??‍♀️ Burpee: technique for girls, ?‍♀️ beginners

Burpees are a popular functional exercise that involves using only your own body weight and allows you to use almost all muscle groups, which is considered its main advantage. A lot has been said about this exercise, and probably every athlete has tried it. There is nothing complicated in its technique, but the importance of the exercise is great both for CrossFit and for sports in general. Therefore, we should take a closer look at what kind of exercise is burpee?

Benefits of exercise

Burpees are one of the main pillars on which CrossFit training rests. It is included in almost every training complex of this discipline, and is perfect for improving physical fitness for more complex techniques.

A set of burpee exercises is performed continuously and includes a quick change of body position. Due to this, the training will be plyometric in nature, since the entire body will develop at once. When done correctly, burpees can replace many fitness exercises. And this despite the fact that no additional weights are used.

Many trainers insist on using burpees for weight loss. This point of view is quite justified - a rapid change in body position is accompanied by a fairly intense calorie consumption. In addition, the benefit of burpees is that it evenly develops the strength and endurance of the body as a whole.

Short story

Burpee was invented by physiologist Royal Nuddleston Burpee from New York. He proposed using the technique for fitness testing in the 30s of the last century.

The essence of the technique comes down to performing this gymnastic complex in 4 approaches. After performing the burpee exercises, the subjects had their pulse measured. The author of the methodology put the obtained data into a table with constant values and compiled an equation. I calculated the example and, based on the resulting coefficient, made conclusions about the person’s physical fitness.
Over time, the Burpee technique began to be used in the American military department for testing the military. The results obtained made it possible to judge the physical fitness of the military personnel. As a test, they were asked to perform the proposed burpee complex for a minute. If the subject managed to do 40 repetitions, then this was an excellent result, allowing one to draw conclusions about excellent physical shape. From 27 to 40 times is considered a good achievement. If a military man does less than 27 repetitions per minute, then one can judge that he is not physically fit.

Gradually, burpee exercises began to be actively used by fitness trainers during sports activities to give the bodies of club clients beautiful shapes.

Execution restrictions

Burpees are an excellent practice not only for beginners, but also for experienced athletes. Of course, as in any other case, there are a number of contraindications:

Recent surgeries;
Disorders of the cardiovascular system;
Limitation of performance caused by injuries to bone or muscle tissue;
Damage and injury to joints;
Pregnancy.

As you can see, the restrictions are quite general, and there are no specific contraindications.
You can perform the complex every day, as it is not only an excellent way to improve the strength and endurance of your body, but also helps to effectively lose weight.

How to move from simple to complex exercises

Mastering the technique of performing any exercise occurs gradually. This principle is always laid down in the foundations of the training process.

Burpees are no exception, so you need to not only understand how to perform the exercise, but also consolidate it at the muscle level. For beginners, this may not seem necessary, but as training becomes more complex, the lack of such a skill will affect the condition of the body and the risk of injury.

To begin with, burpees are performed slowly, under the supervision of a trainer or experienced friend. You need to remember the sequence of movements and work out the correct placement of your palms and feet. It is also important to fix the position of the core so that later, when increasing the speed of execution, you do not injure the spine.

The second stage is increasing speed without increasing the number of exercises. The number of repetitions and approaches depends on the physical condition, pulse, and well-being.
Then the amount gradually increases, which can reach 100 or more during the day. If the complication does not worsen the condition or pain appears unexpectedly, you can try to add equipment. When entering it, you need to start from the first stage - slowly consolidating the correct technique.

Muscles involved in burpees

Despite the fact that burpees are positioned as an activity for the overall development of the body, many are interested in which muscles it forces to work in the first place. So, the main emphasis of the load is taken on by:

Upper shoulder girdle – trapezius, shoulder muscles and triceps;
Core and abdominal muscles;
Legs – gluteal region, hip area;
Pectoral muscles.

Of course, the technique also involves other muscle groups, for example, the calves. Generally speaking, every joint and surrounding muscle groups are involved, which is what makes burpees so multifunctional.

Research results[edit | edit code]

In a 2014 study, researchers from the Department of Health and Exercise Science in New Jersey recruited 13 adult men and had them perform 13 different types of exercise on different days. The purpose of the study was to identify those that had the best simultaneous effects on the development of the athlete's strength and reduction in the level of his body fat. The research results were recorded in protocols.

According to the study protocols, energy expenditure and thus oxygen consumption in the subjects' mitochondria was much greater in the rope wave (24.6 ± 2.6 ml · kg -1 · min -1) and burpee (22.9 ± 2.1 ml · kg -1) exercises. min -1). Exercises with free weights showed rather mediocre results, in particular, squats - (19.6 ± 1.8 ml kg -1 min -1), deadlift (18.9 ± 3.0 ml kg -1 min -1), lunges (17.3 ± 2.6 ml kg -1 min -1). In other words, the energy expenditure of the strength exercises was quite mediocre (compared to burpees and ropes).

Bottom line: Strength training is good, but the most effective way to burn more calories is to combine it with CrossFit exercises like cable waves and burpees. In addition, when combined, these exercises give a good “drying” effect.

Burpees vs interval cycling. Which cardio is best? Research results.

The study, published in the journal Strength and Conditioning Research, sought to determine which of the two exercises was the best for burning fat. The results were similar in terms of parameters such as maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max) and heart rate (HR). The main difference was only in control lactic acid values, which were significantly higher during cycling. This suggests that burpees can be used longer (for a longer period of time), despite having similar cardiovascular effects to cycling.

Conclusion: cycling and running are the least favorite types of aerobic activity for many, and if this is your case, then you can replace them with burpees.

How to do burpees

To understand how to do a technique correctly, you need to understand in detail what elements it consists of.

Starts from a standing position. Hands hang down freely, feet shoulder-width apart;
After which you need to take a sitting position, resting your hands on the floor and sitting on your toes;
From a sitting position, you need to take a lying position, jumping with your legs and placing them on the floor;
After which, also in a jump, you must again take a sitting position;
The last point will be the jump up and the accompanying exhalation. During the jump, you should lift 10 centimeters from the floor, and at the same time extend your arms straight up;
Then, take the starting position.

The burpee technique is quite simple - it includes elements familiar to everyone from school. The difficulty is that all these movements must be performed one after another, without rest. After some time, you will begin to lose stability and fall slightly when changing position.

Newbie mistakes

Beginning athletes often neglect warming up. This may cause injury.
Many people, trying to quickly achieve high results, do burpees to the point of exhaustion - remember, overtraining is worse than undertraining.
Beginners do not create a training plan with specific goals and do not follow a diet. This leads to the fact that, studying without a specific goal, over time, they quit classes.
Beginners do not allow the body to rest. You shouldn’t exercise intensively every day and increase the load; take 2-3 breaks a week and your results will immediately begin to improve.

Classic technique

Despite the fact that many trainers advise doing additional push-ups when taking a prone position, this element is not included in the classic burpee. Here it is much more important to change positions as quickly as possible, and pauses for push-ups can reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.

The technique for beginners may differ slightly from the usual one. For many, it is quite difficult to perform burpees as long as necessary at a fast pace. Due to the unfamiliarity of the technique, an athlete can quickly become exhausted and not realize his full potential. Therefore, if it is difficult to perform in the classical form, then you can start doing it without jumping, only standing on your toes during the last point.

Contraindications and possible harm

Despite the effectiveness of the burpee exercise, the benefits of which are also known for men and women, there are a number of conditions in which it is not recommended to perform it. These are any injuries, heart and vascular diseases, blood pressure problems, as well as pregnancy. To exercise effectively and safely, you must feel good.

There is no need to rush to overload yourself. Beginners should start with a moderate pace and a small number of repetitions, gradually increasing them.

If the full version of the exercise seems too difficult for you, you can simplify it somewhat by choosing a short version of the technique. So, you can lower the bouncing up. The jump should be as high as possible. You need to land on your entire foot, bending your knees. Your back and neck should be kept straight while performing the exercise. When doing push-ups, straighten your arms all the way. Don't stick out your pelvis. It is recommended to pull in the stomach. Try not to bend your legs.

When performing movements of one cycle, do not take breaks between them. You can do several short sessions per minute, and do as many repetitions as possible during this period. The optimal time to do exercises is in the morning.

Breathing plays a huge role in burpees. For many, especially at first, proper breathing technique is difficult. The breathing mode for burpees should be as follows:

We adopted the mode of lying on our hands - inhale, do push-ups as we exhale.
Landed - inhale, rose to your feet - exhale.

And then this cycle continues. Thus, for one burpee we have three phases of breathing
.

Burpee Variations

The technique for girls can be very different. It all depends on how trained the person is and how well he feels during the exercise.

As mentioned earlier, it is recommended to perform burpees without push-ups. However, if you have been practicing this exercise for quite a long time and can perform additional push-ups without much delay, then this will not be superfluous.

There is also a pull-up version of the burpee. To do this, it must be performed under the horizontal bar. While jumping, grab the bar, do an explosive pull-up, and repeat the complex.

The burpee complex for men can include quite a lot of additional elements. Some people add additional weight, such as a weighted vest or dumbbells. This will make it very difficult during the jumping phase.

In addition, efficiency also depends on what additional equipment you use. This could be a special bench that you need to jump on, or a medicine ball that you need to lift above your head.

Burpees can be performed simply with push-ups or with variations of them. For example, you can do push-ups with clap, or use weights as a support for your arms. In this case, it can be classified as strength exercises that perfectly develop the body’s strength indicators.

Variation for women can include jumping on one leg, or incorporating several different variations in one set.

Burpee is a very flexible exercise, and you can always make it easier or more difficult by adding new elements.

Burpee workouts

Because burpees are performed at a high tempo, you can get a quick, effective workout using just these exercises. Below you will learn about several workouts that will quickly get you in shape.

Descending staircase . Do a set of 10 burpees. Rest for one minute. Then do a set of 9 reps. Rest for a minute. Continue decreasing the number of reps per set until you reach one rep per set.
Two minutes of burpees . Set a timer for two minutes and do as many repetitions as possible in the allotted time.
Descending ladder burpee with sprint . Well, if burpees seem too easy for you, then try this workout. Perform the descending staircase as described above, but instead of taking a minute's break, do a 50-meter sprint. You know, I tried this workout a couple of months ago, thinking I was fit enough to do all the sets, but boy was I wrong...
100 burpee challenge. It's very simple: you just need to do 100 repetitions in one workout as fast as you can. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend on it, the most important thing is to complete the hundred.

Challenge yourself and overcome yourself

A very popular challenge among athletes is the “100 burpee” challenge, a test in which you need to complete 100 repetitions as quickly as possible. This kind of workout is a great way to test your current fitness level.

Even if you just start completing the challenge, this will already be an indicator of how brave and determined a person you are. Doing 100 burpees in one go is hard both physically and mentally, so absolutely everyone who decides to take this test deserves respect. If you can't complete this challenge in one go, don't worry - just write down your current score and try again next time. Believe me, you will definitely achieve success!

And for those of you up to the challenge, here's a rough scoring system to help you measure your current fitness level:

12+ minutes : This result means you have something to strive for. Don't stop there and work hard to improve your results.
10-12 minutes : You are a real athlete! You've done a great job, but you'll have to work a little harder to overcome all the obstacles in your way.
8-10 minutes : You are a great athlete! Your body is in great shape and your fitness level is quite high.
6-8 minutes : You have a level of preparation that can only be envied.
4-6 minutes : You have no equal! You are a pro!

Please remember that these time frames are just guidelines. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you work as hard as you can, so don't worry about other people's time and results.

Burpees for weight loss

Many athletes use burpees for weight loss, not just for strength. Since it involves high intensity and increased heart rate, it can be considered an effective cardio exercise.

You can calculate how many calories an exercise burns based on the training time, the weight of the athlete, and the elements included in it. The classic version of burpee for weight loss, consisting of ordinary elements, burns from 800 to 1200 kcal per hour, depending on weight.

The correct burpee technique for girls
Burpee variations of the technique

How many calories do burpees burn?

Since burpees are one of the most effective exercises for weight loss, it's easy to imagine that doing them burns a lot of calories. Experts gave approximate calculations and found that for 7 repetitions performed in 1 minute, you can get rid of 15-20 kcal. According to experts, the speed of metabolic processes increases, as with a bicycle printer for 30 seconds. Thus, to burn 100 kcal, you need to perform approximately 35 burpees in 5 minutes. In turn, for 100 burpees done in 14-15 minutes, including several rest intervals with a total duration of 2 minutes, you can lose approximately 225-250 kcal.

However, the above are only average indicators. The exact number of calories burned depends on the athlete's weight. The higher your body weight, the more calories you can burn. On average, you can burn up to 1,200 kcal in an hour.

Thus, burpee is an ideal exercise for people who play sports to lose weight and also want to pump up the muscles of the chest, abs, and arms. Of course, you will have to put in a lot of effort to complete it, and for a beginner it may even seem impossible. However, burpees help you get rid of the same amount of calories in just 15 minutes as you can lose during an hour-long workout on the treadmill.