Burpee - The Monster High Intensity Workout

Are you one of those that just can't find the time for exercise but badly wants to get in shape? Well, put that excuse aside. Here's a full-body high intensity exercise that you can do it anywhere and all it needs is 15 minutes of your time.


Introducing the Burpee. It’s a full-body exercise that incorporates strength training and aerobic exercise. The burpee exercise has been around for a long time and more often used as a benchmark test of one's fitness level. There's absolutely no gimmicks or equipments needed. It's just you against your body. Do it any-time, anywhere. You can do it on the streets if you don't mind the stares from passers-by.

Read on for more about the burpee.

Let’s start with the basic burpee; 4-steps burpee:

Begin in standing position, legs shoulder-width apart

Step 1: Drop into a squat position and lean forward with your hand on the ground.
Step 2: Quickly throw your feet back in one quick thrust to a plank-like position.
Step 3: Return back to the squat position in a quick motion
Step 4: Return to standing position

Burpee steps

I swear by this exercise as a daily quick fix for those on the go all the time. You can start with 5 sets (each set 30 seconds with 10 seconds interval). Do as many reps as you can during the 30 seconds. After this 3 minutes exercise, I bet you will feel the burn and torture after 2 sets.

It may look like a simple exercise but as I always say; simplicity is the best. This 4-steps exercise works wonders on your body. Let’s get down to the benefits of burpee exercise:-

Burn the Fats – That’s what everyone likes to hear. Since the burpee is such a high-intensity workout, your body burns off more fats than other exercises. Not only that, it increases your metabolism. What do you mean by that? It means, you will burn calories throughout the day. So start doing the burpees and bade farewell to your ‘love’ handles.

Increase of Strength – Since it’s a full body exercise, it works your thigh, buttocks, hamstrings, arms, shoulders, abs and chest.

Improved Conditioning – Not only does it build strength and burns fat. It improves your agility and coordination. The burpee is really THE exercise that can assess one’s fitness level.

Freedom – What more do I need to say? The burpee does not need any equipment. It can be done anytime and anywhere. You’re not tied to any gym membership or dependent on any equipment. You have total freedom with the burpee. So get off your seat and do it now.

Along the way, there are many variants introduced to push our body fitness to the limit. They are the:-

-    Burpee push up: perform a push-up after the plank position
-    Jump up burpee: jumps as high as you can after returning to standing postion
-    Pull up burpee: perform a pull-up instead of a jump.
-    One-legged burpee: perform burpee with one leg
-    And many more variants

You can even combine the push-up and jump-up burpee for a more intense workout. While you jump up, try to curl your legs up to work your abs.

So let’s get started and get fit with the burpee