5 Benefits of Burpees That Will Make You Want to Master the Move

Burpees can evoke strong reactions. Some people love them, while others hate them. A burpee is an advanced exercise that shows up in workout classes, personal training sessions, and at-home fitness programs. It’s a challenging exercise, but it may be easier to master than you realize. Plus, the health benefits of burpees make them worth the extra effort.

As long as you have full mobility, you can learn how to do a burpee. And you can start with modifications that make it easier and then work your way up to the real thing. Below, we explain how to do burpees and why you should.

What are the benefits of burpees?

A burpee is a full-body movement that engages your upper, core, and lower-body muscles. So it does more for you than isolation exercises that target one muscle group at a time. Here are the top benefits of burpees.

1. Burpees provide full-body exercise

A big benefit of burpees is that they work major muscle groups, including:

• Pectoralis major (chest)

• Deltoids (shoulder)

• Trunk (abdominals)

• Quadriceps (front of the thigh)

• Hamstrings (back of the thigh)

• Glutes (buttocks)

The compound exercise has several benefits because it burns a lot of calories by recruiting multiple muscle groups.

2. Burpees build muscle strength

When broken down into separate movements, a burpee includes several strengthening exercises, including a squat, a push-up, and a jump. Squats are a great way to build core and lower-body strength. Push-ups strengthen multiple muscle groups in the chest, arms, core, back, and hips. And believe it or not, jumping exercises can help you build muscle too.

3. Burpees boost cardio fitness

Strength training and cardiovascular exercise are two key components of any well-rounded workout plan, and burpees qualify as both.

You’ll feel your heart rate increase while doing a burpee. If you don’t like cardio or prefer fast-paced body-weight movement to strength training, burpees are worth trying. You can practice them during high-intensity interval training or other workouts to build strength and boost your cardio fitness at the same time.

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4. Burpees support strong bones

Resistance and weight-bearing activities are some of the best ways to strengthen your bones, and burpees count as both. The exercise is also a plyometric move that involves quick, powerful jumps. High-impact activities like jumping put more stress on your bones. But that can be a good thing.

Like your muscles, your bones have to adjust to the demands of exercise. The physical stress of regular exercise can help you maintain bone density and strength. That’s important because bone density declines with age, increasing the risk of osteoporosis, falls, and fractures.

Too much stress on your bones can lead to serious injury. But doing high-impact activities like burpees with proper form and making time for recovery can help you avoid those risks.

5. Burpees are convenient and versatile

Burpees require zero equipment and little space. If you have room to lay down a yoga mat or a towel, you have room to do a burpee. This makes it a great at-home exercise and a solid option when you travel and don’t have gym access.

Several burpee variations can increase or decrease the difficulty. You can eliminate the jump and return to a standing position for an easier version. To make burpees harder, add weights, extra push-ups or a donkey kick while you’re in the push-up position.

How do you do a burpee?

A perfect-form burpee is best achieved by breaking the movement down into steps. From there, all you have to do is maintain neutral alignment. Here’s how to do a standard burpee.

• Step 1: Stand up straight with your feet hip width apart.

• Step 2: Push your hips back, and drop into a squat. Keep your knees facing forward, and get your thighs parallel to the floor.

• Step 3: Bend forward while jumping your feet back, landing in a plank position. But check your alignment: Your body should be straight from head to toe and your hips squared to the floor.

• Step 4: Do a push-up if you can. If not, skip to the next step.

• Step 5: Jump your feet toward your hands, stand, and jump vertically. Try to make this one swift motion.

• Step 6: Reset your starting position, and repeat these steps.

What are burpee modifications?

There are several ways to make burpees easier and minimize their impact on your joints.

Slow it down

Burpees are usually done quickly, as you seamlessly move from squat to push-up to jump. One way to modify a burpee is to slow it down and take it one step at a time:

• Do the squat, then pause.

• Lean forward, slowly step into plank position, and pause.

• Jump your feet in, stand up, and pause. Then jump vertically.

Slowing each movement down will decrease the impact on your joints and keep your heart rate from spiking too fast if you’re concerned about that. It can also help you learn proper form.

Turn the jumps into step-ins and step-outs

Jumping can be uncomfortable if you have a history of knee injuries or joint sensitivities. You can skip the jumps and step in and out while doing burpees. Walk your feet back to get into the plank position, and walk them toward your hands instead of jumping.

Skip the push-up

If you have low-back pain or wrist weakness and it hurts to do a push-up, then skip it. This also goes for people who know they don’t have proper push-up form — it’s better to skip it than to do it incorrectly and risk injury.

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Written by:

Ray Bass, NASM-CPT

Ray Bass is an author, editor, and National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified personal trainer. She holds an honors degree in creative writing from the University of Pennsylvania, and she is pursuing her MFA at The New School.

Edited by:

Lauren Savage, MA

Lauren Savage, MA, is a health editor at GoodRx, where she focuses on movement, exercise, and healthy aging. She aims to provide readers with the information they need to live healthier, more active lifestyles.

Reviewed by:

Sanjai Sinha, MD

Sanjai Sinha, MD, is a board-certified physician with over 20 years of experience. He specializes in internal medicine.

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