The 15 Main Benefits of Doing Burpees

In this article we are going to talk about perhaps one of the most beneficial, but also grueling and physically demanding exercises in the world – burpees. More specifically, we are going to list the benefits of doing burpees.

Now unlike simpler exercises such as jumping jacks, unless you are a masochist and like punishment, then you will not particularly enjoy doing burpees or adding them to your exercise plan.

And after all, burpees are known as one of the hardest bodyweight exercises in the world to perform falling amongst pull ups and push ups, and are proof that just bodyweight exercises can be equally as physically demanding as ones that are weight based.

How to do a burpee

Another name for burpees is a squat thrust. A burpee is an exercise in which you begin by standing in an upright position, afterwards you proceed to get down in a squat position with both of your palms laid flat on the ground.

Then you will kick both of your feet back so that you are in a plank position, while making sure that both your arms are kept fully extended. Proceed to, as quickly as you can, return your feet back to the squat position, then finally get back on your feet by simply standing up from the squat position, and then repeat the movement for as many repetitions as you can do.

There is also the more advanced version of burpees, where from the plank position you go into a push up position and then continue the normal burpee cycle (pictured below).

There are many benefits of doing burpees, and to further prove this and show you that the pain is worth the gain, we will be listing a few of them below.

The 15 most important benefits of burpees:

1. They give you a full body work out!

Ever wanted to train your entire body but are always put off by the hassle of lifting weights and performing countless exercises for each specific body part? If so then we have the perfect solution for you.

You probably guessed the answer – burpees! They are the ULTIMATE full body bodyweight exercise as they work both your upper and lower body muscles, all at the same time!

This is probably one of the most important benefits of doing burpees. They are an amazing compound exercise as you can work on your legs, glutes, back, core, deltoids and arms all in the same exercise.

2. Doing burpees is a good fat-burning exercise.

Going by the infernal difficulty of the exercise, it will make you sweat, a lot, and make you wish you were dead, but the pain is worth it since they do shed a lot of body fat.

Now, for anybody that is looking to get lean and absolutely shredded without weights, then burpees are fantastic for the job. Just because it is such a physically demanding exercise, and because you are training multiple groups of muscles at the same exact time, that in turn will make your body burn loads of calories and thus make you lose weight and burn off fat in the whole process.

So, if you are looking to lose a pound or two or more, then opt for burpees the next time you are exercising.

3. They provide something uniquely different.

Basically, it goes like this – if you want to build muscle mass, you lift weights, if you want to do some cardio, you opt for a jog, that much is simple and clear. But what if we told you that there is another way to keep you interested in exercising and provide you with something fresh?

And if you want to combine both resistance and cardio into one, burpees are the one exercise that come to mind.

This exercise is perfect to incorporate into your preexisting training routines when you want to try out something fresh.

4. Despite the pain, doing them is fun

Now, hear us out. Many people wouldn’t precisely consider doing burpees as the most fun exercise due to the difficulty that they pose, but even though that’s a thing, we’ll let you in on a little secret.

Despite what people may tell you, they most definitely kind of enjoy doing them and find burpees fun.

It is definitely debatable if that fun goes by definition, but plenty of people exist that enjoy doing them, and judging by the benefits they provide then we will stick with our statement.

5. Amazing for heart health

Like jumping jacks, doing burpees is great for overall cardiovascular health, certainly up there with the best forms of cardiovascular exercises.

While also being a great form of cardio, burpees are wonderful for heart health, exactly like the aforementioned jumping jacks but also jump rope.

This exercise helps to strengthen the heart and reduce blood pressure, while also reducing the risk of a heart attack or even of heart disease, and they also work well for anybody who likes to be conscious of the health of their heart.

6. Burpees reduce blood pressure

We mentioned before that doing burpees decreases the risk of developing several conditions, and hypertension is one of them. Hypertension is one of the leading killers in the world.

Hypertension is known as the silent killer, both hypertension and high blood pressure claim countless lives every single year. The reason it is classified as such a dangerous condition is simply because it is so difficult to diagnose at first.

It can ultimately lead to strokes, heart attacks, kidney damage, or even organ damage, weakened blood vessels and arteries and many more conditions.

To add to all of that, hypertension is often controlled with blood pressure medicine that, as with many things, often does much more harm than good.

So, burpees are one safe, effective, as well as natural way to help reduce blood pressure, which is another win in their book.

7. Get fast results!

Burpees provide amazing benefits for many people who want results, and fast! So if you are looking to lose weight or tone your muscles a bit then you know the dreaded slow process that is, but not anymore!

Keep in mind nothing provides a quick fix, and burpees are no exception, you need to work for your body, but because the sheer difficulty and how physically demanding burpees are, you will find that results will be visible much sooner than you would expect, from any other cardio exercise.

8. They increase explosive power

When looking for a way to increase your explosive speed and power, look no further than burpees, they simply have it all!

This exercise, among many things, helps to target your fast twitching muscle fibers, which are the fibers located in your muscles that allow you to generate those short bursts of explosive speed and power, which is exactly what you are looking for.

Burpees are also especially beneficial for generating that explosive speed and power in the leg area, making them the perfect exercise for sprinters and people that are looking for ways to increase their vertical leap alike.

As with many other benefits that burpees provide, these ones cannot simply be overlooked.

9. Burpees do make your body stronger

Common knowledge states that for a person to get big and strong then they have to lift a massive amount of weight, and then of course get a vid of it for the gram, but that is not the case.

It’s perfectly plausible to build your body strength by only doing bodyweight exercises, which include burpees, as they are simply fantastic for building up your strength for many, many reasons.

As we mentioned before, burpees target the fast twitch muscle fibers, so there isn’t a need to go over those things again. However burpees also work extremely well for increasing both strength and power just because you work out many different muscle groups all at the same time when you do the exercise.

And who knew that a simple bodyweight exercise would be just as beneficial to increase power and strength as a heavy barbell squat?

10. Absolutely no gym required for this one

As with many other bodyweight exercises there is no need for a gym when you do burpees, and really not many people have the time for that hassle. But this is a largely overlooked benefit of burpees.

Sometimes we just don’t have that spare time and expenses to travel to the gym, but does that mean we should get lazy and sit around all day? NO.

This just means that we should make do with what we already have.

As a bodyweight exercise, burpees don’t really need much space, or any special equipment to do them. A little open space will do just fine.

You can do them virtually everywhere! Locations ranging from the gym, at home, in the garden, in the office, in your hotel, or anywhere else really. This makes it a very useful exercise.

11. Amazing for incorporating into preexisting routines

You may know, that many work outs such as the Power Tower work out, require you to perform several different varieties of exercise, at very different intervals.

And if you are looking for a physically demanding exercise to include into your circuit training perhaps, then why not turn to burpees as an option?

Legs, are no different either, if you are looking for a way to train them and want a finisher exercise for those hamstrings, quads and glutes, then burpees would make the perfect addition to your work out plan.

12. Doing burpees improves flexibility

This one seemingly comes as a surprise to many, but yes one of the benefits of burpees is the fact that this exercise helps to improve your flexibility greatly.

Due to all the squatting, and leg thrusting motions that are involved in this particular exercise, you will find that your flexibility will increase dramatically in due time when you perform burpees on the regular.

The benefit of flexibility and added agility will tremendously help you in life for a number of different reasons. Even doing mundane tasks such as bending down to tie your shoe laces will be so much easier if you have better agility and flexibility.

Additionally, being flexible will put you at less risk of injury, especially when taking part in various different athletic activities.

13. Burpees improve your endurance

Doing burpees regularly has been proven to provide benefits for your lungs and lung capacity.

This not only means that doing this exercise will help in boosting your VO2 max, which actually is the amount of oxygen that you take in with each breath and utilize for energy when you are performing a physical activity. In more simple terms, that means that you will take in more oxygen with each breath and you will be able to increase the duration of time that you will be able to exercise for before you feel worn out and tired.

But don’t take it from just us, many endurance athletes such as marathon runners are known to regularly perform burpees as a part of their extensive training routines, and honestly, the results speak for themselves.

14. Doing them improves conditioning

Let’s get one thing out of the way first, conditioning isn’t the same thing as endurance.

Although they are very similar, and many average people can’t tell the difference, if you want to increase your conditioning then you will want to ensure that you perform burpees on the regular.

And this is precisely because of the fact that burpees work many aspects of your general health and well being all at once. Not only that but they also work the muscular They work the muscular-skeletal system, they work the circulatory system, they increase the lean muscle tissue, they boost the overall metabolism, they help to improve the central nervous system, and much more.

There are many reasons as to why burpees are more commonly performed during CrossFit work outs and training circuits, and one of them is because of the fact that they are found to be so beneficial for your overall health and conditioning.

15. They are quite easy to master

We know clearly that doing a burpee is physically taxing on the body, but despite all of that, learning the correct form and technique is surprisingly an easy feat to overcome.

So, when working out it is really important to master the correct form and technique of the exercises that you are performing at the moment.