5 Benefits of Doing Burpees

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Burpees are a convenient exercise that combine cardio and strength training into one super exercise. Adding burpees to your routine can have a number of benefits. Before we get too far, please make sure you consult a doctor before adding this exercise to your routine if you have any health risks.

Just in case you aren't familiar with a burpee, we will go through the steps below:

  • Begin in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart
  • Drop into a squat to the point where you can place your hands on the floor
  • Kick your legs back into a higher plank position (body in a straight line)
  • Lower toward the ground, basically doing the bottom part of a push-up
  • Rise back to the high plank position
  • Move back up to the squat position
  • Jump then repeat

Burpees Benefits

Burpees are Great for Cardio Health

Burpees are a highly effective exercise for improving cardiovascular health due to their full-body engagement and high-intensity nature. They combine multiple movements—squat, plank, push-up, and jump—into one fluid motion, which elevates your heart rate significantly.

Burpees require substantial oxygen consumption, which challenges your heart and lungs to work more efficiently. This leads to improved cardiovascular fitness over time. It has been noted by a number of studies that HIIT, which burpees are, can reduce the risk of heart disease as well. One more way burpees can help cardio health is that they can enhance blood circulation and lower blood pressure, contributing to better overall heart health.

Burpees Provide a Full-Body Workout

Burpees are a powerful exercise that provide a comprehensive full-body workout by engaging multiple muscle groups. As mentioned above, a burpee generally consists of a squat, a plank, a pushup, and a jump. The squat part of a burpee targets the lower body muscles, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. The plank engages your core muscles along with your shoulders and arms. The pushup continues to work the core, but also focuses on the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Finally, the jump at the end works your calves and leg muscles in general. As you can see, a burpee works a large set of your bodies muscles making it a great all-around exercise.

Burpees Burn a High Amount of Calories

Burpees are not only effective for building strength but also for burning calories. They can burn more calories than many traditional exercises, making them a potent choice for weight management and fat loss. For example, a 125-pound individual can burn approximately 8 calories doing 20 burpees, while a 185-pound person may burn around 12 calories for the same number. Do to this, burpees are a great exercise if you have a limited amount of time as you can burn a high number of calories in a short time. You can check out our burpees calorie burned calculator to see how many calories you would burn doing burpees.

Burpees Can Improve Agility, Speed, and Coordination

Burpees are an excellent exercise for enhancing agility, speed, and coordination due to their dynamic, multi-phase movement pattern. Burpees enhance agility through their explosive movements, which require rapid transitions between different positions. Burpees can significantly improve speed by developing muscular strength and endurance, which are vital for sprinting and any fast-paced movements. Doing a burpee correctly requires balance, which can help your body to improve its overall coordination. A burpee can also be modified for your personal level. So, as you improve your agility, speed, and coordination, you can up the intensity to continue improvements in these areas.

Burpees Are Practical and Convenient

Another advantage of burpees is their accessibility; they require no equipment and can be performed anywhere, making them a practical choice for individuals with limited space, time, or resources. Additionally, burpees can be modified to suit different fitness levels, allowing for variations that can increase or decrease intensity based on your individual capabilities.

As you can see, burpees are a super exercise that provide many benefits. They are great for cardio health, work the whole body, burn a good amount of calories, and are convenient. Assuming you have doctor approval, burpees are definitely a great exercise to add to your workout routine.

exercise | HIIT | fitness