Q&A: Burpee

What is a Burpee?

A Burpee is a combination of push-ups with squat thrusts and jumps.  There are plenty of visual examples on You Tube, but here is a written description.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The burpee is a full body exercise used in strength training and as aerobic exercise. It is performed in four steps:

• Begin in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Kick your feet back, while simultaneously lowering yourself into a pushup
• Immediately return your feet to the squat position, while simultaneously pushing up with your arms.
• Leap up as high as possible from the squat position.

Variants

• Easier variants
  
  
  • No-pushup burpee: the athlete does not perform a pushup while kicking back their feet.
  • Non-jump burpee: the athlete does not jump in the air after step 3.
• More challenging variants
  
  
  • Long-jump burpee: the athlete jumps forward, not upward.
  • Jump-tack burpee: the athlete pulls his knees to his chest while jumping.
  • Jump-over burpee: the athlete jumps over an obstacle between burpees.
  • One-armed burpee: the athlete uses only one arm for the whole exercise including the pushup.
  • Dumbbell burpee: the athlete holds a pair of dumbbells while performing the exercise.
  • Parkour burpee: following one burpee on the ground, the athlete jumps upon a table and performs the second burpee on the table, then jumps back to the initial position
  • Hindu push up burpee: instead of a regular push up, do a hindu push up
  • Pull-up burpee: Combine a pull-up with the jump or do a pull-up instead of the jump.
  • Double burpee: Instead of one pushup do two in a row to cancel the drive from landing after the jump and to make the next jump harder. Each part of the burpee might be repeated to make it even harder.
• Other variants
  
  
  • Wall burpees / incline burpees / air burpees: the athlete kicks his feet up against a wall / up on a table / up in the air, instead of back. Usually, these variants are performed without a pushup.
• The 8 count body builder is another variant of the burpee. Counts 1-8 are as follows: (1) put your hands down, (2) push out your feet, (3) and (4) do a jumping jack on the ground, (5) and (6) perform a pushup, (7) bring your feet back forward, (8) jump in the air.

Origin

The exercise may have been originated by a man named Lieutenant Thomas Burpee (1757-1839). He was an officer in the New Hampshire Militia during theAmerican Revolutionary War and was described as “having the innate Burpee fondness for martial exercises” in A History of the Town of New London, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. Lt. Burpee may have used the combination of pushups and squat thrusts as a means of drilling, conditioning, and disciplining the troops under his command. In addition, the exercise may have also been used by the troops as a way to stay warm during the winters in wartime New England.