Burpee

These notes combine advice from 52 reviewed passages across 38 workouts.

Overview

Burpees are used as high-conditioning work intended to challenge endurance and breathing. The movement travels from standing into a floor-supported phase and back to standing, while variations may add a push-up, hold, or jump.

Control matters throughout the movement. Quiet foot contact and a controlled descent show greater command of the repetition, while high-speed testing can make form deteriorate and signal the need for a harder variation.

Core technique

Lower under control and use the lower abdominal area to manage the descent. Avoid a heavy heel strike, aim to land toward the front of the foot, and reduce the sound of both the descent and foot placement as much as possible.

Choose a repetition target that allows correct form. A push-up burpee requires a push-up within every repetition, and merely bending down and standing up does not count as a properly formed burpee.

When a jumping version follows the push-up, rise and jump as high as possible. The standing position can also provide a brief rest point when the format allows a pause between repetitions.

Testing and progression

Compare burpee performance with the other movements in a test. Burpees that remain weak while push-ups improve can indicate a need for more stamina work, while weak push-ups alongside improving burpees can direct attention toward arm strength.

A maximum test should aim for maximal effort. Effort and rest can still be distributed strategically between exercises when the test format permits it.

Burpees placed near the end of a multi-exercise test challenge stamina more than burpees performed first. This placement was used to create a more demanding measure of performance.

When repetition speed begins to damage form, progress from a regular burpee to a harder version such as a push-up burpee. This keeps the test challenging without relying only on faster repetitions.

Finish the full test even when only one final repetition can be recorded. Completing it preserves a result and can have psychological value.

Workout placement

Account for upper-body overlap when arranging a circuit. Burpees, push-ups, planks, and Tate presses all use the arms, and placing push-ups directly after burpees or combining them at high volume makes the station especially demanding. A jackknife after push-ups can give the arms a relative break.

Burpee variations

Keep one foot in the air throughout a single-leg burpee. This version creates a different demand from a regular burpee. Begin with ten repetitions per leg and rest before changing legs, then progress to switching legs without rest.

For an elevated-foot burpee, place the feet on a chair during every repetition. This is treated as a harder variation.

In the candle-based reverse burpee, lower into a candle position, hold the knees from the outside, and pull them firmly inward. Keep the legs elevated, exhale, use the hands to assist the rise, and complete the jump.

A separate reverse-burpee version uses a slow descent without placing the hands on the floor. Hold the jackknife for two seconds, pull the knees inward, and rise; this version does not require a jump.

For the hand-foot-leg variation, place the hand where the foot was, then raise a leg after standing. When the version is trained for flow, land from the jump and move immediately into the next descent without a standing pause.

A strong knee tuck is used to add an athletic and explosive demand. In the staged twelve-repetition version, complete the first five repetitions individually, then add the continuous jumping action after the push-up once the wrists have been warmed by the earlier repetitions.

Keep the inward-tuck drill distinct from a burpee. Leave both hands on the floor, draw both legs in together, hold for one second, and return without standing.

Combinations

The squat-jump and burpee combination uses a descent followed by a small jump and then a large jump.

One complex arm sequence uses a push-up, both arms forward and backward, another push-up, standing, and a knee tuck. Related second-push-up cues include extending, pulling, lifting, and then bringing the arms forward.

Treat the burpee lunge as a two-part combination. Step backward lightly, keep the torso upright, and stay roughly in place instead of traveling far forward.

Health and safety claims

Coach’s advice

In the burpee-to-reverse-lunge sequence, approaching the floor slowly and touching lightly is intended to avoid a forceful knee impact. This remains unverified injury-prevention guidance.

Coach’s advice

Feeling close to vomiting during burpees was treated as a sign that the exercise had an effect. That interpretation is medically unverified.

Coach’s experience

In his own programming, the coach gives strength work priority over burpee-based conditioning while still including burpees occasionally.

In his own comparisons, the coach regarded ten repetitions of a handstand-balance drill as comparable to fifty burpees because he found the drill more demanding for coordination, balance, and abdominal conditioning.