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Seven types of burpees and how to do them right
Fitness
Lateral burpees, jump burpees, knee elevation burpees … To work on strength, endurance and coordination, these are the exercises you have to do
“They leave you breathless and tired very quickly.” This is how the personal trainer Miguel Ángel Peinado defines the burpees, and perhaps it is for this reason that they are not always seen as good guys, but rather as punishment. “A lots of coaches They are used as “punishment” for being late to a class or for not complying with the imposed training, “the expert laughs.
Burpees are that kind of exercise that is hard to do because they require a lot of cardiovascular endurance, but this is where strength, endurance and coordination are especially worked. Another highlight is that it is an excellent exercise with your own body weight. «Basically it works with all the muscles of the body: from legs to abs, pectorals, triceps, shoulders … In addition, it activates the cardiovascular system notably increasing the pulsations », says the trainer of David Bisbal or Paula Ordovás, among others.
Another point in favor of burpees? That you do not need space or material to make them and, apparently, anyone can do it.
How to do burpees
As in most exercises, it is important to have an activation of the core to avoid making bad gestures with the back. The personal trainer, which has an app called Better Naked Club where you can train with it, advises you to follow these steps:
1. Start standing upright and seek to bring the palms of the hands to the ground by jumping with the feet back.
2. Touch your chest to the ground doing a push-up.
3. Pick up the feet again.
4. Jump for full hip extension while clapping your hands above your head.
Types of burpees
Just like there are several types of squats or planks, burpees also have some modalities in which they can be done with one arm or with push-ups and jumping … coach», Says Miguel Ángel Peinado (@ miguel.trainer), but these that appear below are the most common:
1. Basic level change
As the trainer says, you start standing up and lean your torso forward with your arms stretched out until your abdomen touches your thighs and you can rest your hands on the floor.
Then stretch one leg back and then the other until you reach the plank position. Next, bend one leg until your knee touches your chest, then the other. Sit up, making sure the weight is on your heels. Alternate the order in which you execute the leg movements and increase your speed.
2. Simple
Standing with your legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart, lean your torso forward and slightly bend your knees until your hands touch the ground. Leap both legs back simultaneously into a plank position.
«Make sure that you are on a perfectly inclined plane (not having your butt up in a triangle) and that your abdomen and buttocks are very hard to do not punish the lumbar. With one jump, bring both feet closer to your hands and get up by pushing up with your arms, ”he explains.
3. Doubles
This type of burpees begins the same as the simple burpees. When your trunk is bent, the knees slightly bent With your hands on the ground, jump back with both legs to the plank position. Take another leap forward to bring your feet back close to your hands, and repeat the leap forward and the leap back. Then sit up.
“Remember to keep your glutes and abs strong, because with this type of burpees you will increase the work in those muscle groups and in the legs,” advises the expert.
4. One-armed
If you have already mastered the single and double burpees, you can try this variation with one arm that will help you work the burpees more thoroughly. oblique abs.
The dynamics of the exercise is the same as that of the simple burpees, but in the plank position you support yourself with one arm. Go alternating them with each repetition.
5. With jump
They are undoubtedly the most popular burpees and the ones that would set the standard. Apparently, Miguel Ángel Peinado reveals that once this type of burpees are reached, “you will be at a medium level of execution.”
The mechanics are the same as that of the simple burpees, with the difference that after jumping from the plank position to bringing the feet closer to the hands, you must take a vertical jump with your body perfectly stretched and helping yourself. of the arms to propel you.
“The key in this case is the landing, which should be as smooth and controlled as possible, first supporting the balls of the feet, then the heels and cushioning the fall with the quadriceps,” he says. You will notice how your leg muscles burn after a few repetitions.
6. With push-ups and jumping
Each filtering bag burpees with push-ups and jump They are very common in CrossFit and HIIT workouts, as they perfectly combine aerobic and strength training. The execution of the exercise is the same as the jump burpees, but, when you are in a plank position, introduce a push-up.
Several important things that the preparer highlights:
– The movement should be fluid, so practice it until you notice that as you reach the plank position, you do the descent of the push-up in a controlled way.
– It depends on the opening of the arms, you will work more different muscles of the arm. If you are not used to this kind of burpeesWe recommend that you do the push-up with your arms close to your body. With this, you will concentrate the effort on the triceps but, above all, you will reduce the risk of shoulder and back injuries.
– Do not rest your chest on the floor when you do the push-up. This variation has several advantages, such as increasing effort, but also increasing your muscle mass; It will avoid the temptation to drop to the ground and not achieve that fluidity that exercise requires; And again, and very importantly, it reduces the risk of injury.
– Finally, in this exercise it is It is essential that you have your muscles activated at all times.
7. With jump and raise of knees
This is already for professionals. The dynamics of the exercise is like jumping burpees, but instead of doing a vertical jump, you should do it by lifting your knees toward your chest. And very important this: the knees to the chest, not the chest to the knees, or you will hit yourself when you land.
The landing here is also tricky, as you will have taken much more momentum to raise your knees and the descent will be much more dizzying. That is why it is essential that you cushion the fall well and integrate it smoothly in the next movement.