The first time you do a burpee, you'll feel as if your heart will come out and you will pant yourself to death. Yes, that's how intense burpees can get. It is one of the most brutal bodyweight work out that burns fat as fast as it builds muscle. Most trainers consider as a punishment work out. Do not get scared after doing one burpee, hang in there and go on, do the second then third, by the time you perform 10 burpees, you will wonder how is it even for a human body to perform an exercise with multiple muscles aching at the same time with your lungs to be aching like anything.
There is no fun or easy way to do burpees, for they require stamina, strength and will power all at the same time. Even if you take it slow and steady, there will come a point where you will be panting like anything holding your lungs and reaching out for your water bottle every other minute. But the good news is that all this effort and hard work is worth it.
Enough scare; now let's get to the good part where burpees are the king of all bodyweight exercises.
Although burpees will spring your heart racing as much as sprinting to catch a bus – one reason it is a hit among HIIT crowd. And all of the sweat and hard work comes without using any equipment so you can perform burpees pretty much everywhere and anywhere. All you need is a space that can facilitate your height. Burning calories was never this easy! With the perfect combination of endurance and bodyweight exercise, these badass burpees will help you get the body of your dreams in weeks!
1. Benefits of Burpees
It needs some counseling before you begin your set because when you're done with the first set, you will need some convincing to put your body through that torture again!
But hey look at it this way, if you were to pick one exercise to do for the rest of your life, burpees would be the perfect pick. Burpees is a full body work out working for all major muscle groups while improving your cardiovascular fitness, strength and testing your muscle coordination and balance.
Not only do burpees improve your muscle coordination, but it helps your muscles function better, you will notice this in your day to day life activities. Your mobility will improve; you will be able to do things quicker and more easily. Burpees won't just help you in the gym but outside of it too. Even if you do not go to the gym, you don't have to for burpees, with zero machines or even a kit; burpees can be your knight in the shining armor any day!
The burpees are also a very versatile exercise that you can combine with any other exercise to work your body differently and expose it to different routines. When you combine a burpee with other bodyweight or strength exercises, your body receives a combination of cardio and strength at the same time and there is nothing like treating your body to these both.
2. They Help In Burning Calories
You must have heard a lot about circuit training. What does circuit training involve? When opting for a circuit, you need to be prepared for high-intensity training that involves intense reps for 30 to 40 seconds each to burn excessive amounts of calories in an hour or 45 minutes. In short, burpees make your body a fat-burning machine. That is because since burpees are a full-body exercise, they burn a ton of calories in a short period. Research shows that high-intensity exercises like burpees burn 50% more calories than other moderate exercises.
Moreover, burpees help in burning calories by speeding up your metabolism throughout the day. Isn't it cool? You do 30-40 burpees in a row and voila! You burn calories throughout the day. Meaning you will be burning more calories even after returning from burpee hell. So here's a pro tip for you, if you want to lose weight, ditch your elliptical machine and whatever cardio equipment you are using and start doing burpees instead!
3. Burpees Make You Stronger
There are two bodies weigh exercises that make you stronger and fitter. Burpees and push-ups. With each rep, you are working on your arms, chest, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and abs too! What else would someone want? After a few reps of burpees, your legs better feel like concrete. That's right, stiff and hard!
One of the greatest exercises for conditioning and endurance
Why do you think burpees are embraced in the hardest and most challenging of workouts? (Like CrossFit and HIIT)
It is because they are great for conditioning and endurance. They're famous for getting your heart rate up in no time and make you go breathless and all sweaty as quickly as it gets.
Burpees are a great way of getting into shape quickly, whether your goal is to learn a new sport or master an already learned sport, prepare for a hike, to run a marathon or just tone your body, you name a benefit and burpee has it!
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4. Mistakes To Avoid When Doing Burpees
As perfect as a burpee workout may sound right now, there are certain mistakes you might be capable of making while doing burpees. We understand that burpees might be a difficult road to take but impossible is nothing and the next thing you know is, you can do it!
Don't Skip Steps
As you begin to tire, a little voice in your head will tell you to skip a step or two to make burpees easier for you. It's alright; everyone doing burpees goes through the same hell but don't beat yourself about it, take it slow, take rest in between and rise stronger with a killer next set. Skipping steps will only decrease the impact of the burpee ad burn fewer calories. You don't want to waste all the hard work like that.
Don't Compromise On Your Form
We have been emphasizing on the correct form time and again, that's how important it is to keep the right form and practice the correct technique. Remaining in the right form will make it easier for you to achieve your targets and the aimed number of reps. whenever you work out, your focus should be on perfecting the form first and then weight loss or your reasons to perform the workout.
5. Tighten That Core!
That's right! Your core is one of the most involved parts when doing burpees. The plank stage of the burpee is pivotal to ensure your abdominals get enough stimulation. Ensure that your wrists are parallel to your shoulders. Keep your core tight and try to fully engage it while you perform the burpee. Along with all this, make sure your back remains straight while you're in a plank position, neutrally aligned with your glutes. Many make the mistake of arching their back, negating the positive effects a burpee has on your abs, while also risking an injury.
6. The Burpee Challenge!
The best way to practice burpees is to divide it into small challenges, e.g. start with 10 burpees a day and take it up to 50 burpees in a single set. You will advance step by step and reach your optimum as your stamina develops. Practicing burpees in a challenge helps give you a clear understanding of the work out itself and develop your stamina with due time. This way your muscles will take the required time to get used to the intense workout that burpees are!
7. Burpees And Its Variations
Badass burpees come bearing variations too! Yep, you read that right! There are intense and flexible variations to it as well.
8. Burpee Truck Jump
We know burpees are already a killer but what to do when you have mastered the technique into performing a classic burpee? Obviously, you don't want to get bored of it, so here is it, burpee truck jump! While you perform a normal burpee, when you leap into the air, raise your knees to your chest. Like a high knee jump. This will increase the cardio benefits of the exercise and also ensure that you are not half-arsing your jumps!
9. Dumbbell Burpee
As the name suggests, you are to hold dumbbells while performing the burpee. Start from 2-3kgs dumbbells in both hands and gradually increase the weight according to your limits. Holding dumbbells will not only help you develop endurance but will also increase the impact of the exercise itself.
10. Chest-to-floor Burpee
This is a tougher version of a standard burpee so don't be surprised if you don't see any visible change in the variation. But we're sure that when you start doing it, you will feel the intense difference there is between chest to floor and normal standard burpees. The difference is that when you go down in a plant position, you press your chest to the ground before you go up again.
With all this information on hand, you are sure to ace the burpee work out in no time with the perfect technique and the number of reps you need to perform! Good luck and don't forget to tell us how your first burpee work out was!
