Just One Exercise: The Burpee

Can a single exercise burn fat, build muscle, and increase cardiovascular endurance using no equipment and no more than a small area of floor space? There is an exercise that can do all of that and more. It has been called by many names: burpee, squat thrust, bodybuilder. Many were introduced to it in P.E. classes or basic military training. A combination exercise requiring strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, and explosiveness, the burpee is one exercise that can just about do it all. Burpees are not magic, of course, and they cannot develop every aspect of strength and fitness that might be improved with unlimited time, equipment, and training, but as an all-around, inexpensive, time efficient way to improve your fitness, burpees are in a class by themselves.

The Variations

There are many variations on the burpee. The following four variations are probably the most familiar, and their effectiveness can scarcely be outgrown.

The Classic Squat Thrust

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

5. Stand up.

The Modified Squat Thrust + Push-up

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Perform a push-up.

5. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

6. Stand up.

The Modified Squat Thrust + Squat Jump

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

5. Jump into the air from the squat position. Land on your feet standing as in step one.

Explosive Burpee

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Perform a push-up.

5. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

6. Jump into the air from the squat position. Land on your feet standing as in step one.

Most people will be able to begin training with the classic squat thrust. The following basic version offers another option for those too uncomfortable or unable to jump their feet between the squat and plank positions.

Basic Burpee Modification

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, step first one foot then the other foot back until you are balanced on your hands and the balls of your feet with your back flat. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Step your feet one at a time back to the squat position.

5. Stand up.

The following five advanced modifications offer additional challenges for the fittest trainees.

8-Count BodyBuilder

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Perform a push-up.

5. Jump with your feet and spread your legs while keeping them straight.

6. Jump with your feet again and bring your legs back together, returning to the plan position.

7. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

8. Jump into the air from the squat position. Land on your feet standing as in step one.

Burpee + Pull-up

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist until you can place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Perform a push-up.

5. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

6. Jump into the air from the squat position and grab the pull-up bar with both hands.

7. Perform a pull-up.

8. Drop from the bar and return to the standing position.

Burpee + Deck Squat

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.
2. Squat down low, tuck your tailbone in between your heels, and roll backward onto your shoulders raising your feet over your head.

3. Roll forward and squat on your heels. Place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

4. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

5. Perform a push-up.

6. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

7. Jump into the air from the squat position. Land on your feet standing as in step one.

Burpee + Deck Squat + Dive Bomber

1. Stand in a normal posture, hands by your sides.

2. Squat down low, tuck your tailbone in between your heels, and roll backward onto your shoulders raising your feet over your head.

3. Roll forward and squat on your heels. Place your hands on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

4. Keeping your hands on the floor, jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

5. Perform a push-up.

6. Raise your backside into the air until your body is in the shape of an inverted V.

7. Bending at the elbows, dip your body between your hands close to the ground and swoop your head up toward the ceiling with your body now in the shape of a U.

8. Return your body to the inverted V shape by reversing your motion and swooping back between your hands.

9. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

10. Jump into the air from the squat position. Land on your feet standing as in step one.

Man-Maker

1. Stand in a normal posture. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your side. (I wouldn’t recommend very heavy weights for this exercise. Even10or fifteen pounds will seem much heavier very quickly.)

2. Bend your knees and fold at the waist and place the dumbbells on the floor to the outside and in front of your feet.

3. While continuing to grip the dumbbells (or with your hands on the ground beside them), jump slightly and kick your legs back landing on the balls of your feet. You should now be in the top (plank) position of a push-up.

4. Perform a push-up.

5. Jump again as before quickly pulling your feet back to their original position. Your feet should move together both kicking out to the plank position and kicking back in to the squat position.

6. Stand up and quickly raise the dumbbells over your head. (Depending on the weight you may use a curl-press, snatch, or clean-and-press technique to get the dumbbells overhead.)

The Programs

Now that you know how to do a burpee (ten of them actually) we can plan our weekly training. The basic program consists of three workouts a week on non-consecutive days (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). You may also choose to perform the workouts every other day giving you four days of training every other week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).

Day One: 30/30 Burpees x 10-30 minutes
Alternate thirty second sets of burpees with thirty seconds of rest for ten to thirty minutes. Set a large clock with a second hand where you can see it and start cranking out burpees. If thirty seconds sets are too much at first, try alternating twenty seconds of exercise with forty seconds of rest.

Day Two: Descending Sets
Pick a number of burpees you know you can perform fairly easily and do a set. Rest briefly then do another set with one fewer repetitions. Continue reducing each set by one until you have completed a set of just one. For example, perform 10 burpees, rest, 9 burpees, rest, 8 burpees, rest, etc. Try to reduce rest time as your grow fitter. Eventually you want your rest times to last 1-2 seconds times the number of reps you just completed (e.g. 10 burpees, rest 10-20 seconds) or rest one breath for every rep in your last set (e.g. 10 burpees, rest for 10 breaths). Add another set to this workout every one to three weeks until you are starting with a set of twenty burpees or more.

Day Three: Fastest Time / Single Set
Your third workout will change every other week (unless you are working out four days a week, in which case you can do both options).

• Week One: Fastest Time to # Burpees
  Select a goal of 50, 100, 150, 200 or more burpees and try to complete your goal as fast as possible, resting as necessary. Use a stopwatch to record your time. Once a particular challenge becomes fairly easy, begin working on a larger goal.
• Week Two: Single Set
  Perform a single set of as many burpees as you can without resting. Use a relaxed, rhythmic pace rather than high speed and high intensity. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t do as many as you hoped. Your single set maximum will increase over time.

Burpees are a fun and effective way to increase your fitness. One of the most challenging and effective forms of bodyweight exercise, the burpee can help you achieve maximize results with a minimal investment of time. -JME