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| Yea Burpees!
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| You’ve made great gains in your fitness level. You’re feeling pretty good about what you’ve achieved and you’re looking to upgrade your performance. Time to join the elite ranks of the super fit. Think you’re ready for any challenge? Boy, have we got the exercise for you.
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Okay, it has a funny name. But the burpee is no joke. Try one. Who’s laughing now?
As you’ll quickly discover, there is every reason to take the exercise with the silly name very seriously—it just happens to be an outstanding conditioner and one of the most challenging exercises you can perform. Burpees, as arduous as they are beneficial, test the strength, endurance and coordination of the fittest athletes.
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This intense, dynamic exercise requires no apparatus, just the body itself and preferably a well-trained one.
The Burpee:
- Begin in an upright position.
- Drop to a squat, placing hands firmly on the floor.
- Kick out behind you as if preparing to do a pushup.
- When fully extended, draw your legs back into a squat.
- Leap vigorously upward, reaching high with your hands.
- Repeat without pause, executing each movement as rapidly as possible.
Nothing else you do can compare with this whole-body conditioner, not even a sprint.
“Burpees strengthen the arms, chest, shoulders, legs and core,” comments trainer Ross Enamait, a Hartford, Connecticut resident who has authored numerous training manuals (www.warriorforce.comor www.rossboxing.com).
“This exercise will target the entire body. If performed at a brisk pace, burpees will force the athlete to dig down and fight through the fatigue. Burpees are a tremendous conditioning exercise for any competitive athlete. This is a full-body movement, best performed at a brisk pace. Burpees have
always helped my athletes achieve the conditioning required to excel in the competitive arena.”
This incredibly demanding exercise can be made even more intense by actually including a pushup, which is executed while drawing your feet back to the squat position. Enamait performs his burpees in this manner, maximizing the benefits. Such an advanced move, however, is beyond the ability of most recreational athletes.
“If the exercise is new to an individual, it is important to first develop proper form, and then begin using the movement as part of a more well-rounded training routine,” says Enamait.
“Age is an important factor, as is training experience. Common sense should prevail. If an individual is new to exercise, burpees should not be the first exercise choice. This is a fairly advanced exercise when performed with a full jump. Novice trainees could benefit from a less advanced variation such as a squat thrust. For this movement, there is no jump. The athlete will simply stand up, rather than jumping into the air. The pushup motion can also be removed. The athlete will instead maintain straight arms when the feet kick back to the outstretched position.”
Enamait recommends doing a mix of bodyweight drills including jumping jacks, split jacks and burpees: “Each movement is performed for 30 seconds. The circuit is performed twice, totaling three minutes. A one-minute rest period follows, before the beginning of a second circuit. I refer to these circuits as minute drills. Typically, the drill lasts for two or three minutes. Each exercise is performed for 20 or 30 seconds.”
Once mastered, burpees are likely to become a mainstay of any training program since they lend themselves to a variety of applications. Use them as a form of warm-up, or to improve cardio fitness between sets of weights. Runners can benefit from performing burpees between laps. In every case,
burpees will develop strength, and impart a wonderful feeling of exhilaration.
Once More with Feeling:
Advanced athletes like Enamait frequently perform what’s known as the Burpee Challenge, the Herculean task of completing 100 burpees in as short a time as possible. The typical recreational athlete, however, is content doing just 10.
Good technique is critical. For example, should the toes point out when returning to the squat position or point in? Most people find their feet point outward.
“I would simply suggest choosing a foot pattern that is comfortable for your unique body type,” responds Enamait. “There rarely are ‘one-size-fits-all’ instructions for any athletic movement.”
Despite its many macho associations, burpees are an ideal exercise for either sex.
“I have worked with several women who enjoyed and benefited from a regular dose of burpee training,” notes Enamait. “Once again, common sense should prevail. A woman who is beginning an exercise program must first establish a solid foundation before considering a movement such as the burpee.”
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