Burpee
What Is A Burpee?
Burpees are one exercise that almost everyone has heard of. Whether or not you enjoy doing burpees, they are a great full-body exercise that builds cardio fitness and strength in all the major muscle groups.
Burpees engage the chest, shoulders, arms, core, back, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstring muscles, while quickly raising the heart rate. It's a high intensity exercise that burns fat, making it a great addition to your workouts if fat loss or body recomposition is your goal.
A full burpee involves getting onto the floor in a plank position, kicking your legs behind you, performing a partial press up, jumping your legs back in, and standing up with a jump. It's a fast, fluid exercise that combines a huge number of large and small muscles, plus co-ordination and cardiovascular conditioning.
Burpees are a versatile exercise that can be used in full-body workouts, as a conditioning tool, in a bodyweight session, or as a finisher after any gym workout. It's no surprise that burpees show up in a wide range of training styles, from bootcamps to circuits, bodyweight conditioning, and even military training.
Burpees are a high-intensity exercise. If you can do a full burpee but find them difficult, break into shorter sets and take timed rest in between. This is a good way to improve your fitness and work up to longer sets of burpees. If you can't do a full burpee, be sure to check out our burpee variations to find a version that suits you.
Take time to learn proper burpee form with our tips and technique video below.
Check out some other burpee variations: Half Burpee, One Legged Burpee, Burpee With Dumbbells, Devil's Press, Burpee Broad Jump, Burpee To Tuck Jump
Commonly Asked Questions About Burpees
The number of calories you burn doing burpees will depend on your size and weight (larger heavier people burn more calories than smaller people), the intensity of exercise, and how long you do burpees for. Burpees are a high-intensity, full-body exercise that raise your heart rate quickly and use a lot of muscle groups. Research suggests that high intensity exercises like burpees can burn up to 50% more fat than moderate intensity exercise.
Burpees are a full-body exercise that work a large number of muscles. Lowering down onto the floor and pressing back up again uses your arms, shoulders, chest, and back. Kicking your legs out and tucking them back in again, and jumping up uses your glutes, hamstrings, core, and quadriceps. They also work the cardiovascular system.
There is no official burpee challenge but many people challenge themselves to do a set number of burpees every day over a period of time. For example, the challenge of doing 20 or 50 burpees a day for two weeks or a month. If you set yourself a personal burpee challenge, be sure to maintain good form on every rep. If you find your form breaking down due to fatigue, do shorter sets of burpees to reach your goal.
Yes, burpees build and tone leg muscle and glute muscle. Burpees are a high-intensity bodyweight exercise done for reps, and the movement includes jumping your legs out behind you and tucking them underneath you whilst in a plank position, then standing back up and performing a vertical jump.
Burpees are a full-body exercise that work the muscles of your back, especially the traps and rhomboids as you lower down from a plank into a partial press up and push back up again.
Burpee Tips
Keep your core tight and protect your neck by avoiding dropping your head down.
Pace yourself so you can complete sets of several burpees at a time.
If you feel your technique slipping, break your burpees into smaller sets with short, timed rest periods.
Increase the intensity by moving faster, doing longer sets, or decreasing rest between sets.
How To Do A Burpee
Start by standing up with your feet hip width apart.
Drop into a squat and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet.
Keeping your arms straight, kick your feet out behind you into a plank position.
Lower your chest to the floor and press back up to the plank position.
Jump your feet back in, tucking your knees under your body so your feet land outside your hands.
Stand up and perform a vertical jump at the top of the movement.
As your feet land back down from the jump, drop into another burpee.
If you’re not sure if any of the above exercises are suitable for you, please consult your doctor before you start it. Need guidance on how to perform the exercise? Ask a personal trainer at your gym.