Lots of health professionals are beginning to see the benefits of burpees, and how easy the movement is to incorporate into practically anyone’s strength and conditioning routine. Let’s get rid of the nonsense and talk about the burpee in more detail.
Are you ever going to fail a burpee? The answer is, no.
Even though they may not look perfect all the time, it doesn’t take much ability to fall down and get back up again. They are the perfect analogy for life – you get knocked down by a challenge and you find a way to get back up and continue moving forward. Because of this, burpees are the perfect character-building movement.
What is a Burpee?
With a burpee, you may start by jumping your feet back, kissing your chest to the floor, pushing up off the ground while snapping your feet forward toward your hands, and then jumping and clapping.
So why do people hate burpees?
Well, number one is that they are hard. That’s no lie. There is no movement that fatigues your muscles and lungs as fast as HIIT workouts. Push-ups are often used as a punishment by gym teachers, football coaches, and drill sergeants, which may remind some people of negative experiences.
By following the tips below, you can make your workout easier and faster, and not something you dread or avoid.
Benefits of the Burpee
The benefits of the burpee supplement your overall training, even though it may not build strength like a heavy deadlift or grow muscle like a brutal arm workout.
Convenient Cardio
You can do a burpee without any equipment, which makes it a great way to get your cardio in. You can also customize it to make it more challenging. You can use burpees as a warm-up by taking them slowly until you feel ready for your main workout. Interval training consisting of burpees is an effective way to get sweaty during a lunch break. The burpee is a great bodyweight exercise because it is easy to make it more or less difficult by adjusting the difficulty dial.
Full-Body Stimulus
Doing push-ups is a great way to get your chest pumped up, and air squats are still a good choice to do in group fitness classes and CrossFit. The burpee is a great exercise because it helps you engage all of your major muscle groups at the same time. This is done by combining two multi-joint movements and adding a ballistic element.
Fits In Anywhere
The burpee can be a good workout on its own, or it can be added to other workouts to make them more challenging. Burpees are often used in CrossFit workouts as a way to increase the intensity. Burpees can be done before, after, or in between almost any other exercise as long as you don’t go too hard.
Muscles Worked by the Burpee
After completing several repetitions of the burpee exercise, your muscles will feel exhausted and weak, as if they are made of wet noodles. Burpees are a lot different from exercises that isolate certain muscles like bicep curls and tricep extensions because they engage the entire body in one coordinated effort. Burpees done at a high intensity will allow you to burn more calories in less time.
Burpees are a great way to get your heart rate up and add some intensity to your workout. This movement helps develop athleticism and power.
There is no single exercise that will target all muscles in the body, but the burpee comes close. If you’re mostly interested in gaining new muscle, calisthenics probably won’t be sufficient as your main workout routine. However, this doesn’t mean that including a few sets of burpees as part of your workout wouldn’t be beneficial.
Core
Bodyweight exercises that work your core can be very effective, and the burpee is one of them. Although it isn’t as challenging as some other exercises, it can still give your abs a good workout if you do it right. The act of forcefully tucking your legs back under your torso simulates a hollow body position, which in turn engages your lower abs and hip flexors. Additionally, your obliques and rectus abdominis (the muscles that make up your six-pack) work harder than usual to keep your spine stable while you press yourself up.
Chest & Shoulders
The push-up is a great exercise for the chest, shoulders, and triceps, so doing half a burpee will give you the same benefits. While push-ups are better for hypertrophy and strength, burpees are a decent stimulus for muscle growth on their own.
Quads & Glutes
Some people believe that the best way to grow their legs is to squat. While it is understandable that people would want to sleep after completing a difficult workout, it would be a mistake to do so instead of completing a lower-body finisher. The resource required to push your body into the air from a squat position is enough to damage your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
Heart
Obviously, you shouldn’t neglect cardio because the heart is a muscle. According to research, a combination of resistance training and aerobics is best for reducing long-term health risks.
Burpees for Weight Loss
Burpees are a great way to lose weight because they use your whole body and don’t require much skill. This means that movements that do not require skill can be performed by anyone, regardless of how tired they may be. Even if the situation gets worse, you can still get through it by continuing to move forward.
You can do burpees in any type of workout, regardless of its length. Burpees are most effective for weight loss when they are part of a high-intensity interval workout.
You will see the best results if you make sure to take breaks between work periods that allow you to push as hard as possible during the work intervals.
For most people, this will mean at least equal work and rest periods but possibly even more rest than work.
An example would be this workout that uses a 2:1 rest-to-work ratio:
Five Sets for Max Reps:
- 30 seconds of Burpees.
- 60 seconds of rest.
How many calories do Burpees Burn?
The number of calories you burn from burpees will depend on how many you do and how long you do them. The amount of calories you burn is generally proportional to the power output. Someone who does more burpees in a minute is likely to burn more calories than someone who does less.
Although there are other factors that contribute to the number of calories burned, power output is a key factor.
How to do a Burpee
There are many variations of the burpee that you can do depending on how quickly you want to move and how many standards you want to worry about. Some variations require equipment or certain standards to be met for purposes of judging in a competition.
Some people have tried to make the burpee more difficult by adding other exercises, like pull-ups or box jumps.
However, the classic burpee appears identical – you drop to the ground and then stand back up again.
How to Perform a Proper Burpee
Let’s start from the basics and gradually increase the intensity. The key to completing burpees successfully is to maintain a 6-count cadence and good form throughout each position. This movement helps improve strength and perfects reps. Every position must be hit for them to count.
How to execute 6-count burpees:
- Squat & place hands on the ground.
- Jump your legs back so you are at the top of the push-up position.
- Perform a Push-Up Negative (lower yourself with control and perfect position i.e. straight line from your head to your toes).
- Press yourself back up to the top of the push-up position.
- Jump your feet back in so that you are in position 1.
- Jump and clap hands behind the head.
Rev Up the Speed by Removing 3 Counts
After you feel confident with the 6-count burpee, it’s time to start increasing your speed! You will need to start eliminating some steps to do this. The first step will need to be merged with steps two and three.
How to Execute a Burpee Crash Drill:
- Place your hands on the ground at the same time you are kicking back into the push-up. Remember that we are not going for strict reps here so the more actual pushing you can eliminate, the faster you can move and the less you will fatigue your muscles (mostly biceps and triceps). We are also eliminating the squat here to save those quads. In the beginning, you might only be comfortable landing at the top of the push-up however with more practice, you will become more comfortable catching yourself near the bottom.
A crash mat can help you to fall to the ground quickly. Figure out where you are most comfortable landing. Don’t worry about the next steps yet. Do ten repetitions of this and see how fast you can get down on the ground.
- This was steps 4 and 5 in the 6-count burpee. At the same time, you are pressing yourself off the floor in what we would normally consider an “ugly” push-up where your chest rises first (“Cobra”), and snap your legs forward by closing your hips rapidly. Try to keep your legs as straight as possible in order to avoid extra squatting. If you’re struggling with this, your hamstring flexibility is likely to blame. Stretch them often and keep doing burpees often.
From the Cobra position, jump your feet backward to your hands, then jump back to the Cobra position. For each repetition, keep your feet in approximately the same shoulder-width position, or in a squat stance. Always aim for the same spot so you don’t have to keep readjusting. Repeat this ten times for speed. You can use this as a part of your warm-up before doing burpees.
- This is the only part that’s the same as the 6-count burpee. Jump and clap your hands behind your head. Although your feet need to come off the floor for the rep to count, unless there are other standards specified (like touching a target), they only need to come off the floor a teeny, tiny bit. Less time in the air means more control of your body and faster burpees. Don’t stop in the standing position. This is a rebound, not a rest and you should be moving as quickly as possible into your next rep. Basically, as soon as your feet hit the floor after the jump, you should be starting your descent into the next burpee. Think fast arms, fast feet. Swing your arms down and rapidly closing your hips. This looks similar to what you do with your arms in a GHD sit-up.
4 Burpee Pro Tips
1. Clap behind your head
You can use your clap behind your head as an opportunity to rebound the ball or catch it on the bounce. Punch and go. You should drop down to the ground instead of floating down. Kind of like barbell cycling…
2. Try to find a rhythm
Make a rhythm in your head and stay with it. Be the machine. The machine repetitively performs the same task until it is turned off. It doesn’t slow or stop. Pick a pace you can execute this with.
3. Standing Rests
If you are tired and need to rest, the best way to do so is by standing up rather than sitting or lying on the floor. This design makes these shoes able to bounce off the floor quickly. We want to avoid a posture of defeat by resting on the floor. Stand tall. Stand proud. If you want to win, you need to have confidence.
4. Remember: Burpees only suck if you let them!
Believe in yourself and know that you can never fail at a burpee! Breathe calmly. Count up then down. You should count the number of burpees you have to do from 1 to 10 and then from 10 to 1. It is much easier to keep going when you know your rep count is getting smaller and closer to the end.
FAQs
Is it possible to do a workout routine that consists mostly of burpees?
Although they do not train in every aspect of fitness, they are still able to maintain a John. If you’re looking to create a well-rounded routine, be sure to include all the necessary components. If you want a movement that is going to target most of the major muscle groups and get you sweating, the burpee is a great choice.
Are burpees safe for beginners?
Yes. Burpees are safe as long as you don’t overdo them or don’t have proper technique. The burpee is a good choice for anyone getting started in the gym because it doesn’t require a lot of external weight and it’s not very unstable.
Can I do burpees every day?
If you make sure to do the same amount of burpees each day, there is no problem with doing them every day. If you do this, your weekly activity level will be above the minimum, but make sure to take into account how it might affect your other workouts.
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