Love em’ or hate em’ they are effective! The simplicity of the movement makes it easy to implement into just about anyone’s strength and conditioning program. It has amazing the ability to get you to move through all planes of motion and tax your body with one simple movement. Think about this, you might not be great at doing a clean and jerk due to strength, form or mobility BUT did you ever fail a burpee ?? I didn’t think so!! Sure you might not look so pretty doing them but you will never fail at them ! .I prefer to think of burpees as “fall down and get back ups.” They are the perfect analogy for life: you get knocked down by a challenge and you find a way to get back up and continue moving forward. Burpees build character.
Burpees are a full body workout and they help you gain strength in the entire body. With each rep, you will work your arms, chest, quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and core. Doing a lot of burpees will have your arms and legs shaking and feeling like wet noodles. Burpees require no equipment and you can literally do them anywhere. This means you have no excuse if you can’t make it to the gym !!! Can you say: 100 burpees for time ?
Maybe you are not great at endurance or long WOD’s? Burpees help improve your conditioning and respiratory endurance quickly for those with either body composition or basic performance goals. Burpees are dynamic and fast paced . The rapid flexion and extension of the hips makes it awesome for learning force production from core to extremity. If you are pressed for time, burpees are a great movement to leave you feeling gassed and winded in a short amount of time. Don’t you just love them even more now ?
Next time you see burpees just Thank your coaches for looking out for your well-being. No matter what your goals are, burpees can have a positive effect on your fitness not just physically but mentally. The constant repetition and frustration of the movement builds character and perseverance. It teaches you to keep going during even the toughest of times. Isn’t that how life works anyways ? If you get knocked down, just do a burpee and get back up !