The Dreaded Burpee!

The Burpee is an exercise designed all the way back to 1940 from the man himself, Royal Burpee. He was an exercise pioneer at the time from Columbia University and an executive director at a New York, YMCA. Meant for a fast physical fitness test, later used by the United States Army during the World War II era, the burpee has made a huge resurgence over the past couple decades. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it performed correctly? Is it bad for my back? These are questions I get all the time about the dreaded burpee. Let us break the exercise down from the basic structure and the purpose it was designed for and then move through the evolution of the most non-popular, popular exercise to date.

In the beginning, the original burpee had 5 positions.

1. Start in a standing position.

2. While keeping hands on the ground, go into a squat position(neutral torso).

3. Kick feet back into a hand plank position(neutral torso).

4. Return feet into a squat position.

5. Return to standing position.

Royal designed the exercise to create a quick and simple way to assess fitness level. The original measurement was to increase and measure heart rate and record the amount of time four cycles took to complete. It was a true cardiovascular test, that also indirectly, measured coordination, agility, and core strength.

Since Royal Burpee, the exercise has amazingly made the most popularly hated comeback of all time! Now the burpee is modified most commonly to include a push up and a jump squat. Some exercisers even go to further extremes adding boxes for height, dumbbells, pull-ups, underwater basket weaving techniques, the list is unlimited. When performing a burpee, like any exercise, someone must know the purpose and ultimate goal of why they are doing the exercise in the first place. If you are performing a burpee in your crossfit or bootcamp class it is probably to have a metabolic effect on your workout not to increase performance of your push up, deadlift, plank, or squat. Lack of form during any of these movements can lead to injury, especially with a modification. Many people are not capable of performing a proper push up from the hand plank position, descending properly to their chest and then returning to a hand plank without hyperextension of the spine. When out of breath during a bootcamp or circuit training session, most people cannot perform a proper squat, let alone perform a jump squat. Too many burpee goers don't have the proper training or endurance to perform a succession of squat jumps or push ups in proper form. A proper squat movement must come from the hips with an engaged core, not the waist. A proper push up must be done with a neutral and engaged core. If form is broken it is an open invitation for injury.

I am not hating on the exercise. It makes sense as a total body movement, however, unless someone has mastered the squat, kickout and plank it can be dangerous. In addition, adding modifications to the original movement such as a jump squat and a push-ups adds another level of difficulty. If you cannot perform these movements properly by themselves and while you are not wheezing for your next breath find a modification! I beg you! Tell your trainer that you need more squat work or you need a modification for the plank because you feel out of control during the movement. Trust me, all trainers who know what they are talking about would be thrilled to have a client ask them to modify an exercise in order to still get the designed outcome while being safe and effective. We live for that s***!

Remember when performing the burpee next time ask yourself 3 questions:

1. Am I in proper form throughout each phase of the exercise during each and every repetition?

2. Are all the movements serving my ultimate purpose or are they just there b/c Mean Mike the Trainer said to "just do it"?

3. Am I ready to add a level of difficulty to the before mentioned simple and original design of the burpee?

REFERENCES:

Royal Burpee. "Seven Quickly Administered Test of Physical Capability"

Teachers College, Columbia University. Secondary source Wikipedia; retrieved 2019.

Sheryl Dluginski (January 4, 2013). "The Real Story Behind the Exercise You Love to Hate: the Burpee". DNA Info.