Benefits of Burpees: Form, Muscles Worked & Variations

There's a reason burpees show up in almost every bootcamp, CrossFit workout, and hotel-room fitness routine: no other single exercise delivers quite the same combination of cardiovascular challenge, full-body muscle engagement, and zero equipment requirement. Whether you love them or dread them, they work.

The movement itself is deceptively simple—squat down, kick your feet back to a plank, do a push-up (optional), jump your feet forward, then stand or jump. But that sequence demands contribution from nearly every major muscle group while spiking your heart rate into training zones that build serious conditioning. Research shows that high-intensity bodyweight exercises like burpees can improve cardio-metabolic health and burn calories more effectively than some traditional steady-state cardio.¹

For a complete breakdown of how to structure exercise for weight loss—including where burpees fit into a well-rounded program—see our Complete Exercise Guide for Weight Loss.

What Makes Burpees So Effective

The magic of burpees comes down to efficiency. In a single rep, you're working your quads and glutes during the squat and jump, your chest, shoulders, and triceps during the push-up, and your core throughout the entire movement to maintain stability. Very few exercises pack that much muscle engagement into one motion.

From a cardiovascular standpoint, burpees create what exercise scientists call excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)—your body continues burning calories at an elevated rate even after you've stopped exercising.² This "afterburn effect" makes burpees particularly valuable for fat-loss programs where maximizing calorie expenditure in minimal time matters.

The practical benefits extend beyond physiology. Burpees require no equipment and minimal space. You can do them in a hotel room, a park, or your living room. That accessibility removes one of the most common exercise barriers: "I don't have time to get to the gym."

Muscles Worked

Burpees engage the body comprehensively. The primary movers include your quadriceps, glutes, chest, shoulders, and triceps—basically everything involved in squatting, planking, pushing, and jumping. Your core works throughout to stabilize the transitions, and your calves, lats, and hip flexors assist the movement. This full-body recruitment is why burpees feel so demanding: you're not isolating one muscle group while others rest.

How to Do a Burpee with Proper Form

Good form protects your joints and ensures you're getting the full benefit of the movement. Here's the sequence:

1. Start standing with feet about hip-width apart. Brace your core before you begin.

2. Hinge and squat down, placing your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders—not far out in front of you, which puts unnecessary stress on your wrists.

3. Step or jump your feet back into a solid plank position. Your body should form a straight line from head to heels, with ribs pulled down and glutes lightly engaged.

4. Perform a push-up (optional), keeping your elbows at roughly 45 degrees from your body rather than flaring out wide.

5. Step or jump your feet back under your hips, keeping your heels down as you rise.

6. Stand or add a vertical jump, landing softly with knees tracking over your toes.

The most important cue: move as one controlled unit. If your hips sag in the plank or your lower back arches, the rep doesn't count—scale back to a variation you can execute cleanly.

Burpee Variations for Every Fitness Level

One of the best things about burpees is how easily they scale. If standard burpees are too demanding right now, that's fine—there are legitimate progressions that deliver similar benefits with less impact or complexity.

Step-back burpees eliminate the jump entirely. You step one foot back at a time into plank, then step forward to stand. This dramatically reduces impact on your knees and is ideal for beginners or anyone with joint concerns.

Incline burpees use a bench, box, or sturdy chair for your hands. This reduces the load on your wrists and shoulders while still training the movement pattern.

No-push-up burpees skip the push-up entirely—you simply hold a brief plank before jumping or stepping back to standing. Great for building conditioning before adding upper-body strength demands.

Half burpees (sprawls) stay low: from plank, jump your feet in and out repeatedly without ever standing. This keeps heart rate high while reducing overall complexity.

For more advanced athletes, add a target touch (jump to reach a low overhead mark) or pair burpees with a dumbbell row in the plank position for additional strength work.

How to Program Burpees into Your Workouts

The biggest mistake people make with burpees is treating them like a race rather than a training tool. Pick one intent per session and execute it well.

For beginners: Try an EMOM (every minute on the minute) format. Set a timer for 10 minutes and perform 5–7 step-back burpees at the start of each minute, walking during whatever time remains. This builds work capacity without destroying your form.

For fat-loss conditioning: Use intervals—30 seconds of burpees followed by 30 seconds of walking, repeated for 8–12 rounds. The key is maintaining a pace you can sustain across all rounds, not going all-out in round one and collapsing by round four.

As a finisher after strength training: Keep the volume modest—3 sets of 8 controlled reps with no jump—to elevate heart rate without frying your legs after squats or deadlifts.

Whatever format you choose, prioritize quality reps. The moment your form breaks down, stop or switch to an easier variation.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced exercisers make form errors with burpees, especially when fatigue sets in.

The "worm" push-up happens when your chest drops before your hips, creating a wave-like motion. Keep your ribs tucked and move as one plank throughout the push-up.

Landing with heels elevated puts excessive stress on your knees. When you jump your feet forward, make sure they land flat under your hips so you can drive through your heels to stand.

An arched lower back in plank usually means your core isn't braced. Squeeze your glutes lightly and exhale to set your ribs before jumping back.

Volume creep is the tendency to keep adding reps even as form deteriorates. More reps done poorly isn't better than fewer reps done well. Scale back or rest when quality drops.

Who Should Modify or Skip Burpees

Burpees aren't for everyone in their standard form, and that's perfectly fine.

If you have existing wrist, shoulder, knee, or lower-back issues, choose an incline or step-back variation and skip the jump. The conditioning benefit is still there with less joint stress.

Pregnant and postpartum athletes should prioritize pressure management and watch for core symptoms like doming or leaking—incline or half burpees are typically better choices during this period.

If you're new to exercise entirely, start conservatively: 2–3 sets of 6–8 reps, two or three times per week. Rest days matter as much as training days.

This article is for educational purposes—if you have injuries or health conditions, consult a healthcare professional before adding burpees to your routine.

Fueling Your Training

High-intensity conditioning work like burpees demands appropriate nutrition. Without adequate protein and calories, you won't recover well between sessions, and your performance will suffer.

Our High-Protein Meal Plan delivers 30+ grams of protein per meal to support training recovery, or you can build your own plan with the specific macros you need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are burpees good for fat loss?

Burpees are an effective tool for fat loss because they elevate heart rate quickly and work well in high-intensity interval formats. Research shows HIIT-style training can improve metabolic health and enhance calorie burn both during and after exercise.³ That said, exercise alone doesn't create fat loss—nutrition determines your calorie deficit. Burpees help by increasing training density and expenditure, but you need to pair them with appropriate eating.

How many burpees should I do per workout?

For most people, 30 to 80 quality reps per session is plenty, depending on the variation and your conditioning level. Quality matters more than quantity—stop or scale back when form degrades.

How often should I do burpees?

Two to three times per week is enough for most people. Rotate variations and keep at least one day between hard burpee sessions to allow adequate recovery.

Do burpees build muscle?

Burpees are better suited for conditioning than muscle building. They can help maintain muscle during fat-loss phases, but for actual hypertrophy, pair them with progressive resistance training. See our guide on muscle-building mistakes to avoid.

What can I do instead of burpees if they hurt my joints?

Try squat thrusts (no push-up or jump), incline burpees with hands on a bench, step-back variations, or alternative conditioning moves like kettlebell swings or rowing intervals.

The Bottom Line

Burpees deserve their reputation as one of the most efficient conditioning exercises available. They train your entire body, require no equipment, scale easily from beginner to advanced, and can be programmed into almost any workout format. The key is respecting your current fitness level, prioritizing form over volume, and using them as one tool in a broader training program—not the entire toolbox.

For a comprehensive look at how to structure cardio, strength training, and conditioning for weight loss, check out our Complete Exercise Guide for Weight Loss.

References

1. Mendes R, et al. Can a single session of a community-based group exercise program combining step aerobics and bodyweight resistance exercise acutely reduce blood pressure? J Hum Kinet. 2014;43:79-87. PMC4332184

2. Gebel K, et al. Effect of moderate to vigorous physical activity on all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Australians. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(6):970-977. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0541

3. Gillen JB, et al. Twelve weeks of sprint interval training improves indices of cardiometabolic health similar to traditional endurance training despite a five-fold lower exercise volume and time commitment. PLoS One. 2016;11(4):e0154075. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154075