Burpee Workout: How to Do Burpees and 6 Workouts to Try
Updated November 7, 2026 ยท 6 minute read
Few exercises are as loved and hated as the burpee. It needs no equipment and no space beyond your own body length, it works almost every muscle you have, and it gets your heart rate up faster than nearly anything else. Here is how to do one properly, how to make it easier or harder, and six workouts from 4 to 20 minutes.
What is a burpee?
A burpee takes you from standing to the floor and back up again, finishing with a jump. It is named after Royal H. Burpee, an American physiologist who created it in the 1930s as a quick fitness test. His version was simpler: squat, kick the feet back, bring them in, stand up. The push-up and the jump came later.
| Muscles | Legs, glutes, chest, shoulders, arms and core, plus your heart and lungs |
|---|---|
| Equipment | None |
| Space | About your own body length |
| Good for | Conditioning, short workouts, and training anywhere |
How to do a burpee
- Stand with your feet about hip width apart.
- Squat down and put your hands on the floor, just outside your feet.
- Jump your feet back into a plank, body straight from head to heels.
- Do a push-up, or lower your chest all the way to the floor.
- Jump your feet back in, landing flat footed just behind your hands.
- Jump up and clap your hands overhead. That is one rep.
Land softly, with your knees bent. Keep your hips in line with your body in the plank, not sagging. Most burpees go wrong when people get tired and the plank turns into a belly flop: when that happens, slow down.
Make it easier or harder
Easier
- Step instead of jump. Step your feet back and in one at a time. It takes the impact out of the move, and it is easier on the wrists and lower back.
- Skip the push-up. Go straight from the plank back to standing.
- Skip the jump. Just stand up at the end, onto your toes.
- Hands on a bench. Raising the hands cuts the distance to the floor and the load on your arms.
Harder
- Chest to floor. Lower your whole body to the floor every rep, then push back up.
- Tuck jump. Bring your knees toward your chest at the top.
- Burpee broad jump. Jump forward instead of up, then turn and come back.
- Burpee pull-up. Jump to a bar and do a pull-up at the top of every rep.
Burpee workouts
Tabata burpees, 4 minutes
20 seconds of burpees, 10 seconds of rest, 8 rounds. Count your reps in each round and use your lowest round as your score. Beat it next time. More in the Tabata guide.
Burpee EMOM, 10 minutes
Every minute: 6 to 10 burpees, then rest for the rest of the minute. Pick a number you can still finish in 30 seconds in minute 10. See the EMOM guide.
Burpee ladder
1 burpee, rest 10 seconds, 2 burpees, rest 10 seconds, all the way up to 10. That is 55 burpees, and the short sets early on let you settle into a rhythm.
30 on, 30 off, 10 rounds
30 seconds of steady burpees, 30 seconds of rest, ten times. Easier to pace than Tabata and a great 10 minute session. Other ratios are in the HIIT guide.
Burpees and squats, 12 minute AMRAP
5 burpees, then 15 squats, as many rounds as you can in 12 minutes. The squats give your arms a break while your legs keep working. More on scoring in the AMRAP guide.
100 burpees for time
The big one. Do 100 burpees as fast as you can, resting whenever you need to. Break it into sets of 10 from the start rather than going until you stop. Under 10 minutes is a strong time.
How to pace burpees
- Find a rhythm you can hold. A steady burpee every 4 to 5 seconds beats a fast start and a long rest.
- Breathe at the top. Take one full breath while standing, every rep.
- Count in small sets. 100 burpees is scary. Ten sets of 10 is not.
- Save the jump. When you tire, a small hop with a clap is enough. Keep the plank straight instead.
How often to do burpees
Two or three burpee sessions a week is plenty, with easier days between them. Popular 30 day challenges add a few burpees every day, which works as long as the daily number stays small enough that your form holds. If your wrists, knees or back ache, switch to the step back version for a week.
How to do a burpee workout with RankTime
Burpees are one of the nine exercises RankTime counts with the camera straight away, from the front, the side or behind. Each one goes to your burpee history and its own rank.
- Pick your workout. TABATA and EMOM are ready in TIME mode. For the AMRAP, swipe sideways to AMRAP mode. Or set your own work, rest and rounds with the circles along the bottom.
- Pick BURPEES. Tap the exercises circle, tick BURPEES and untick the rest. For the AMRAP above, tick squats as the second exercise.
- Prop the phone up about 2 meters (6 feet) away, with your whole body in the frame, standing and lying down.
- Press play. Lime means work, grey means rest, with sound and vibration cues, so you never need to look up from the floor.
For 100 burpees, switch to REPS mode and set 10 sets of 10: the camera counts each set and the rest starts on its own as soon as you finish one.
Do your burpees with RankTime
Burpees counted by the camera, Tabata, EMOM and AMRAP built in, heart rate, and a military rank that grows with every rep.
More guides
