What's a Burpee?

If you know what a Burpee is, you probably groaned when you read the word.  For those of you that don't know, today you will!  In the past few weeks I have posted sample workouts along with my Workout Wednesdays bios.  It seems like burpees come up quite a bit, here on the blog and on my Instagram.  So today I would like to share with you how to do a burpee.

There are several different variations and modifications.  This one is my favorite.


1)  Start in a standing position, squat all the way to the floor, placing your hands on the floor, shoulders over hands.
2)  Keep your legs together and jump back to a plank.
3) Do a push up.
4) Keep your legs together and jump back to the beginning tight little squat.
5) Jump up!  "Reach for the sky"

Feet together, jump back!

Plank, then a push-up, then jump back to start.

Jump as high as you can!

The first one or two feel great and so much fun.  By 4 or 5 they start to get rough.  By 10?  Feeling the burn for sure.

So, what does a burpee do for you?

• Constant movement elevates the heart rate providing a burst of cardio to your workout.
• The jumping works short twitch muscle fibers as well as strengthening the legs.
• The push up works the chest and abs.

Burpees are great because you can do them anywhere and add them to any workout.  For a circuit workout I like to try for 60 seconds of burpees or doing 10-20 in a row.  Also a great couch potato workout:  see how many you can do each commercial break!


As with any other exercise, make sure you are in good health and can safely perform the exercise.

Have fun!  What are your thoughts on the Burpee?