By Maya Reed, EditorReviewed & updated September 2026 · Researched, AI-assisted & human-reviewed
Educational information only — not medical advice. Learn more
Few exercises get groaned about as much as the burpee, and for good reason — it packs a squat, a plank, a push-up, and a jump into one movement that leaves almost no muscle group untouched. But because it's really four exercises stitched together, sloppy form in any one part quietly undoes the value of the rest.
This article is for general fitness education, not medical advice. If you have joint pain, a wrist injury, or a cardiovascular condition, check with a healthcare professional before adding burpees to your routine.
In this guideCurated by Maya · 7 min readWhat a burpee actually trains
A burpee is a full-body, no-equipment conditioning movement that combines a squat, a plank (often with a push-up), and an explosive jump into a single continuous rep. Because it moves your body through so many positions quickly, it trains cardiovascular conditioning, muscular endurance, and coordination all at once rather than isolating one muscle group. This is exactly why it shows up in HIIT circuits and bootcamp workouts — a handful of burpees raises your heart rate faster than most other bodyweight moves, without needing a single piece of equipment.
Setting up the burpee
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides, in an open patch of floor with room to jump.
- Warm up your wrists, shoulders, and hips first — burpees load all three joints under speed, and cold joints are where most early-session strain shows up.
- Decide up front whether you're doing the full version (with push-up and jump) or a modified version, rather than downgrading mid-set once you're already gassed — that decision is easier to make with a clear head.
- Pick a rep or time target before you start (for example, 10 reps or 30 seconds) so fatigue doesn't quietly shrink your range of motion rep by rep.
Step-by-step form
- Start standing, then bend your knees and push your hips back into a squat, placing both hands on the floor just outside your feet.
- Jump or step both feet back into a plank position, keeping your body in a straight line from shoulders to heels — this is the position most people let sag.
- Optional: lower into a push-up, keeping elbows close to your body rather than flared out wide.
- Jump or step your feet back up to your hands, landing just outside them in the same squat position you started from.
- Explosively stand and jump up with arms overhead, then land softly with slightly bent knees to absorb the impact before starting the next rep.
Common mistakes
- Sagging hips in the plank. The moment your hips drop toward the floor during the plank or push-up phase, load shifts onto your lower back instead of your core. Brace your abs like you're about to be tapped in the stomach.
- Flared elbows on the push-up. Elbows winging out to the sides puts unnecessary stress on the shoulders. Keep them tucked at roughly a 45-degree angle to your torso.
- Skipping the full hip extension on the jump. A half-hearted hop instead of a full jump cuts the conditioning benefit and often means fatigue is already changing your form — that's a signal to rest, not push through.
- Landing stiff-legged. Landing the jump with locked knees sends impact straight up into the joints. Land with soft, slightly bent knees every time.
- Letting form collapse for speed. Burpees are often done for time, which tempts people to rush the plank and push-up into a sloppy half-rep. A slower, complete rep is more valuable than a fast, broken one.
Making it easier or harder
- Easier: Step back into the plank one foot at a time instead of jumping, skip the push-up, and step up to standing instead of jumping. This "step-back burpee" trains the same pattern with far less joint impact.
- Harder: Add a tuck jump at the top, incorporate a push-up with a hand-release (lifting both hands off the floor at the bottom), or hold a light dumbbell for an added load challenge once form is solid.
- Low-impact option: Replace both jumps (the one back into plank and the one at the top) with controlled steps — you keep the full-body pattern with almost none of the impact, which is a reasonable long-term substitution, not just a beginner phase.
Who should be cautious
Anyone with wrist pain, knee issues, or a cardiovascular condition that limits high-intensity exercise should approach burpees carefully, since the movement combines joint-loading positions with a rapid heart-rate spike. If you feel sharp wrist or knee pain, or unusual shortness of breath beyond normal cardio exertion, stop and switch to the low-impact, step-back version described above.
How to program burpees into a workout
Burpees work well as a conditioning finisher, a HIIT interval movement, or a warm-up primer to raise heart rate before strength work. Three to four rounds of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off is a reasonable starting point for most people, while lower rep counts (5-10) work better mixed into a strength circuit as an accessory conditioning element. Because burpees are demanding on the whole body, avoid stacking a high-volume burpee session on the same day as heavy squats or deadlifts until your conditioning base is built up.
The takeaway
The burpee earns its reputation as a tough exercise honestly, but most of the difficulty people run into is fixable form, not the movement itself being inherently punishing. Keep your core braced through the plank, land soft on both the drop and the jump, and scale to the step-back version if the full jumping version outpaces your current conditioning — the modified version still delivers real full-body value.
Frequently asked questions
Are burpees bad for your knees?
Not inherently, but the repeated jumping and landing does load the knees, especially with poor landing mechanics. Landing with soft, bent knees and scaling to the step-back version when needed keeps the impact manageable.
How many burpees should a beginner do?
Starting with 5-8 burpees per set, focusing on complete form rather than speed, is a reasonable starting point. Volume can increase gradually as conditioning improves and full-rep form stays consistent under fatigue.
Do burpees build muscle or just cardio?
Mostly cardio and muscular endurance rather than significant muscle growth, since the load is bodyweight and the pace is fast. They're a useful conditioning tool alongside a strength program, not a replacement for one.
What's a good alternative if burpees hurt my joints?
The step-back burpee (stepping instead of jumping on both transitions) trains the same full-body pattern with far less impact, and is a legitimate long-term option rather than just a stepping stone back to jumping.
Read next
Further reading & trusted sources
The part that actually matters
Sagging hips during the plank phase is the failure most people can’t feel happening, since fatigue creeps in gradually across a set and the drop in hip height happens well before it feels like the core is struggling. The jump at the top matters less for conditioning than people assume — a full hip and ankle extension without leaving the ground trains nearly the same power output with far less joint impact, which is why the step-back version is a legitimate long-term choice, not just a beginner regression.
Maya’s editorial obsession is the gap between fitness hype and what the evidence actually shows — she’d rather hand you one boring habit that works than ten exciting ones that don’t. She builds FitNourish’s guides from mainstream, well-established sources (the CDC, the NHS, Mayo Clinic, and peer-reviewed research) and has a human review every one for accuracy before it publishes. She and the team are dedicated fitness enthusiasts and researchers, not doctors, so everything here is general information rather than medical advice. AI tools help with the research and drafting; the fact-checking and judgement are human.