With a cute name like burpee, one doesn’t naturally think it is an extreme exercise that will crank up the intensity of your workout. However, after a few minutes of performing burpees, you will quickly discover that your own bodyweight provides enough resistance for a true kick ass workout that will increase your stamina and fat loss at a much more rapid pace.

What is a Burpee?

Burpees work your entire body.  They help you increase your strength, give you tremendous power and anaerobic endurance. So with all these benefits, just how do you do it and what is a burpee?

To perform a burpee, begin in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you. Next, kick your feet back to a pushup position, and do a push up. Immediately return your feet to the squat position, and leap up as high as possible from the squat position, and repeat. You should be moving as fast as possible and maintain a quick pace for this exercise. Try to jump as high as you can with each set for maximum benefit. A lot of professional athletes average between 12 to 15 reps for 30 seconds. I would recommend doing 3 to 5 sets of burpees between 12-15 reps for a killer part of your workout.

After you have mastered the traditional burpee, its time up your game to Ultimate Burpees. If you want an extreme intense full body exercise, look no further. The ultimate burpee will have your body aching (in a good way) when you finish your sets.

To begin, stand up with your hands at your sides. Squat down and put your hands on the ground just outside of your feet. While keeping your hands on the ground, thrust your feet back and apart so that your butt is up in the air as if your about to do a dive bomber pushup. Then guess what? You’re going to do that dive-bomber pushup! Then thrust your feet forward so you are back in a squat position. While keeping your feet on the ground, thrust your body forward so you land in the up position of a standard pushup. Do one push up, and thrust your body back so you’re back once again in the squat position, then stand up. Congratulations, you have done one rep! Now repeat. By the time you finish doing 2 sets of the ultimate burpees your body is going to be feeling the intensity!