You’re gonna hate me for saying what I’m about to say, but I’m willing to risk it.
Burpees are AWESOME!!!
I know, you might feel a strong inner desire to punch me in the face for saying that. Lol But the truth is, I actually start to crave them if I don’t do ‘em for awhile.
Today I am going to help make them less intimidating & scary for you, so maybe… just maybe… you can learn to just like them simply because of the bang for the buck.
Part of what makes them more bearable is learning to break down each phase of the movement in a way that you don’t feel rushed through to just bang them out.
Instead, I encourage you to slow down the approach so that you are more mindful of hand placement & joint alignment. You will feel more in control & you are less likely to get sloppy with your form (which could lead to injury).
Take your time with each of these 5 phases & you will hate/dread them a bit less… I promise you!
- Place hands down to the floor outside of your feet - wider than your shoulders.
- Jump - or step one foot at a time - back to a plank position with your body.
- Lower down through your push up - place your knees to the floor if you are still building your push up strength (doing burpees in this 5-part phase will help with that! TIP: DO NOT lower your body all the way to the floor - this is doing your burpee a disservice & you are missing out on some major benefits of working the core.)
- Jump - or step one foot at a time - back to the starting position in a squat.
- Reach the hands in the air as you jump!
The reason I love this multi-joint movement is for the strength (I you are doing a push up without the belly touching the floor) AND cardio components. You are getting core work, leg work, arm work. It’s a freakin AWESOME combination. See? Biggest bang for your buck!
There are many, many variations of burpees I weave into my workout videos - sometimes we use a Bosu, sometimes we do single legs, sometimes we take the push up out & do a “half burpee.” There are lots of ways to make this move interesting and challenging!
The best way to improve your push ups is to do them REALTIME with me & the MissFits! Rather than taking this tip & trying it without me, join in on the fun and I’ll coach you through the whole process. I promise you, burpees are less grueling if you can commiserate with me & my MissFits. xo
RealFit Kick & Box: Burpee Block & Kickbox Challenge
Burpees are the ultimate body weight exercise working your arms, your core, your legs, your coordination & your cardio. So, naturally I like to incorporate it with our kickboxing class because it only trains your body to become more efficient in all of the above-stated elements.
This one's a 50-minute blaster with 4 "blocks" that include a burpee challenge at the front end and full-on combination kickboxing moves at the back-end of each block.
We were drenched at the end of this sucker, so keep your fine self hydrated throughout & let's burpee-it-up!!
Here's what some RealFitters had to say about Burpee Block & Kickbox Challenge:
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