For everyone out there that can’t or don’t want to go to a gym, for those that don’t want to use any equipment and for the minimalists that don’t want a complicated workout there is a simple exercise and a simple workout that can give you excellent results when it comes to building stamina and overall body conditioning.
Burpees not only work the entire body, but they also are a great fat burning exercise.
Benefits of doing burpees:
The truth is you can forget about fancy equipment and build athletic and fit body by doing just this workout because as I mentioned before, burpees will:
Build Strength
There is a reason why the burpee is used by football players and military forces in their functional fitness workouts.
Because you use explosive movements, you’ll build strength in your arms, shoulders, chest, torso and legs. This exercise is not complex, but it sure is a difficult one after you’ve done it for a decent length
of time.
Burn Fat And Get You In Shape
The fact that the burpee is a full body workout and physically demanding after doing it for a certain (not very long) period of time makes it a very efficient fat burning exercise.
It will speed up your metabolism, so the calorie burning process will last for hours after the workout is over. This makes the burpee workout a perfect cardio workout and when combined with weight lifting you can use it to develop a powerful and functional physique.
The most fun part is that you don’t need any equipment or special classes to do this workout and you don’t need a gym membership. It can be done anywhere : at home, in the park or even in such small spaces as prison cells !!!
There are a few burpee variations that make it easier or more difficult:
1. The standard burpee
– Stand with your legs shoulder width apart.
– Squat low enough so you can touch the ground with your hands
– Position your hands on the ground and kick your legs back so that you take a pushup position
– in one continuous movement bring your legs up under your chest
– jump straight up
Congratulations. You’ve completed one single burpee.
2.The push up Burpee
Follow the instructions from the standard burpee until you make it to the push up position. Do a full push up and then bring your legs up under your chest with one continuous movement and jump up.
3.Burpee and a pull up
Stand under a pull up bar and do the standard or “the push up” burpee. As you jump up, grab the pull up bar and do a complete pull up. After 10 of these you’ll be gasping for air.
4. Combine push-up and pull up burpees
This exercise can be called the “master” burpee as it requires a fair bit of strength and endurance to complete. This burpee works your whole body – from chest, back and legs to arms, shoulders and the core. 10-15 of these “master” burpees will definitely test your endurance limits.
You can integrate burpees in your weight lifting workout as cardio by doing 4-5 sets of 10 burpees or because they are such a physically demanding exercise you can do them on your non-weightlifting days as burpee tabata workouts:
Burpees x 20 seconds
rest x 10 seconds
This is only one set. Feel free to perform 5 to 8 sets for a total workout time of under 5 minutes.