If you ever tried CrossFit or circuit workouts, you’ve probably done your fair share of burpees. They’re so effective they were used as a fitness test for men enlisting in the military during the 1940s.
If you could perform 41 burpees in a minute, you were considered to be in excellent shape, although the burpee at that time was less taxing than the burpee you may know today.
In fact, in 1939 the inventor of the burpee, physiologist Royal H. Burpee, created what was then a four-count movement designed to evaluate fitness. Also known as the squat thrust, four-count burpee and military burpee, the movement was performed as follows:
- Start in a standing position and drop into a squat position (as if you’re sitting back into a chair) with your hands on the ground.
- Bring your palms to the floor and extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position.
- Return to the squat position in one quick motion.
- Return to an upright standing position.
Try it, and you'll see that it really packs a punch, targeting your legs, glutes, arms, and core, all at the same time. The fitness test that Burpee administered involved taking heart-rate measurements at five points before and after just four burpees were performed.
Ironically, as reported in the Huffington Post, Burpee believed the military’s modification of the burpee fitness test was too strenuous, and he suggested high reps of the movement could be damaging to your knees and back, particularly in people without core strength.
Modern-day burpees, however, are even more challenging, incorporating two additional movements, and they’re often performed during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) circuits, which ramps up the intensity even more.
As long as your form is correct and you give your body enough time for recovery, burpees are not only safe to perform intensely… they’re one of the best exercises there is.
The Six-Step Burpee You Love to Hate
The reason why the burpee is “the one” end-all, be-all exercise: It is a full body exercise used in strength training and as aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
- It pounds your entire body, working out your legs, arms, chest, back, abs, and glutes.
- It is a phenomenal strength trainer because you are pushing and lifting your own weight, and building serious muscle.
- The burpee burns 50% more fat than conventional strength training. In other words, you can work out half the time and burn just as much fat. Burpees, like other strength training moves, also give your metabolism a boost. This is largely because it is a powerful anaerobic stimulus and falls into the Peak Fitness type of high-intensity exercise training.
- The burpee can be performed anywhere and anytime for free; no special equipment is needed.
- It is also a cardio-respiratory workout. If you do burpees, you can effectively raise your heart rate to target levels by doing a brief set of burpees.
A recent study looked at the effects of performing burpees as a high-intensity interval exercise compared to sprint interval cycling. The participants did burpees or cycling for 30 seconds at maximum intensity (they went “all out”), recovered for four minutes, then repeated the session three more times.
Both exercises elicited similar heart rates and VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can take in while exercising. According to the researchers:
“These results suggest that in addition to the benefit of reduced time commitment, a high-intensity interval protocol of calisthenics [burpees] elicits vigorous cardiorespiratory and perceptual responses and may confer physiological adaptations and performance improvements similar to those reported for SIC [sprint interval cycling].
The potential efficacy of this alternative interval training method provides support for its application by athletes, coaches, and strength and conditioning professionals.”
The good news is that all the hard work you put into doing burpees is fairly rewarded. Research shows, for instance, that performing burpees elicits relatively higher acute metabolic demands than traditional resistance exercises.
5 Reasons to Give Bodyweight Exercises Like Burpees a Try
In the Huffington Post, Dave Smith discussed some of the greatest benefits of bodyweight exercise:
- Workouts are highly efficient. As Dave points out, the goal is fitness, not to look like “Arnold circa 1977.” No equipment means that there’s minimal time transitioning from one exercise in your self-defined set to the next, so your heart rate is boosted quickly and keeps pumping.
- You get both cardiovascular and strength training. It is not necessary to do two separate workouts to achieve both types of fitness. Simply alternating exercise sets from cardiovascular to strength training keeps your pulse up.
- Your core strength is improved. Twenty-nine muscle pairs located in the pelvis, abdomen and lower back form the core that’s needed to support your body and maintain balance. Your athletic ability, posture, and all the little things you do every day—like just plain sitting or doing the laundry—will be improved when your core is strengthened and stabilized.
- You'll be more flexible. Increased strength without improved flexibility won’t do you much good. Good posture and athletic performance require good flexibility. Inability to stretch and bend is related to lack of flexibility.
- Your balance will improve. As you progress into more difficult variations of exercises, your ability to balance is trained. Better balance helps you achieve better body control. Since age and infirmity do not usually hinder performance of bodyweight exercises, they may be a great way for the elderly to maintain and improve balance.
Friends Read Free