Once you start exercising, you naturally develop a desire to know which exercise will help you most. In other words, you crave for an exercise that will work out all parts of our body.Apparently, there are a number of such exercises. One of them is Burpee exercise. Going by the Oxford English Dictionary, Burpee exercise is named after Royal H. Burpee, an American psychologist. Though its name sounds funny, Burpee is also funny in action. Burpee is a combination of pushup, a squat, a second squat, a leap in the air and a second leap. Burpees require one to put in extreme effort in order to complete them. Then how does Burpee benefit us and how many calories do burpees burn.

Benefits of Burpees

Burpee is listed among the best core exercises. This is because it combines many jumps with intense workouts hence burning a high percentage of body fat. The number of calories burned in this exercise is 50% more than calories burned using different types of strength exercises.

• ŸThere are many benefits of using Burpees. One of them is that it is among the best full body exercises. Besides being an ideal exercise for strength training, it also a great aerobic exercise and it can also be included in aerobic workouts.
• ŸEvery single repetition of Burpee will leave arms, thighs, hamstrings and chest front deltoid muscles toned. The other benefit of this exercise is that it speeds up metabolism, causing the body to burn more calories long after you have finished exercising.
• ŸThis exercise further helps in building endurance. That’s the reason why it is an integral part of endurance training.
• ŸYou don’t need to have a machine to perform this exercise which is its main advantage of other exercises. You can also perform this exercise when you are at home or anywhere you feel like.

How Many Calories Do Burpees Burn?

The amount of calories burned by the body does not depend on weight alone since a lot of weight will require a lot of energy to move, but also depend on the intensity of a physical activity, your metabolism as well as conditioning level.

It is estimated that these high-intensity workout intervals burn between 8 and 14 calories per minute. One of the most significant factors is the amount of effort you put into your workouts. It is important to push yourself as far as you can to ensure you burn the maximum number of calories per minute.

An examples showing "how many calories do burpees burn" depending on weight and intensity:

Doing Burpees nonstop in one hour can help a person weighing 155 lbs burn more than 563 calories. When used by a person weighing 130 lbs, they will burn more than 472 calories. For someone with 180 lbs, they will burn not less than 645 calories. For those weighing 205lbs, they will burn more than 745 calories.

So you can do some math and get the answer, for example if you do 10 minutes nonstop, and you are 155lbs, you burn 563/6≈ 94 calories. 

How to Do Burpees

Since we have know "how many calories do burpees burn", now let's learn how to do burpees.

1. Basic Burpees

• Be in a standing position and then put your feet shoulder-width apart. Start lowering your body until you reach a squatting position with your hands still placed on the floor in front of you.
• Start kicking your feet back in order to come to a push-up-position. Keep your arms firmly on the floor in order to support your body.
• Lower the chest to perform a push-up. Start bringing your chest back up.
• Put your feet back to the original position. Stand up and jump in the air as you clap your arms overhead.
• Repeat the process 15 times.

2. Burpees with Weight

• Assume a standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart and then place 2 dumbbells weighing 5 to 10 pounds on any side of you.
• Come down to a squatting position while placing your hands on the ground in order to support yourself.
• Come to a pushup position by kicking your feet back.
• Do a push-up by using your hands to bring the chest back up.
• Put your feet back to their original position. Take a dumbbell with one hand and then stand up lifting the dumbbells over your head until they come into contact with each other.
• Start lowering the weights until they are on your side.
• Repeat this exercise for 15 times.

The following video shows details on the instructions:

Variations of Burpees to Add Intensity

• If you want to increase on the intensity of this exercise, go for long jump Burpees, where you need to jump forward instead of upward.
• The other variation of this exercise is pulling your knees towards the chest as you jump.
• To improve on endurance, try performing Burpees over an obstacle.
• A similar variation is to jump onto a box instead of jumping up and down. Athletes who are used to Burpees can do them using only one hand.
• The exercise can be performed using a dumbbell. You must hold dumbbells using your two hands.
• The other variation is the incline Burpee, also referred to as wall Burpee. In this variation, jump high such that your feet will land either on the table or the wall.

Burpees can be performed as part of a workout in any pattern. They can also constitute a complete workout. Boxing conditioning coach Ross Enamait recommends the “100 Burpee challenge”. Here, you are required to perform 100 Burpees as fast as you can. You can perform Burpee at the end of a workout or during a warm up session.

The video below will redirect to a burpee fitness video where you will learn up to ten different burpee exercises. You will repeat each one of them ten times as you rest for at least 25 seconds between each burpee. By the end of the video, you will have done 100 burpees in total.