Burpees for weight loss: a program on how to do exercises every day

CrossFit is becoming increasingly popular, and even those who know nothing about it have probably heard about the burpee exercise. With its help, you can burn fat in the shortest possible time, increase endurance and build muscle strength.

In fact, this is not one exercise, but a whole complex of several, which has an explosive effect due to a special combination of loads. So, let's figure out what it is - burpee (burpee), what its benefits and advantages are, how to do it correctly and what options there may be.

"Burpee"

This name was given to a very effective exercise from the CrossFit discipline. As you know, CrossFit involves performing two or more disciplines at the same time. Based on this, it can be argued that training of this type usually takes place within the framework of intense and fairly functional exercises.

Before you start CrossFit, you should be sure to achieve as much fitness and endurance as possible. According to average indicators, in just 15-20 minutes of work at maximum intensity, a person spends a huge amount of calories, and most importantly, the main projectile is his own body.

Several reasons why you should do burpees

Since burpees burn a huge amount of calories, this exercise is ideal for weight loss. Almost all muscle groups take part in its implementation. In addition, the following facts testify in its favor:

the cardiovascular system is strengthened;
physical endurance increases;
respiratory organs develop;
You can train at home, without using special equipment or going to the gym;
it is possible to adjust the difficulty level of the exercise by removing or adding elements;
for athletes who actively practice strength training, burpees will help build muscle mass;
This exercise restores coordination.

On a note! If you want to pump up the muscles of the lower body, it is recommended to include two jumps in the complex exercise. To give more attention to your chest and arms, it's worth adding a couple of push-ups. If you need to strengthen your abs, it is enough to pull your knees to your chest in a plank position.

What muscles are involved?

Burpee is an exercise that uses several muscle groups at the same time. The legs are loaded first, namely the calves, quadriceps and buttocks. The pectoral muscles, as well as the deltoids and triceps, also receive considerable load. In addition, do not forget about the rectus abdominis muscle. All of these muscles get enough exercise that the exercises can feel overwhelming for beginners. But thanks to the constant tension of the body, fat burning processes are activated - excess weight disappears almost instantly.

What effect did I get?

First of all, this is a great exercise before leaving for work. An active start to the day gave me a good energy boost. By the way, I started drinking less coffee throughout the day. And this also affected the condition of the skin.

The result in 30 days - the quality of the body has changed for the better.

I trained on an empty stomach, and any exercise on an empty stomach results in rapid fat burning. The abs are well drawn. My stomach became flat and firm! I noticed improvements in the hips and buttocks area. They became elastic. The main thing is that I have more energy throughout the day.

Recommendations

When a person discovers something new, he should definitely take an interest in the reviews of other people and the advice of professionals. This should be done in order to avoid unnecessary problems and get as much benefit as possible from the exercise. To achieve an ideal result, the simplest tips will be good helpers:

As before any workout, you should first warm up thoroughly. This will prevent unnecessary injuries and also energize the body.
While performing, you need to monitor your own breathing, without holding it or speeding it up.
Burpee is an exercise for men and women that even helps speed up metabolism. But to achieve this goal, it must be done in the morning.
Control of the neck and back is no less important. The more repetitions of the exercise, the more difficult it is to keep these parts of the body in an even position.
The upward jump should be as high as possible, because it helps to stretch the muscles of the back and neck, preventing them from becoming stiff.

Performance

As mentioned above, this exercise is a combination of standard exercises that provide a fairly high load only if they work together.

From the initial standing position, you need to do a squat, then rest your hands on the floor and throw your legs back, moving to the plank position, that is, take a lying position. Next, do one push-up (beginners can skip this step to begin with), and then you should pull your legs to your chest and jump out, while simultaneously raising your arms up. All this counts as one repetition.

Each person must determine the number of executions for himself, since there are no specific boundaries here. For beginners, 10 times will be enough, but more experienced athletes will have to do 30 or more times. An important rule is that the rest between sets should be no more than a couple of minutes, otherwise the muscles will relax and each subsequent repetition will be even more difficult.

How to do?

At first glance, if you read the instructions for implementation, it will seem difficult. But if you watch the video, it will become clear that the exercise is simple.

Stand straight, feet together, arms at your sides.
We jump and at the same time clap our hands above our heads.
We land softly on the floor - we squat down and lower our palms in front of us.
Then, we throw our legs back and do push-ups.
We return to a standing position and jump again.

Additional load

Now it’s clear how to do the burpee exercise for weight loss, but this information is still not enough to start doing it. Next, you need to figure out how to complicate the training in time. After all, everyone knows that the body is able to quickly get used to the load, and when this happens, the desired effect can no longer be achieved. This problem can be avoided by using additional load. It can be provided by:

Standard push-up.
Wave push-up.
With a pull-up (during a jump).
With jogging in place (during light jogging, it is necessary to perform the main exercise at regular intervals).

Classic burpee

In the classic version, the burpee technique looks like this:

Take the starting position. Stand straight, place your feet shoulder-width apart. The arms hang freely along the body.
Take a breath. Lean forward, then squat and place your palms on the floor. They should bear the bulk of the body weight at this moment.
Take a “lying position”, throwing your legs back. The body forms a straight line, it is parallel to the floor surface.
Do 1 push-up. Then sit down again, leaning on your hands and knees.
Exhale, jump strongly. Your arms should go up while jumping.

Without stopping, you need to do a few more repetitions. Then, after a short interval, repeat the exercise.

On a note! Before you start doing burpees, you need to soberly assess your own capabilities. For beginners, this exercise may be overwhelming. In this case, it can be made easier or performed after certain physical training.

Level of training

“Burpee” is an exercise, the benefits of which are undoubtedly available to absolutely every person.

But there are still certain complexes that are divided between people with different levels of training:

Easy level. Approaches for a couple of minutes, 4 steps in total, rest - no more than one minute.
Average level. Two-minute approaches consisting of 6 techniques, a minute's rest.
High level. Rounds of 3 minutes in 6 steps, rest is one minute.
Professional level. Performed in exactly the same way as at a high level, but the rest time is halved.

Benefits of classes

In addition to the fact that the burpee exercise makes your stomach flat, it also has many other benefits due to which it is gaining popularity among men and women:

Force. This type of exercise trains absolutely all muscles. After performing the first sets, you will immediately feel pain in your arms, legs, hips and abs. Each of these body parts will gradually improve.
Fat burning. Increased intensity will promote active fat burning, as the entire body is subject to tension. According to statistics updated over the past few years, it is clear that burpees can help you get rid of 50% more body fat than during any strength training. And for people who specifically go on diets for the purpose of losing weight, this exercise guarantees an acceleration of metabolism. Therefore, you can easily lose excess weight without starving yourself.
Keeping fit. To achieve and maintain ideal physical shape, people spend quite a long time in gyms. Of course, the appearance of the relief on the arms, legs and abs amazes everyone around, but the presence of excess weight is still always noticeable. The “burpee” exercise will help solve this problem, because it will get rid of fat deposits, help develop endurance and add energy, which will help in the future to overcome any obstacles without much effort.
Saving. Regular training of this type does not require extra costs for gyms, swimming pools, and so on. To achieve your desired goals, you just need to find comfortable clothes and a location for the lesson (it can be either a street or a small room).
Anaerobic performance. Not every person can increase this factor. Fortunately, burpees help increase lung capacity as well as improve heart function.

Features, advantages and harm

The idea is to perform 6 movements in a row. From a standing position, you need to squat down, jump to throw your legs back, taking a plank position, do push-ups, jump to tighten your legs, and jump from a sitting position, clapping above your head. The maximum load is placed on the muscles of the legs and thighs, but almost all muscle groups are involved, the whole body is trained.

Let's look at what muscles work:

Gluteal;
Caviar;
Biceps femoris;
Triceps;
Breasts;
29 muscle pairs in the lower abdomen, pelvis and lower back.

The process involves the spine, hips, shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, and the shoulder blades actively work:

For women, this is an opportunity to get a slim figure, flat tummy, firm buttocks and beautiful legs;
For men, it’s a quick way to increase strength and endurance, strengthen your arms and hips, and show off your six-pack abs.

Fat burning effect

Scientists conducted a study on how many calories the burpee exercise burns, and found that it is much more effective than others:

Almost 2 times more calories are burned than when jumping rope or intense running;
4 times more calories than fast walking.

Many fitness trainers recommend burpees for weight loss. In just 10 minutes of training, about 100 kcal are burned.

10 reasons to try

On average, the effect is noticeable within a month if you train in the morning every day. And here are the results you can achieve by devoting only 10-15 minutes a day to this kind of exercise.

Acceleration of metabolism . Do 8-10 burpees and the effect will be the same as if you ran a half-minute sprint. Just don't go anywhere. The muscles become overstrained and consume more energy, even if you then just lie on the couch.
Strength and endurance . At first it will be difficult to do even 4-5 repetitions, but after 30 days you will probably be able to easily do 7-10. You will become more resilient and your muscles will become stronger.
Effective weight loss . A combination of strength and cardio training is the best way to burn fat.
Strong arms . Every day your shoulders and biceps will receive their load. As practice shows, after a month the outlines of muscles under the skin are already noticeable.
Toned buttocks . Jumping, tension in the plank, lifting, squats - your buttocks will work almost constantly, and will acquire a beautiful rounded shape.
Toned legs . The muscles develop very quickly, the thighs absorb the load perfectly, and being the largest muscle in the body, they also consume maximum energy.
Slim stomach . Try to keep your abs tense during all movements, and especially during push-ups and planks. The waist will become smaller, the stomach will become more elastic, the muscles will tighten.
Benefits for the heart and blood vessels . After 1-2 repetitions, many people’s hearts beat like mad, driving blood through the vessels, but this is not a problem. This way you will strengthen the cardiovascular system, and oxygen will flow more actively to all organs.
Straight back and straight spine . All muscles work, from shoulders to buttocks. The muscle corset is built up, the spine is aligned, the shoulders are turned and straightened. No slouching!
Develops dexterity and coordination . During fast repetitions, you need to maintain balance at all times. The vestibular apparatus is trained, you learn to control every movement.

Harm and risks

The only downside to the burpee exercise is the high-intensity stress on the knees and ankles. People with injuries to these areas or who are overweight should not perform all these jumps, as they can harm themselves. For healthy people, training is completely safe.

Burpee-based workouts

For those who crave variety and even greater training benefits, there are several program options based on the burpee exercise. Among them:

Descending ladder. The first set should consist of, for example, 10 repetitions, and each subsequent set should be reduced by 1 repetition. The rest between them is no more than a minute.
100 burpees. You need to do burpees 100 times as quickly as possible. Competition enthusiasts can time themselves and try to beat their own record or their opponent's every day.
Marathon. A more simplified version, the essence of which is to complete as many repetitions as possible in two minutes.
Ladder with sprints. It is performed in exactly the same way as the descending ladder, but instead of a minute's rest, you should run a hundred meters or simply run in place for one minute.

How many burpees should you do?

The exact number of repetitions and approaches when performing burpees depends on the physical fitness of the athlete.

On a note! There was a belief in the US Army that a soldier who did 40 simple burpees in 1 minute was in good shape.

Of course, for the civilian population the time frame is somewhat compressed. They can be expanded to 90 seconds, leaving the same 40 simplified exercise cycles as a reference. The number of approaches should be selected for yourself.

The following examples will help answer the question of how many times you need to do burpees to achieve results:

Tabata method – 20 seconds of continuous exercise with an interval of 10 seconds, 8 approaches;
classic program - 10-20 times, up to 4 approaches;
The standard for people involved in sports is 12-15 repetitions in half a minute.

On a note! The record for the most repetitions of burpees, listed in the Guinness Book of Records, was 47 times in a minute. It was directed by an Italian in 2021.

Reviews

Undoubtedly, the burpee exercise has different reviews. In general, athletes are satisfied with this technique, since they were really able to lose excess weight without deteriorating their own health.

Many people who tried the workout for the first time have already found a lot of benefits in it and have independently developed a plan for themselves to increase the load.

Both beginners and more experienced athletes are satisfied with the results achieved. The ideal body was achieved, noticeable relief appeared, excess weight was gone forever. And all this was achieved in a short time and without unnecessary problems.

Burpee exercise: benefits

Reviews about the effectiveness of the burpee exercise are very positive, because it has many different benefits for the human body:

During this exercise, the entire body is involved, and not individual muscle groups. Of course, after one workout, the body literally starts to burn and hurt a lot. This is especially felt in the legs.
Burpee perfectly develops strength and endurance in a person, while breathing is regulated, which saturates every cell of the body with oxygen.
Properly performed burpees burn a lot of calories at once. No strength training promotes such dramatic weight loss as this exercise. According to professional fitness trainers, burpees burn 50% more fat than cardio.
Burpee is an exercise that develops endurance and gives the human body a very beautiful silhouette. The muscles look natural, the whole body is toned. This exercise is especially effective on the abs and leg muscles. For girls, you simply cannot find better technology.
You can simply do burpees without leaving your home. You don’t need any gyms to get your body in order absolutely free in a short period of time.
You are never tied to a location to do a burpee. You can perform it at home, at a party, on vacation, during breaks between work or business trips.

Try to do several sets of burpees every day. The minimum number of times you need to do is 10 jumps. Every day this figure should increase. Between approaches, you are allowed to take minute breaks to catch your breath. Ideally, this exercise should be used as part of a crossfit training complex, which we have already written about in detail on our website.

If you have high body temperature or blood pressure, then you need to perform burpees with extreme caution, or it is better to stop altogether for a while and stop the training process. Girls should not perform this exercise during their menstrual periods. Otherwise, there are no contraindications for performing burpees, so feel free to train at home.