A burpee is an all-body exercise that’s been hailed for covering all the essentials, for being challenging, but quick. However, it can also be done incorrectly, leading to all sorts of injuries down the road.
When you don’t have a lot of time for a regular workout, nothing quite helps give your body a boost with a set of burpees. The most important part of doing a burpee is to make sure you warm up like any other exercise before you start jumping around.
How do you accomplish this popular exercise move? In this video, Point Performance’s medical personal trainer Phil Silberman demonstrates how to do two types of burpee. In the more familiar version, you start off in standing position, reach your arms up and jump as high as you can, then land on your feet, then bend at the hips and lower yourself until your hands touch the floor shoulder-width apart. Then kick your legs back into a plank position, and lower yourself into a push-up. Then jump your feet back to your hands, and repeat.
A modified version of the burpee skips the jumping and the push-up. You reach for the sky, then bend down, kick your legs back into a plank, then jump back so your feet meet your hands, and stand up. Repeat.
If you’re just starting out, do about 5-10 burpees in one session. Then increase slowly. Like any exercise, too many can cause injuries to form.