If you have ever tried bootcamp training, you probably dread the moment your sergeant ordered for 20 burpees. But you have to admit that burpees do get your heart pumping and before you know it, you are sweating buckets. The burpee is one of the most effective overall body conditioning exercise which involves more than one major muscle group and more than one joint at a time.
There aren’t many exercise moves that engage as many muscle groups as the burpee while at the same time also improving your endurance, stamina and cardiovascular conditioning greatly. Using only your body weight, burpees are usually performed by extreme athletes, fighters, cross-fitters and the military as conditioning training. Burpees are pretty intense and since you will be engaging most of your muscles, you will be burning a lot of calories so it’s a great workout to sweat away the calories.
How To Perfect the Burpee In 6 Steps
1. Start in the standing position with your hands by your side.
2. Bending down into a squat position, plant both your hands on the ground just outside your feet.
3. Keeping your hands on the ground, kick both your feet up so you are in the push up position.
4. Continue the motion by letting your chest hit the floor.
5. From here, thrust both feet forward so you are back in the squat position.
6. From the squat position, jump up and raise your hands over your head. Repeat from the start.
Remember, when performing burpees, the key is to perform them as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining good form.
Beginners can try adding these 2 moves to your burpee to make it more effective:
1. Push Up Burpee For Beginners
Try the burpee without lowering your chest to the ground. As your strength and coordination improves, incorporate the pushup back into the exercise by touching your chest to the ground.
2. Half-Jump Burpee For Beginners
Do a half jump at the top of a burpee rather than a full jump if you are still struggling to do a proper jump.
Challenge yourself with these 3 advanced moves to make your burpees harder!
1. Jump Tuck Burpee
Do the regular burpee but instead of jumping straight up with arms overhead, jump up and tuck your knees up towards your chest.
2. Medicine Ball Burpee (More Advanced)
Add a medicine ball to your usual burpee to add more weight to your jumps and squats. Squat down, placing medicine ball on the ground in front of you, carefully jump back into a plank position, jump back up to squatting, then stand up and jump with your arms (and medicine ball) in the air.
3. Push-ups
Try doing a full push-up at the bottom of the burpee. Make sure you have a good form before adding this to your usual burpees.
Watch Out For These 7 Mistakes You Might Be Making on Burpees
1. Pushing one leg back at a time
Instead of kicking both of your feet back together when in the squat position (with both of your hands on the ground), you push one leg back at a time. That’s just cheating. Make sure you kick both feet back together to get more out of your burpee.
2. Doing a full push-up when you have not mastered the burpee
Only do it when you have perfected the basic burpee. Adding the push-up will make you more tired causing you to slow down. Just let your chest hit the floor, then bow your way back up.
3. Bending your body forward
Leaning your pelvic forward while doing a burpee can put unnecessary tension to your quads and lower back.
4. Knees are bend too forward
Knees moving too far forward increasing shear forces in the knee joint.
5. Unstable position at top and bottom of push up
Concentrate on keeping good form, slow down if you have to, practise then speed it up when you’re confident.
6. Rounding your back
Rounding your back too often can place a lot of stress on your lower back. Keep your core engaged the whole time to avoid rounding your back.
7. Forgetting to breathe
Sometimes you tend to hold your breath when you’re doing your burpee which is a common mistake that most people make when exercising. Remember to breathe and keep a good breathing rhythm.
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