Exercise of the Week: Burpees

Hello Everyone! I am going to be posting an exercise each week that either I suggest often or that you may have never tried before. I will also suggest a difficulty level. I will grade it on a 1-5 scale (1=easy, 2-3=challenging, 4=advanced, and 5=athlete level).  Add them to your workouts and see if you feel that muscle you haven't felt before!

Burpees

Difficulty Level: 4

Major Muscles Worked: All of them!

Burpees

Purpose:

_ Functionally train multiple muscle groups at one time as well as a cardiovascular endurance

_ Train multiple movements at one time

Procedure: (see picture below)

_ Start in a standing position.

_ Perform a low squat and place hands on floor.

_ With hands on floor, jump legs straight back and land into a pushup position.

_ Perform a pushup.

_ With hands still on floor, jump legs back into the low squat position.

_ From the low squat, jump straight up.

Common errors:

_ Bending at the waist instead of performing a proper squat form (refer to last week’s blog).

_ Allowing low back to sag while in the pushup position. Back should be kept in a neutral position and core held tight.

ARTICLE IN fitness training: The functional reach

What you should feel:

_ Tired. No joke. This is a high intensity exercise. Your heart rate should be up and your muscles should begin to feel fatigue. This is as much of (if not more of) a cardiovascular exercise as it is a strength training exercise.