April 24, 2025, 9:46 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Burpees are a challenging bodyweight exercise that can quickly make you sweat while strengthening your muscles. However, they can be quite difficult at first. FITBOOK fitness expert Janine Riedle provides a step-by-step guide to help you learn burpees in no time.
Burpees combine two individual strength exercises into one: push-ups and jump squats. To benefit from both exercises, it’s important to focus on proper execution and technique. This article explains what that looks like, how to learn the correct technique to do burpees properly, and which muscles are trained.
Overview
Which Muscles Are Trained with Burpees
The question here should rather be: Which muscles are not trained with burpees? They strengthen almost the entire body: shoulders, chest, triceps, legs, glutes, abs, and back extensors are all engaged.
Benefits of Doing Burpees Properly
Besides training various muscle groups simultaneously, burpees also positively affect the cardiovascular system. The quick execution improves both muscular endurance and speed. That’s why this bodyweight exercise is often part of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Burpees are also effective for burning fat. Since a large portion of the total musculature must provide energy, many calories are burned in a short time—and even after the workout, thanks to the afterburn effect.
How to Learn Proper Burpee Execution
If you’re having trouble with the exercise, practice the individual movements separately before combining them. This means first learning push-ups and jump squats to later perform burpees correctly.
Push-ups
The push-up is often the most challenging part of burpees for many—and for good reason! The exercise requires a lot of tension throughout the body. Below is a brief explanation of how to learn a push-up.
Wall Push-ups
Initially, you can simplify the conditions by performing the movement against a wall. Stand a small step away from the wall with feet hip-width apart. Place your palms on the wall at shoulder height with arms extended. Lean your upper body toward the wall, keeping your feet on the ground. It’s important that the elbows don’t flare out to the sides but stay close to the body when bending. Just before reaching the wall, push back to the starting position.
Elevated Push-ups
Once you master the wall variation, you can progress by using an elevation. In the gym, this could be a bench, or at home, a chair, sofa, or bed edge. Support yourself with your palms and position your legs to form a straight line with your upper and lower body, similar to a proper push-up. Lower yourself by bending your elbows, ensuring they stay close to the body and don’t flare out. At the lowest point, push back to the starting position.
Knee Push-ups
Before moving on to full push-ups, practice the movement on your knees. Place your palms shoulder-width on the floor, initially positioning your feet so your body forms a line in a plank position. Then, rest your knees on the ground, crossing your feet. Lower your upper body toward the floor by bending your elbows close to the body. Push back up just before reaching the floor.
Full Push-ups
Once you master all three variations, you can attempt the full version. Assume the high plank position. Lower your body toward the floor, keeping your elbows close to the body and not flaring out. Push back to the starting position just before reaching the floor.
Plank Jump
Once you master push-ups, practice jumping forward from the plank position to push up into jump squats, learning the correct burpee technique. Get into the high plank position and try to push off from your hands and feet to jump both feet forward next to your hands, landing in a deep squat position. From here, place your hands back on the floor and jump back into the plank position.
Jump Squats
Now for the final piece of the burpee puzzle: jump squats. Stand shoulder-width apart, holding your hands together in front of your chest. Lower yourself toward the ground, pushing your hips back and bending your knees. At the lowest point, push powerfully upward and jump into the air. You can open your arms for more momentum and swing them down behind your upper body. Upon landing, immediately lower back into the squat.
How to Do Burpees Properly
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Combining Individual Exercises
Once you’re comfortable with all parts of the burpees, combine the individual exercises. Start standing, lower yourself, push up into the jump, lower again, jump into the plank, and perform a push-up. Jump back into the squat position and start over.
Initially, perform burpees slowly and gradually increase speed to learn to do them properly.