Good news! Burpees are for winners!

Bad news! You might not be doing them very well…

Burpees can be a wonderful exercise, building strength, power, and endurance all in one delicious, muscle-burning move. But there are some mistakes to watch out for to prevent injury, and to get the most benefit out of every hop.

Check out this video for the ideal burpee form, plus eight variations you can try to spice up your workouts!

To recap, the four key elements of the burpee are:

Squat

• Do: bend deeply, booty back, weight in your heels.
• Don’t: skip the squat, or let your heels rise up

Plank

• Do: Keep a straight line from the crown of your head to your heels, maintain a strong core.
• Don’t: let your low back sag toward the ground – this can injure your back.

Push-Up

• Do: keep your neck in a neutral position and lower as close to the floor as you can; drop to your knees if you have trouble with a full push-up (ain’t no shame, friend!)
• Don’t: “peck” at the ground with your head

Squat Jump

• Do: drive through your heels from a full squat, and jump as high as you can!
• Don’t: skip the squat, or let your heels rise up

Burpee Variations:

In the video I showed: no-push-up burpees, side plank burpees, blocker burpees (aka surfer burpees or surfees), single-leg burpees (for the brave!), sumo burpees, and skiier burpees.

Now I want to hear from you!

Were you doing burpees right or wrong? Which variation are you going to try? And do you have another variation that I didn’t show? Tell me in the comments below!