Burpees
The classic burpee — squat to floor, plank with push-up, jump back up — a punishing total-body conditioning movement with no equipment needed.
Level: Foundation
Primary: Cardio Full Body
Movement: Compound
Tags: Explosive
Type: Anaerobic Intervals (HIIT / Bootcamp / Circuit) Functional Fitness (Obstacle & Hybrid)
Equipment: Body Weight
Sports: Football MMA Rugby Wrestling
Target muscles
Everything. The squat-to-floor loads the quads and glutes. The plank kick-back loads the shoulders and trunk. The push-up loads the chest, triceps, and serratus anterior. The squat-jump finish loads the legs and trunk again, this time concentrically and at speed. The cardiovascular cost is enormous because the lift transitions between near-horizontal and near-vertical positions repeatedly — heart rate climbs faster than in almost any other unloaded movement. Few exercises tax so much musculature with such modest equipment requirements.
How to perform
Setup
Stand with feet hip-width apart, arms at the sides. Clear space in front of you. Take a breath.
Execution
Squat down and place the hands flat on the floor just outside the feet. Kick the feet back to a high plank position. Lower the chest to the floor in a controlled push-up (some versions skip the push-up — pick your variant and stay consistent). Press back up to the plank. Hop the feet forward back to the squat position. From the squat, drive through the legs and explode straight up with the arms overhead. Land softly. Reset to standing for the next rep. Continuous flow rep to rep.
Common mistakes
- Sagging at the bottom of the push-up. The body forms a straight line — hips don't drop to the floor.
- Letting the hips pike up in the plank. Hips stay level with the shoulders.
- Skipping the push-up to make the rep faster. Some versions deliberately skip it, but be honest about which version you're doing.
- Landing hard on the jump finish. Land soft, mid-foot, knees bending to absorb.
- Doing them for time when very fatigued. Once form deteriorates badly — sagging plank, ugly push-up, heavy landings — stop the set.
Progressions and regressions
Regress to a step-back burpee (step the feet back to plank instead of kicking) and skip the push-up. Then add the push-up. Then add the kick-back and the jump finish. To progress, add a tuck jump at the top, work box burpees (jump onto a box at the top), or burpee-to-pull-up combinations for full-body chained conditioning.
Programming notes
The conditioning workhorse. EMOM format works well (5-10 reps at the top of every minute for 10-15 minutes), interval training (30 seconds on / 30 seconds off for 8-12 rounds), or for-time benchmarks (50 burpees as fast as possible, or 100 burpees in a single set for an endurance test). Two or three times a week. Don't program for-time burpees the day before a heavy squat or deadlift session — the recovery overlap is brutal.
