When it comes to bodyweight exercises that you can do virtually anywhere, burpees are one of the most challenging and rewarding exercises that you can do. In fact, they are so hard, that a lot of people don’t want to do them. Pushups and squats work many of the same muscles, and have also been shown to provide great results. So, if you just do pushups and squats, do you really need to do burpees? Will your results be as good doing this as it would be if you did burpees? How does the combination of pushups and squats compare to doing burpees?
If you are seeking to muscle and get better conditioned, including the combination of squats and pushups will cover most of your bases. While you can still benefit from burpees, as they provide a cardiovascular workout, and are more difficult than either pushups or squats, they are not ultimately necessary if you perform some cardio, preferably a high intensity interval training like sprints or high-low intensity cycling. As long as you are training your heart and lungs with something that will get you breathing deep and hard, along with 50-100 (of both) pushups and squats, you will build your legs, arms, chest, and shoulders, and get leaner with a healthy balanced diet. If you prefer, you could get most of these results from burpees, but be prepared to spend a solid 15 mins per day performing them.
Sure, push-ups and squats will form a good foundation for a very basic resistance training or calisthenics workout plan, yet you can always benefit from burpees. But let’s dig a little deeper with the specifics.
Does a burpee include a pushup?
When burpees were first invented, they did not include a push-up. The person simply kept their arms extended during the portion of the exercise where the hands are touching the ground. The push-up was added later, and really ups the intensity by making it a more difficult exercise overall. Push-ups alone are fairly strenuous, so to add this on top of the squat thrust and jump really makes the burpee a killer exercise.
If you are unable to do burpees that include the push-up portion of the movement, keep doing the basic burpee. But if you want to reap all the benefits that burpees have to offer, you will need to put some extra work in on developing the ability to perform proper push-ups to develop the strength necessary for the full burpee.
Are burpees better than push ups?
Burpees are a better exercise than pushups in the sense that they burn more calories and work more muscles. However, just as the phrase pertains to workmanship “Jack of all trades, master of none”, the burpee will work a lot of different muscles, but it won’t drastically build your upper body muscle in the same way that push-ups can.
It must be said however, that if this is really the choice that you are giving yourself, you should choose burpees over push-ups. This is simply because push-ups are too narrowly focused on the “push” muscles of the body. Whereas burpees will build powerful legs and, to a lesser degree, chest, shoulders, and arms.
Are burpees better than squats?
In the same vein as the comparison of burpees and push-ups, body weight squats will really develop your legs but won’t do a whole lot for your upper body. Doing burpees will train your arms, chest, and even lower back, as well as producing explosive strength in your quads, hamstrings, and calves.
This is not to say that the burpee is necessarily better than the squat. The squat is basically the king of the lower body exercises, and when it comes to body weight only movements, there’s really no other exercise that can develop your legs to the same degree. But if you’re in the situation where you are short on time, or you hate exercising so much that you can only convince yourself to do one exercise, burpees would probably be a better use of your time.
Doing exercises like squats has been shown to increase testosterone and growth hormone, at least temporarily, due to the stimulation of the large muscles of the thighs and buttocks. Despite this, the effect of squats alone on the upper body (without additional training to actually stimulate those muscles directly) is negligible.
Burpees also stimulate the large muscle groups like the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, and the jumping motion requires an extraordinarily strong contraction. Because burpees start to stray into plyometric territory, they also help to develop other things like balance and coordination.
One important thing to consider for you as an individual is your body’s tolerance to impact. Burpees will involve some impact in the ankles, knees, and hips, and can also take a toll on your wrists. Attention to good form can help minimize the impact on the joints of your hands and arms, but if you are doing true burpees the impact to your lower body is just a part of the exercise you must accept.
If impact on your joints is a serious concern for you, you will probably be better off doing bodyweight squats rather than burpees.
If I do pushups and squats, do I still need to do burpees?
If you do both pushups and squats in sufficient numbers, you can see great results. The squats will develop your legs and improve your posture and balance, while the pushup will develop your upper body – arms, chest and shoulders, even your back will get stronger from these. However, you still stand to benefit from doing a few burpees too. The fact that virtually all your muscles are engaged, and the cardiovascular demand that burpees provide, means that there are plenty of good reasons to keep this powerful exercise in your workout routine.
If you do at least 50-100 pushups and 100-200 squats, try adding 30-50 burpees either before or after, or at another time of day if you want to do more. You’ll become stronger and have better endurance. Your cardiovascular output will improve, and you will probably get leaner.
How do burpees change your body?
Performing burpees will stimulate muscle groups throughout both your upper and lower body, they will also train the cardiovascular system. Burpees will burn more calories per minute than most other types of exercise, so they can really boost your metabolism and help you burn fat.
Regularly doing burpees will result in stronger, more muscular arms and legs and a flatter, tighter midsection. If a significant amount are performed, they can help you lose fat too, not only during your workout, but throughout the day via the afterburn effect. This is due to the process of EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). When a sufficiently strenuous and intense exercise is performed, like lifting weights, sprints, or burpees, your body will continue to burn calories at an increase rate for up to 24 hrs after the exercise. This is a fantastic benefit of burpees and can help explain the impressive effect that they can have on your body.
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Burpees: Will They Get You In Shape?
Burpees are a complete body workout, which means you are using your entire body to do it. Unlike running or jogging, for example, where most of the work is done by your legs, while your arms just hang and swing with your every stride doing very minimal work. Even with lifting weights, there are only a handful of exercises that work everything (think clean and press). Each body part will typically need to be targeted by different exercises. So while you are targeting one specific muscle at a time, the rest of the body is often doing very little. This can also get lengthy and complicated. We’re not saying that distance running and lifting weights will not get you in shape — they will. The difference is that with burpees the work is done by your entire body — it is a complete body workout. Every major muscle group is worked, your heart rate will definitely be elevated, and a significant amount of energy is expended. So, if you do a sufficient number of burpees, they will definitely get you in shape.
Can You Do Push-ups For Time?
When you perform an anaerobic exercise, like push-ups, over an extended period of time, for example 30 minutes, you won’t possibly be able to do it nonstop for the entire time. It’s just not humanly possible for a 99.99% of the population. Yet, you can still do push-ups for time by paying attention to the clock and spacing out small sets with minimal rest in between. The key is to stop way short of failure – I mean, you don’t even want to come close! For example, if you can do 40 push-ups on an all-out set, you should do sets of 10 or 15 push-ups, but with 20-45 seconds rest between sets.
