Burpees are a great full body exercise for blasting fat and building lean muscle. Most of these benefits come from the dynamic explosiveness of the movement, using your legs, the largest muscles in your body, to propel your body weight high into the air.
A lot of people do burpees in a lot of different ways, but to us, a true blue burpee includes a push-up and a two-footed jump.
How to Perform a Standard Burpee:
- Begin in a standing position, feet shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your chest up, drop into a squat as low as you can, placing both hands in front of you on the ground, about shoulder-width apart.
- Pop your feet back into the pushup position. Keep your belly button pulled in and don’t let your hips sag: Your body should be a straight line from your head to your heels.
- Lower down and return to plank to perform a pushup.
- Jump your feet back into squat position, then swing your arms, jumping as high as you can into the air.
- Land with soft feet and immediately lower down to repeat.
Common Form Mistakes:
Keeping your weight on the balls of your feet. The downward and upward motion is a squat, so keep your weight on your heels to take the pressure off your knees. If burpees hurt your knees, this is probably why. Only press through the balls of your feet when you jump.
The push up is a push up: don’t let your hips sag or collapse to the ground. We’re here to work people.
Keep your core tight: this will help eliminate your hips from sagging and protect your back when you’re bent forward.
Burpees hit everything: legs, core, abs, back, chest, arms, but they are so versatile you can use them to specifically target any muscle group you choose by throwing a little extra something into the mix. The explosive upward movement of the burpee is the best place to add a little something to really target your glutes. We have 7 burpee variations to tighten and lift your booty, while also scoring all over toning and some great cardiovascular benefits.
Do 10 reps of each of the following burpees twice through for a killer glute workout. To really ramp it up, move as fast as possible, without resting, and jump as high as you can into the air.
1. Burpees with Jump Lunges
Perform your burpee. When you jump into the air, scissor your feet, right foot forward to land in a staggered stance.
- Lower down into a lunge, both knees at 90 degrees.
- Swing your arms and jump into the air again, scissoring your legs to put your left foot forward and lower into a lunge.
- Swing your arms once more to jump into the air and land with your feet next to each other, shoulder-width apart.
- Lower into your squat to perform your next burpee.
2. Burpees with Squat Pulses
- Perform your burpee. Jump into the air, and land lightly, lowering into a squat.
- Do 5 small pulses at the lowest point of your squat.
- Jump into the air again, land lightly, and lower into your squat to perform your next burpee.
3. Broad Jump Burpee
- Do these outside or somewhere you have a lot of room to travel.
- Perform a burpee as usual, but instead of jumping as high as you can into the air, jump as far forward as you can, swinging your arms from momentum.
- As soon as you land, lower into your next squat to perform your next burpee.
4. Burpees with Prone Leg Lifts
- Perform your burpee. When you are in the prone position, just after your pushup, lift your right leg and pulse it toward the ceiling 10 times.
- Put your foot down and lift your left foot, pulsing for 10 reps.
- Lower it to the ground and complete your burpee.
5. Double Burpees
- These burpees are double the fun: perform your burpee like normal, but instead of doing one pushup and one squat jump, do two back to back.
- Make sure your hands make contact with the ground in between your squat jumps or it doesn’t count!
About The Author: KELLY TURNER
