I’m going to answer the question of “How to do the burpee exercise and what muscles do they work?” It was sent in via email from a newsletter subscriber.
Looking at similar questions, people often ask about a perfect burpee or how to do it correctly or properly. The burpee is just a movement that has a lot of variations. So don’t worry about it being perfect… but I’ll show you the standard burpee and then some of it’s variations.
Here Are The Questions I Will Be Answering On The Burpee In This Article
- How to do the burpee exercise.
- Do burpees build muscle?
- What are the benefits of doing burpees and what muscles do they work?
- Do burpees burn fat?
- Do burpees have a pushup?
How To Do The Perfect Burpee
Many people have difficulty doing the Burpee exercise so today let’s go through the steps for a proper Burpee that won’t hurt your back. When done right, the Burpee is a fantastic bodyweight exercise you can do anywhere so let’s get after it!
A Burpee is a series of moments combined into one big exercise and it goes like this… The start of the burpee begins by bending over and putting your hands on the floor. You squat, jump your legs back to push up position like this:
Then jump or mini step back to a squat,
Lastly, power out of the low squat position and jump into the air and your done! If you are just getting started though, you can stand up, step forward or jump up depending on your level of fitness. You could even throw a jumping knee tuck in there and I’ve seen people do air splits 🙂
That is the most basic version and that counts as one rep
Here is a video of me doing it in a hotel hallway. I do the flutter kick first though:
Some people call this version a “squat thrust” because it lacks the pushup when you jump back. Whatever floats your boat. I find definitions of “proper” movements change over the years depending on what everyone agrees with at the time.
Do Burpees Build Muscle?
Do burpees build muscle? The short answer is somewhere between “Very little” and “It depends.” Anything that poses a challenge to your muscles will build more muscles. But developing the strength to do a burpee doesn’t take very long if you are healthy and mobile to begin with. What it really helps with is your work capacity. The ability to work longer without having to stop because of cardiovascular failure or muscle fatigue (burn).
Having said that, there are ways to make the burpee build muscle. If you hold onto dumbbells for the jumping/squatting portion or wearing a weight vest will add new stimulus and in turn build more muscle. Especially if you add a chin up to the end of the burpee while wearing the vest.
What are the benefits of doing burpees and what muscles do they work?
The Burpee works almost every muscle in your body with the squat thrust variation working a little less because it’s minus the pushup.
But other variations work more!
Burpees are not intended to build large amounts of muscle due to the lack of resistance and explosive style of movement and are intended more for agility, cardiovascular work, and coordination. The arms, chest and legs do get a pretty good workout though especially if you put a pushup at the bottom of the movement.
Another way to really pump the legs, back, chest and shoulders is to do burpees with dumbbells and and a squat jump, shoulder press or combo of both.
Like this: while holding dumbbells, put them on the ground, shoot legs back, do a pushup. Then squat once or twice with the dumbbells and then press once or twice overhead.
That will tucker you out in a hurry depending on the amount of weight you use.
Burpees are one of those exercises that you can throw into any routine to fill gaps. Heck, Burpees are a whole workout in themselves. Especially the Rambo Row version or the version where you do the normal burpee but then jump up to then do a chinup.
Do Burpees Burn Fat?
The short answer is YES, burpees burn fat. The long answer is that you are really after calorie expenditure. But again, burpees are there for the win. Because burpees are such a large dynamic exercise, they burn a lot of calories.
Burning a lot of calories mixed with a maintenance or below maintenance caloric intake will allow you to burn fat.
Your body can burn sugars or fat for fuel and depending on your state (morning fasted or after a meal) you burn one or the other. IT DOESN’T MATTER. In the end, the exercise helps you dip into a caloric deficit if your diet is on point, and that’s what you care about.
What Are The Benefits Of The Burpee Exercise?
They hit the whole body and increase endurance, flexibility and explosive power.
They are great for all round general fitness. To the point that you can’t do the exercise now but progress to the point where you can… in that case they make you stronger and build muscle. After that, resistance must be added.
Do Burpees Have A Pushup?
I don’t think there is a right way to answer this one. My knee jerk reaction is to say yes because I’ve always done it that way. But it totally depends on who you talk to.
Some people say the burpee has a pushup and the squat thrust does not. Some people say that those are both the same exercise but that a burpee has a jump at the end of it and a squat thrust does not.
I find it just easier to say, “Let’s do burpees with…” then give the variation or addition to the basic “squat down, shoot your legs back” and go from there.
You also have to consider that some places I wear “pants” and in others, they’re “slacks” and somewhere else… “trousers.”
I digress.
Advanced Burpees
Now let’s bump this up a couple levels and make things a little more interesting! Here is two other versions, not much of a difference, but enough to add some extra burn to an already fantastic bodyweight exercise.
Bronco Burpees. Now what in the world could this be? At the bottom of the Burpee, do not let your feet hit the floor when you extend them back. Instead, kick them up into the air high and out like a bronco kicking. Then pull them back in really fast to get as close as you can to the squat. This will prepare you to come back up out of the bottom like in the normal burpee. It’s pretty evil.
Adding the pushup to Burpees. I’d imagine that’s pretty self explanatory. When you extend your feet back at the bottom of the Burpee, simply throw in a pushup and then carry on like you did with the normal ones. Now if you really want to be creative, then do the Bronco, then shoot your legs back like normal and then throw in the pushup too!
Once more? Ok. One more before I go. Do everything I said above. The Bronco, Pushup and regular parts of the Burpee. Then, jump forward as far as you can before doing the next one. Better yet, jump over something as far or high as you can and repeat until pooped.
There you go. I better stop before this gets out of hand. But enjoy!