Burpees: Is This The Single Greatest Exercise Ever? | Keeping Fit In The Real World

The burpee is a powerful exercise. It instils fear and dread into the strongest, most ripped and fastest of humans!

What is a Burpee?

It is the ultimate body weight exercise. It uses all the major muscle groups. It can be modified for the beginner and the elite. It needs no equipment. It incorporates strength training and aerobic fitness simultaneously.

In it’s true form it is an explosive movement which will very quickly fatigue the muscles and intensely stimulate the cardiovascular system.

Where did the Legend of the Burpee begin?

A physiologist named Royal H. Burpee invented this ultimate exercise. He was researching how one would measure a person’s physical fitness. He devised this simple step by step measurement:

The timing of this coincided with Word War II. The military modified this 4 step fitness test into a more strenuous test to assess the fitness of their soldiers. The burpee was born!

What are the Benefits of Burpees?

The benefits are numerous! This is why the burpee is the ultimate exercise.

What is a Standard Burpee?

The standard burpee is a 4 point move. From standing, lower into a squat and put your hands on the floor. Kick your feet into a plank position. Jump your feet back towards your hands. Jump into the air.

How can a Burpee be Modified for a Beginner?

A burpee is basically moving from standing to getting down on the floor and standing back up again! The standard burpee is a fairly advanced move and the best way to master it is to master each individual component. Think of it as combining a squat, a plank and a jump in 1 move.

The first modification would be to feel competent with each of these moves separately.

The second modification would be to use a raised platform (something sturdy that will not move) to place your hands on rather than the floor. Then step into and out of the plank position, rather than jumping.

Then progress to stepping feet backwards then forwards when in the plank position, rather than jumping.

Then progress to the standard burpee.

How can a Burpee be Progressed?

The list is pretty endless for this. YouTube has numerous videos for this!! A few variations are adding in a tuck jump, a lateral jump, a box jump. Adding a full press up into the standard burpee is also a progression. Holding dumbbells throughout the movement adds more intensity.

How the burpee is incorporated into the workout can also increase or decrease the intensity.

For example a 10 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute): A beginner could do 1 or 2 burpees every minute. An athlete could do 10 or more every minute.

Another variation could be as many burpees as possible within a set time, for example 10 minutes.

Or a burpee ladder. Descending for the beginner, for example, do 10, rest, then 9, rest all the way to 1. This could be modified to ascending for the more advanced person. Start with 2 and progress to 20 in even numbers.

Challenges

There have been some hardcore burpee challenges undertaken by people.

Craig Peters did a staggering 67,527 burpees in 2016! He did 1 on 1st January, 2 on the 2nd adding one each day until doing 366 on 31st December 2016 (it was a leap year)!

Here are some Guinness World Record stats.

Burpee Challenges for Beginners

There are many popular challenges for us mere mortals. Let’s start with the 100 burpees for time.

The 30 day challenge. This one is perfect for the beginner as you will achieve a lot in 1 month!

Then there is the notorious Death by Burpees WOD (workout of the day).

The burpee truly is the single greatest exercise. Whether you are still trying to manage 1 or you are a world record holder, there’s definitely gains to be had using this versatile and fierce exercise!

Conclusion

Burpees are versatile. They can be modified to enhance the fitness of beginners and seasoned pros.

They are a fun way to get fit through challenges.

They can be used to measure fitness progression.

They can be done anywhere.

They are hardcore!

Don’t forget to warm up, get at it, then stretch and cool down.

Comments

Please comment about any opinions, recommendations, challenges or advice below.

Originally published at https://keepfitrockchick.com.

You just read another post from In Fitness And In Health: a health and fitness community dedicated to sharing knowledge, lessons, and suggestions to living happier, healthier lives.

If you’d like to join our newsletter and receive more stories like this one, tap here.