How to Perform the Burpee Exercise

When we start exercising, we naturally want to know which exercise will be of help. One such exercise, which provides a workout for the entire body, is the burpee exercise.

According to the Oxford English dictionary, this exercise was named after the American psychologist, Royal H. Burpee. He was the inventor of the burpee test, which consisted of an exercise sequence performed right one after the other without a break. The aim of this test was to measure agility and coordination.

To do the exercise, stand with your feet right next to one another. Slowly come down into a squat position with your hands extended straight up in the air. Bend down and place both your hands in front of your legs. Once your hands are firmly grounded, jump up and kick your legs backward.

You should now come into a position where your weight is balanced on your hands and feet and you are in a four-limbed staff pose. Now press your hands again into the floor and lift your legs off the floor to jump back in front. Come back into a squat position with your arms extended back up. Finish one repetition by slowly getting into a standing position.

There are many variations to this exercise. It can be done without push-ups and jumps. To increase the intensity of the exercise, you can do what is called a long jump burpee, where you jump forward and not upward. Another variation is to pull the knees towards the chest when you are jumping.

For endurance, you can try to do this exercise over an obstacle. Another similar variation is to jump onto a box as opposed to jumping straight up and down. Athletes who have been doing the exercise for a long time can choose to do them using just one hand.

This exercise can also be done using a dumbbell. Yet another variation, known as the wall burpee, includes jumping so that your feet either land on the wall or on a table.

The burpee has been named as one of the best full body exercises. It is not only great for strength training, but is also a good aerobic exercise. With every repetition, the arms, the chest, the front deltoid muscle, the thighs, and the hamstrings are worked out.

It is also a great core exercise. Since there a number of jumps involved, a high percentage of fat is burned. The calories burned with this exercise are 50% more than regular strength training exercises.

At the same time, this exercise helps in speeding up metabolism, which ensures more calories are burned long after you have stopped exercising. It also helps in building endurance, and is therefore often a part of endurance training.

Another advantage is that one does not need any machines to do this exercise; it can easily be done at home, or even when you are traveling.

You can initially start off with 5 repetitions of the exercise and then gradually increase the number of repetitions. After you are accustomed to the exercise, you can try the different variations of the exercise as well.