Five Reasons Why Burpees Should Be Your Favorite Exercise - 12 Minute Athlete

Five Reasons Why Burpees Should Be Your Favorite Exercise - 12 Minute Athlete

Nov 27, 2012

What do extreme athletes, elite military forces, and football teams have in common?

They all embrace burpees and regularly include them in their workout routines.

Lots, and lots, of burpees.

But burpees aren’t just beneficial for hardcore athletes or certified badasses…
They’re for everyone. 

Because not only will burpees turn you into an athlete, they’ll also help you scorch fat, rev up your metabolism and get you conditioned like no other exercise can do.

But what the heck is a burpee…

And why should you care?

Burpee basics

Burpees are an awesome, calorie-torching, strength-building, full body exercise.

Later in this post, you’ll learn why you should love them. But first, you need to know how exactly to actually do a burpee.

Just follow these simple steps:

• First, get into a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Kick your feet back into a push up position.
• Return your feet back to the squat position as fast as possible.
• Immediately jump up into the air as high as you can.
• Add a little clap for pizzazz!

To see how it’s done, and to get a better idea of the pace you should try and keep, take a look at this instructional video where I show you exactly how to do a proper burpee:


Burpees are all about speed, but don’t go too fast…or you’ll burn yourself out after doing just a few. Trust me.

And now, here are five reasons why burpees are awesome—and why they should be your new favorite exercise:

1. They burn mega calories

Burpees make your body a fat burning machine.

That’s because since burpees are an intense fully body exercise, they burn a shitload of calories. Plus, research shows that high intensity exercises like burpees burn up to 50% more fat than moderate exercising.

And better yet, they speed up your metabolism throughout the day—meaning you’ll burn more calories all day long, even after your burpee hell is over.

So if you want to lose weight, ditch the recumbent bike and elliptical machine—and do some burpees instead.

2. They make you stronger

The burpee is a full body strength training exercise and the ultimate example of functional fitness.

With every rep, you’ll work your arms, chest, quads, glutes, hamstrings, and abs. After a few sets of burpees, your legs should feel a little bit like lead.

3. They’re great for conditioning

Why do you think burpees are embraced in the hardest of workouts (like CrossFit)?

Because they’re great for developing conditioning and endurance! And they get your heart rate up—fast.

Burpees are a great way to get in shape quickly, whether your goal is to learn a new sport, train for a triathlon, hike a big mountain, or, just to look good.

4. They’re portable and require no equipment

The best thing about burpees? They require absolutely no equipment.

That’s right. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

You can do burpees in your house, in a nearby park, even in your hotel room.

5. You can add them to almost any workout

Unlike running, which is a slow, monotonous form of exercising (unless you’re sprinting), burpees are fast paced, dynamic, and never boring.

Like I already mentioned, adding burpees to your workout routine will bring you tons of benefits and whip you into shape quicker than you ever thought possible.

However, if you do have equipment available, there are tons of burpee variations you can do to mix things up. Here are a few:

Burpee pull ups. Do a burpee in front of a pull up bar, then do a (jumping) pull up.

Burpee knee ups. Do a burpee in front of your dip station or a set of chairs, then do a knee up.

Burpee box jumps. Do a burpee in front of a box or a high surface you can jump on, then do a box jump.

Be creative and come up with your own!

Give burpees a try

For a really awesome (and challenging) burpee workout, try doing 100 burpees in a row as fast as you can.

Some people look at this as an impossible workout—but it’s all about pacing yourself, and most of all, believing in yourself. See if you can beat my record of 7:41!

If you’re looking for more burpee inspiration, here are some other burpee-filled workouts to try:

Burpee workout #1
Burpee workout #2
Burpee workout #3

Now go do some burpees!

High intensity "Sprint 8" - Burpees

One Legged Burpees

Burpees Slaughter Workout! - YouTube

Burpees Slaughter Workout! - YouTube

Burpee (exercise)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The burpee is a full body exercise used in strength training and as aerobic exercise. It is performed in four steps, and was originally known as a "four-count Burpee":

1. Begin in a standing position.
2. Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground. (count 1)
3. Extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position. (count 2)
4. Return to the squat position in one quick motion. (count 3)
5. Return to an upright standing position. (count 4) ^[1]

Contents  [hide]  1 More challenging variants 2 Other variants 3 Extreme Variants 4 Origin 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] More challenging variants

Burpee push up 

The athlete performs a push-up after assuming the plank position.

Knee push-up burpee 

The athlete bends their knees and rests them on the ground before performing the push up.

Jump up Burpee 

The athlete jumps up as high as they can in at the end of the movement and before beginning the next Burpee.

Long-jump burpee 

The athlete jumps forward, not upward.

Tuck-jump burpee 

The athlete pulls their knees to their chest (tucks) at the peak of the jump.

Jump-over burpee 

The athlete jumps over an obstacle between burpees.

Box-jump burpee 

The athlete jumps onto a box, rather than straight up and down.

One-armed burpee 

The athlete uses only one arm for the whole exercise including the pushup.

Dumbbell burpee 

The athlete holds a pair of dumbbells while performing the exercise.

Parkour burpee 

Following one burpee on the ground, the athlete jumps upon a table and performs the second burpee on the table, then jumps back to the initial position.

Hindu push up burpee 

Instead of a regular push up, do a hindu push up.

Pull-up burpee 

Combine a pull-up with the jump or do a pull-up instead of the jump.

Muscle-up burpee 

Combine a muscle-up (a variation of a pull-up) with the jump or do a muscle-up instead of the jump.

Double burpee 

Instead of one pushup, do two in a row. This cancels the drive from landing after the jump and makes the next jump harder. Each part of the burpee might be repeated to make it even harder.

One Leg burpee 

The athlete stands on one leg, bends at the waist and puts hands on ground so they are aligned with shoulders. Next jump back with the standing leg to plank position. Jump forward with the one leg that was extended, and do a one-leg jump. Repeat on opposite side.

Side burpee 

The athlete bends at waist and places hand shoulder-width apart to the side of right or left foot. Jump both legs out to side and land on the outer and inner sides of your feet. Jump back in, jump up, and repeat on opposite side.

[edit] Other variants

8 count body builder 

A burpee with a jumping jack on the ground. The 8 counts are: (1) squat with your hands on the ground, (2) kick your feet back, (3) kick your feet out to form a Y shape, (4) bring your feet back together, (5) down into a push-up, (6) up part of the push-up, (7) bring your feet back under you, (8) jump in the air.

Military 8 count bodybuilder 

(1)Squat with hands on the ground, (2) Kick back your feet, (3) Down for push up, (4)Up for Push up, (5)Kick feet back in, (6) Stand up, (7) Motion one of a jumping jack, (8) Motion two of a jumping jack.

Wall / incline / air burpee 

The athlete kicks his feet up against a wall / up on a table / up in the air, instead of back. Usually, these variants are performed without a pushup.

[edit] Extreme Variants

Burpee Mile 

The athlete performs the Burpee Excercise, then performs the Standing long jump. These two exercises are repeated until the athlete has complete the distance of a 1 Mile.

[edit] Origin

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the exercise was named in the 1930s for American physiologist Royal H. Burpee, who developed the Burpee test. He earned a PhD in Applied Physiology from Columbia University in 1940 and created the "Burpee" exercise as part of his PhD thesis as a quick and simple way to assess fitness.^[2] The exercise was popularized when the United States Armed Services adopted it as a way to assess the fitness level of recruits when the US entered WWII. Consisting of a series of the exercises performed in rapid succession, the test was meant to be a quick measure of agility, coordination and strength.^[3]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Steps to perform the burpee from VitFit". Retrieved 6 July 2011.
2. ^ "Reference extract from Columbia Teachers College archive". Teachers College, Columbia University. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
3. ^ "Definition of burpee from Oxford Dictionaries Online". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 May 2010.

[edit] References

• Further instructions at bodybuilding.com
• CrossFit.com Burpees Video