What Are Burpees? How To Do Burpees The Right Way?

Burpees — often used interchangeably with 'squat thrust' — is the total body strengthening exercise and one of the most challenging moves in the fitness world. It's a plyometric exercise that involves the speed and force of different movements to build muscle power.

Burpees rank among the most functional full-body exercises, targeting multiple muscle groups. If you are unaware of what 'burpees' means, they are one of the few equipment-free, bodyweight exercises that challenge many of the major muscle groups in your body and require strength, agility, and coordination.

The Burpee exercise is named after Royal H. Burpee, a physiologist who invented this exercise in the 1930s while working on his Ph.D. thesis. Mr. Burpee came up with this exercise to evaluate the overall fitness, agility, strength, endurance, and coordination of the US armed forces.

In this article, we'll go over how to perform burpees, what muscles are used, and the benefits of performing them.

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How To Perform Burpees?

1. Stand upright facing straight ahead with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees held straight, back straight, core engaged, and your hands hanging by your sides.
2. In one smooth motion, drop your body into a low squat position. Hinge forward with your hips, bend your knees slightly, and lean forward as you lower your body down to enable your palms to touch the floor.
3. Thrust your feet and legs backward so that you land in a plank position, resting your body on your hands and toes. (Your shoulders should be over your wrists, and you should maintain a straight line from head to heels.) Optional: You can lower your body all the way into a push-up position on the floor.
4. Immediately move back into the supported squat position.
5. Use an explosive motion to push through your heels, jump up with arms raised over your head, and land back into the standing position. (You can jump as high as you can or simply do a little hop in the air to finish the burpee.)
6. You have now completed one rep. Do 15 reps to complete one set of burpees.

Note for beginners: The goal of a beginner should not be how fast they complete the reps. Focus on nailing the burpee modification correctly. If you have been sedentary for quite some time, consult with a physician before beginning any exercise program to make certain you are fit enough to perform the exercise.

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Benefits Of Burpees

1. Improves Coordination And Balance

Burpees are full-body workouts, the correct execution of which improves coordination along with body balance. They combine various patterns of exercise, demanding your muscles and joints to perform symmetrically as you move from squat to plank to push-up and back again into a squat and upright position. When your body works at so many levels and moves from one position to another rapidly, you build good stability, strength, body balance, and coordination.

Also Read: 6 Best Warm-Up Exercises To Do Prior To Your Workout

2. Improves Endurance

Muscle endurance is the ability of muscles to exert force and continue contracting against resistance before reaching a state of fatigue. Increasing muscle endurance means increasing the power of muscles to continue to contract and work against forces. Burpees are explosive, high-repetition workouts that require you to use your whole body weight — making them highly effective for increasing muscular endurance. As you increase your reps, you build better aerobic capacity and see improvements in muscle endurance.

Also Read: Aerobic Vs Anaerobic Exercise – Know The Difference

3. Increases Calorie Burning

Burpees involve intense bursts of aerobic exercise, which are highly effective for weight loss. Since burpees are a high-intensity, full-body workout that targets several muscles, they can speed up your metabolism and burn a lot of calories. They combine both strength training and cardio, setting an example of ultimate functional exercise. With every rep and set you perform, your body will get conditioned and toned — and the energy expended to complete each rep makes for a great calorie burn.

Also Read: 6 Tips To Train Efficiently On A Low-Carb Diet

4. Improves Muscle Mass & Strength

Burpees target multiple body muscles, including your chest, arms, shoulders, hamstrings, glutes, abs, and legs. While some isolation exercises (like ab crunches or dumbbell shoulder press) stimulate only one muscle group, burpees are compound exercises that recruit several muscles at a time — making them great for full-body fitness. The four-step movement requires no equipment, making it ideal to carry out at any time and place.

Also Read: What Is The Difference Between Bulking & Cutting

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If you want to work all the major muscle groups in one killer combo move, burpees are the way to go…

Always remember to pace yourself, eat healthier, stay hydrated, and not over-exercise when attempting to get fit…

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Also Read: Planks Vs Crunches – Which Is More Effective For Core?

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