The burpee is notorious for being a demanding movement that elevates the heart and challenges full-body muscular endurance and stamina as part of conditioning workouts. In its essence, the burpee is simply demonstrating the ability to move from a face-down position on the floor to a standing position. This is an essential function required throughout all phases of life as a means to assess an individual’s ability to live independently. Read further to learn everything you need to know about the burpee:
- What Is the Burpee?
- Burpee Benefits
- Muscle Groups Worked
- How To Prepare for the Burpee
- Equipment Needed for the Burpee
- How To Warm Up for the Burpee
- How To Perform the Burpee
- Common Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
- Burpee Modifications
- Burpee Variations
- Common Burpee Workouts
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What Is the Burpee?
The burpee incorporates movements and positions utilized in the air squat and push-up, along with a jump, as a means to complete the movement. This burpee can be utilized for high reps and high speeds for advanced athletes to challenge conditioning, and on the other end of the spectrum, the movement can be adapted to move from a prone position on the floor to a standing position, in a slow and controlled fashion, to enhance an individual’s functionality.
You’ll see the burpee programmed in conditioning workouts, as well as warm-ups. It’s also a common movement in benchmark workouts, Hero workouts, and workouts that involve limited equipment.
Burpee Benefits
The burpee develops cardio-respiratory endurance and stamina, as well as coordination and agility, amongst other attributes of fitness. The burpee is a potent tool for conditioning as well as building attributes needed for daily functionality.
Cardiorespiratory Endurance
The burpee moves the body throughout a large range of motion and is typically performed for a challenging number of reps. These demands elevate the heart rate and challenge the endurance capacity of any level of athlete.
Muscular Endurance and Stamina
The burpee places a demand on many muscles throughout the entire body, particularly the shoulders, chest, triceps, abdominals, lower back, and lower-body musculature. The nature of the burpee will create fatigue in these muscles, and when performed across many reps, will build and challenge the muscles’ ability to enhance muscular endurance and withstand muscular failure.
Coordination and Agility
The burpee requires a coordinated effort amongst all regions of the body to enhance efficiency and speed, as well as to delay the onset of muscular fatigue. When performed at high speeds, the burpee requires the ability to accelerate and decelerate to enhance the ability to change direction quickly.
Muscle Groups Worked
The burpee requires muscles throughout the entire body to execute the movement. Most notably, the upper-body pushing muscles (shoulders, chest, triceps), core (abdominals and erectors), and the lower body.
Upper-Body Pushing Muscles (Shoulders, Chest, Triceps)
The burpee requires these muscles to absorb the impact when lowering to the floor, as well as to execute the push-up aspect of the burpee when initiating the upward phase of the movement.
Core (Abdominals and Erectors)
There are aspects of the movement that will require the core musculature to aid in maintaining stability of the trunk. The trunk will also move through flexion and extension, requiring these muscles to work dynamically.
Lower Body
The lower body will be utilized to complete the squatting elements of the movement, as well as to complete the jumping phase. These functions will challenge the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
How To Prepare for the Burpee
Preparing to burpee may involve performing easier burpee variations and a general warm-up to get the body ready to move through the range of motion required to enhance performance.
How To Warm up for the Burpee
To warm up for the burpee, the athlete can perform general movements that work every joint through its full range of motion. For example, rowing, biking, running, jumping rope, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks to raise core temperature, along with movements like air squats and push-ups.
It is also common to progressively ramp up intensity by performing easier movements similar to a burpee prior to executing the full burpee. For example, perform 5-10 inchworms + a push-up, followed by 5-10 straight-arm burpees, and finish by performing full burpees.
How To Do the Burpee
In its truest form, the burpee is essentially an act of moving from a prone position on the floor to a standing position. However, there are techniques to be utilized to enhance performance and safety, such as proper hand and foot placement, range of motion, and dynamic jumping aspects of the movement.
Initiating the Descent
From a standing position, reach the hands toward the floor at approximately shoulder-width apart, followed by jumping the feet back to move the body into the top of a push-up position.
Finishing the Descent
From the straight arm position, lower the body to a position where the chest, hips, and thighs touch the floor.
Initiating the Ascent
From the bottom position, push up and jump the feet toward the hands. The feet width should be similar to the width of the hands or slightly wider.
Finishing the Ascent
After the feet have contacted the floor, jump to full hip and knee extension and extend the arms overhead. The finish position may vary depending on the variation being performed. A common finish position may require a touch of the hand to an object a set distance above the reach or jumping over an object.
Common Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
There are several common burpee mistakes athletes should be aware of and avoid. Many of these errors revolve around lack of range of motion and poor positioning of the lower body.
Knees Caving In and/or Shifting Too Far Forward on the Feet
When jumping the feet forward to initiate the ascent, it is common for the knees to cave inward and for the pressure to be excessively forward on the front of the feet. This issue is typically associated with jumping the feet forward into a very narrow position. Focus on jumping the feet to a width similar to the hand position or slightly wider, and encourage a landing position where the full foot contacts the floor with knees tracking the feet.
Not Contacting the Floor With the Body
The full range of motion is intended to demonstrate the capacity of moving the body from a lying position to a standing position. When the chest, hips, and thighs do not contact the floor, this likely demonstrates a weakness in the bottom position or excessive speed. Focus on full range of motion, potentially slow down to achieve this goal, and perform the push-up phase by keeping the knees on the floor, if needed
Lack of Hip and Leg Extension on the Jump
In an effort to move quickly, it is common to shorten the range of motion of the jumping phase by not extending the hips and/or knees, which leaves the torso angled forward. A simple fix can be to focus on looking forward at the top of the rep or to reach for a target at the top of each rep.
Burpee Modifications
The burpee range of motion and body positions can be altered to meet the needs of all athletes.
Step Back and Step Forward
If jumping the feet backward and forward during the rep is too aggressive, it can be altered to stepping the feet back into the top of the push-up position when initiating the descent and by stepping the feet forward into the jumping position on the ascent. Unless stated otherwise, this variation of a burpee can be executed to a count as a prescribed rep.
Incline Push-Up
If range of motion is compromised or the full range of motion movement is too aggressive, athletes can place their hands on an elevated surface like a box or bench to perform the push-up phase of the movement.
Burpee Variations
There are several variations of the burpee that may be programmed as part of conditioning workouts.
Burpee to a Target
For some workouts, there may be a set height above the athlete’s reach that needs to be touched at the top of every rep. Common heights are 6-12 inches above the athlete’s reach.
Bar-Facing Burpee
This is a burpee that is executed with the rep being performed facing perpendicular to a barbell and then completed by jumping over the bar. This variation can also be performed by facing a dumbbell.
There are also instances prescribed where the athlete may stay parallel to the barbell or dumbbell and perform a lateral hop to jump over the object.
Burpee Box Jump
This is a variation of a burpee where the jumping phase is completed by jumping onto (or over) a box.
Common Burpee Workouts
Burpees are a staple as part of a CrossFit conditioning workout.
CrossFit Open Workout 12.1: Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
Burpees *Jump both hands to an object that is 6 inches above max reach.
Glen: For time: 30 clean and jerks (95/135 lb) / Run 1 mile / 15 ripe climbs (15 feet) / run 1 mile / 100 burpees
CrossFit Open Workout 14.5 and 16.5: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 rep rounds for time of: Thrusters (65/95 lb) / Bar-facing burpees