound person | 15 |
According to this chart, 20 minutes of burpees can burn about 250 calories for a 155-pound person.
If you perform burpees harder, you’ll burn more calories.
Offers A Full-body Workout
The calisthenics exercise is burpees. This implies that they resist your body weight. With burpees, the emphasis is on a full-body calisthenics workout that seeks to increase muscle strength and endurance in both your lower and upper body.
The muscles in your legs, hips, buttocks, abdomen, arms, chest, and shoulders are all strengthened by a standard burpee exercise.
Boosts Cardio Fitness And Burns Fat
You can incorporate burpees into your high-intensity interval training (HIIT) routine. You must perform brief bursts of intense exercise, followed by a brief rest period, in order to complete a HIIT cardio workout.
ResearchTrusted Source has shown that HIIT may be a useful method for losing weight, particularly around the stomach and abdomen. Also, according to a large study trusted Source done in 2015, researchers found that doing more vigorous forms of exercise seemed to be associated with living a longer life.
In addition to burning fat, including burpees in your workout routine can help you reap many other cardio benefits, such as:
- stronger heart and lungs
- improved blood flow
- lower risk of heart disease and diabetes
- lower blood pressureTrusted Source
- improved cholesterol levels
- improved brain function
Convenient And Versatile
Burpees can be performed without any equipment. You only need your own body weight and enough room to complete the move. Burpees can therefore help you burn off excess energy even if you’re cramped in an office, hotel room, or small apartment.
It’s simple to alter the traditional burpee by adding weights, an additional pushup, or a jump if you want variety.
How To Do A Burpee
A. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your weight on your heels, and your arms by your sides.
B. Knees bent, lower body into a squat by pushing hips back.
C. Hands should be placed just inside and in front of the feet on the ground. Put your hands on the ground and shift your weight.
D. In a plank position, jump your feet back and softly land on your feet. The body should be in a straight line from the head to the heels. Avoid letting your back sag or your butt stick up in the air because both can hinder effective core activation.
E. Optional: While keeping your core tight, lower yourself into a push-up or all the way to the ground. To get back into the plank position, push up to raise your body off the ground. (Form tip: Avoid “snaking” body off the ground by lifting chest first and leaving hips on the ground when raising body back up off the floor.)
F. To land just outside hands, jump your feet back.
G. Excitingly leap into the air while raising your arms overhead. For the next rep, land and immediately squat down.
How To Make Burpees Easier Or Harder
There is no getting around the fact that burpees are difficult. Fortunately, this exercise is incredibly adaptable and can be adjusted to any level of fitness, whether you’re trying to build up to completing a burpee workout or are taking baby steps to perform a proper burpee.
How To Make A Burpee Easier
- During the plank portion, resist the urge to squat.
- Step behind yourself into a plank position as opposed to jumping.
- Simply stand there and raise your arms overhead while standing on your toes to replace the jump at the top.
How To Make A Burpee Harder
- Donkey kicks or pushups can be added to the plank position.
- At the top of the jump, add a knee tuck.
- One leg should be used for the entire burpee (after switching sides, use the other leg to complete the exercise).