10 Ways to Crush Your Workouts With Burpees
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I know, I know, you hate burpees. There are times when I hate them as well. But, look at the bigger picture here. Burpees are the single best full body exercise out there. Hands down. What other full body exercise works strength, cardio, power, muscular endurance, and flexibility all rolled into one?
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Here are just a few more things to love about the dreaded burpee.
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They speed up your metabolism for the rest of the day - meaning you’ll burn more calories all day long. They, literally, make your body a fat burning machine.
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Studies have shown that burpees burn 50% more fat than moderate exercise.
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They can be done anywhere with no equipment.
Whether you’re following one of these workouts or doing burpees on your own, always remember to master basic burpee form first. As always, you should push yourself, but don’t go beyond your limits. Burpees can put a lot of stress on the low back if the form and technique are off. If you find yourself losing steam during any of these workouts and your form starts to go, I want you to scale it back a bit.
NOTE: All of the below workouts should start with a 10 minute warm up of cardio and some dynamic flexibility.
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Here They Are:
10 Ways to Crush Your Workout with Burpees
Burpee Workout #1
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Burpee Cardio Blast
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Personally, this is one of my favorite ways to use burpees...if you can handle it.
Any time you’re doing straight cardio (whether that be inside on a machine or running outside), stop every 5 minutes and do 10 fast burpees. After you’ve completed the 10 burpees jump right back into your cardio. This will turn your boring cardio workout into a calorie burning fun-fest of sweat and tears.
Burpee Workout #2
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Burpee Strength
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Grab some dumbbells and some guts and get ready for a true full body workout. It’s time to combine strength and burpees. Between every set of strength work get down and give me 10 burpees.
Here’s a sample of what your workout should look like:
(Feel free to substitute your favorite exercises into this format)
DB Squats
10 Burpees
DB Chest press
10 Burpees
DB Bentover row
10 Burpees
DB Lunge walks
10 Burpees
DB Shoulder Press
10 Burpees
DB Bicep Curls
10 Burpees
DB Step ups
10 Burpees
DB Tricep kickbacks
10 Burpees
Burpee Workout #3
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Tabata Burpees
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All I’m going to say is ouch! If you want one of the toughest burpee workouts out there, this is it. “Tabata” simply means you will do burpees as HARD AND FAST as you can for 20 seconds. After the 20 seconds is up, you get a 10 second break. You will continue 20 seconds on/10 seconds off for a total of 8 sets. That’s only 4 minutes but I promise you, you’ll burn more calories in those 4 minutes than you could on a treadmill for 20 minutes.
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Burpee Workout #4
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Burpee/strength intervals
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This is similar to Burpee Strength in that we’re combining strength and burpees. The difference is that this time burpees will be mixed into a circuit and everything will be timed.
Here’s a sample of what the workout should look like.
(Again, feel free to substitute your favorite exercises into this format)
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Burpees-1 minute
Plank-1 minute
Squats-1 minute
DB Chest flyes-1 minute
Burpees-1 minute
Crunches-1 minute
Bench step-ups-1 minute per side
DB Bentover row-1 minute
Burpees-1 minute
Plank up downs-1 minute
Lunges-1 minute per side
DB shoulder press-1 minute
Repeat 2-3 times and BOOM...your cardio and strength are done.
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Burpee Workout #5
Burpee ladder
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Do 1 burpee. Rest 5 seconds
Do 2 burpees. Rest 5 seconds
Do 3 burpees. Rest 5 seconds
Do 4 burpees...
Continue this until you reach 20 burpees. If you’re willing to shed even more tears, do the same thing in reverse. Start at 20 and continue down until you reach 1 burpee.
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Burpee Workout #6
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10x10
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My absolute favorite right here! 10x10 is an EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) workout. All that means is that you will do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. If you complete all 10 of your burpees in 45 seconds, then you get 15 seconds of rest before starting the next 10 burpees. If it takes you 55 seconds to get all 10 of your burpees in, then (I’m sorry to say) you only get 5 seconds of rest. Do you do them slow with less rest or bang them out as fast as you can to get more rest? Hhmmm...
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Burpee Workout #7
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Burpee Run
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This workout is best done on a track. If you don’t have a track nearby, it can be done on a treadmill too.
It’s fairly simple and feels fairly simple to start...BUT, it has a way of creeping up on you.
Run 1 minute at a strong pace
Complete 1 minute of burpees
Repeat x 5-10 (Depending on how many calories you want to burn)
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Burpee Workout #8
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Double (or Triple)(or Quintuple) Up Burpees
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For those of you who want to turn the burpee into more of a strength exercise as opposed to a cardio exercise, this one's for you.
“Double up” simply means you will perform a normal burpee, but instead of doing 1 pushup at the bottom and 1 squat jump at the top, you’ll do 2 pushups at the bottom and 2 explosive squat jumps at the top. Obviously, “Triple Up” burpees are 3 pushups at the bottom and 3 explosive squat jumps at the top. Then there’s always the “Quintuple Up” burpee for the more sadistic...5 pushups and 5 explosive squat jumps.
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Burpee Workout #9
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Pull-up Burpee
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Love your pull-ups? Try combining them with burpees. Stand under a pull-up bar and do one burpee. Instead of doing the squat jump at the end, you will reach up and grab the pull-up bar and do 1 pull-up. Continue this 1 burpee/1 pull-up sequence for as long as you can handle it.
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Burpee Workout #10
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Medicine Ball Chop Burpee
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Start with a medicine ball on the ground in front of you. Instead of placing your hands on the ground when you start your burpee, you will place them on the ball. Kick your feet back into a pushup position as you normally would. With your hands still on the ball, you will go down into a pushup until your chest touches the ball. After your pushup, jump your feet back into a squatting position. Keep your hands on the ball and when you squat up (with perfect squatting form), you’ll bring the ball up with you. From there, press the ball up over your head and in one forceful movement, throw the ball down onto the ground in front of your feet. This will put you back into the starting position with the ball on the ground in front of you. Continue this for as long as you’d like.
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NOTE** Start with a very light medicine ball (6-8lbs). As you progress and when your burpee form is perfect you can start increasing the weight of the ball.
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