Just like eating certain healthy foods even if you don’t like them, the same applies to working out. And when you think of less-fun exercises, burpees are likely at the top of your list.
The good news is that you don’t have to do burpees often to reap the health benefits. According to our trainers, here’s everything you need to know.
burpee benefits
Burpees are not only a great way to get your heart rate up, but they can also build strength and endurance.
“Burpees are a great way to warm up and get your cardio going. “There’s an aerobic component to this move. It gets your heart rate up and your legs, glutes, upper body, core and back muscles explode.”
RELATED: 19 best cardio workouts, from walking and water aerobics to boxing and burpees
In addition to activating multiple muscle groups, it also burns more calories per minute than other workouts.
Burpees activate the entire forward chain (front) of the body. This includes the pecs, front deltoids/shoulders, abdomen, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings, as well as obliques and multifidus to stabilize the spine. As a varying level of exercise, burpees can get your heart rate up quickly and burn more calories per minute. All this can be tracked while wearing the heart rate monitor. Brooke Taylor According to the New York-based personal trainer, owner of Taylored Fitness and creator of the Brooke Taylor Fit app:
How many burpees should I do per week to see results?
This is a great functional training exercise to add to any program designed to maximize your time and energy expenditure in the gym, explains Taylor. Try repeating different variations of the exercise for maximum benefit. Excessive impact over time can cause injury or burnout.
This is why Taylor suggests adding the following variation. Include 2-3 sets of 12-15 repetitions over time in your workout regimen every 2-3 monthsThis will give your body enough time to recover, reset, and move forward so you can see the results.
In some cases it may be a good idea to implement high rep burpees. For example, 50-60 burpees with minimal rest. Torren BradleyMaster of Science in Exercise Science, former D1 NCAA Strength Coach and C4 Energy Brand Ambassador, proposes.
However, to get the most out of your burpees, you may use them as a “garnish” to your exercise selection. Let’s say you do 4 sets of 8 leg extensions. You can include 8 burpees between each set.
“What you’re doing now is increasing your workout’s oxygen consumption and energy needs while simultaneously overloading your quadriceps,” adds Bradley. not only keeps track of more reps all the time, but also makes the workout harder by asking yourself more questions in between traditional moves. Get the most out of your workout by doing just 100 burpees.
burpee workout
Below are some trainer-approved exercises.
classic burpee
from sky
How to:
- Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart, then lower yourself into a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
- Jump and land with your feet together to form a pushup position.
- Perform a push-up, bounce so your feet are on the bottom, return to the squat position and return to the starting position.
sliding plate burpee
“Burpees work a lot of muscles and burn a lot of calories when you exert force through their full range of motion. The more reps you do in 50 seconds, the more calories you burn,” says Skye.
How to:
(scroll to read more)
- With the sliding plates shoulder-width apart under your feet, squat down and place your hands on the ground in front of you, then slide your feet back (at the same time as each other) until your body is in a plank position.
- Bend your knees and slide your feet toward your hands, lifting your hands off the ground and squatting back to a standing position, putting your weight on your heels, not the balls of your feet.
- Keep repeating the movement.
burpee push up
from taylor
How to:
- Start standing with your feet wider than your hips.
- On an inhale, return your sitting bones to a deep squat position, place your hands directly under your shoulders, and jump your legs back to form a long, head-to-toe dart position.
- Inhale as you lower your body, forming a 90-degree angle with your shoulder and elbow joints.
- As you exhale, straighten your arms and bring your legs back up.
- repeat 10-12 times
From burpee pushups to deadlifts
from taylor
How to:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and start standing with your feet wider than your hips.
- Inhale and hinge your hips, placing your hands directly under your shoulders.
- Exhale and jump your feet back to form a long dart position from head to toe.
- Inhale and lower your body to create a 90-degree angle.
- Exhale and extend your arms, jump your legs back to find a neutral spine, and stand with your legs straight.
- Repeat 10-12x.
Burpee to deadlift front squat
from taylor
How to:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and start standing with your feet wider than your hips.
- Inhale and hinge your hips, placing your hands directly under your shoulders.
- Exhale and jump your feet back to form a long dart position from head to toe.
- Inhale and lower your body to create a 90-degree angle.
- Exhale and extend your arms, jump your legs back to find a neutral spine, and straighten your legs.
- Inhale, scoop up your abs, and bend your arms into your biceps and along your shoulders.
- Then, hinge your hips and return your sitting bones to a front squat.
- Inhale while stretching your legs.
- Repeat 10-12x.
Burpee push-ups to Renegade Row
from taylor
How to:
- Start standing with your feet wider than your hips.
- As you inhale, return your sit bones to a deep squat position, place your hands directly under your shoulders, and jump your feet to form a long dart position from head to toe.
- Inhale as you lower your body, forming a 90-degree angle with your shoulder and elbow joints.
- Exhale, straighten your arms, keep your hips square as you exhale, pull one elbow back in line with your ribs, then bring it down and pull the opposite arm back.
- Exhale and jump your feet to get back up.
- repeat 10-12 times
How to modify a burpee
Bradley offers easy, slightly harder and more advanced versions of burpees.
To make it easier: If you’re not ready for a full pushup, perform a modified version of a traditional pushup burpee by kneeling just before the pushup.
A little harder: Add a high knee tuck to the top of the jump instead of just jumping.
Even harder: Not only can you increase your reps, but you can also add dumbbells to your exercise. Remember that maintaining robotic form is becoming more and more important when doing dumbbell burpees. I don’t want to see dumbbells swinging before jumping. The dumbbells should be placed next to your body while performing the jump. Start with 2.5 or 5 lb dumbbells until your fitness warrants more weight.
Next: Here’s how many squats you need to do per week to see results, according to trainers
sauce
- Emily Sky, Fitness Program, Trainer and Creator of Emily Sky FIT
- Brooke Taylor is a New York-based personal trainer, owner of Taylored Fitness, and creator of the Brooke Taylor Fit app.
- Thoren Bradley, MS in Exercise Science, Former D1 NCAA Strength Coach, C4 Energy Brand Ambassador
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