Welcome to the pain cave. The burpee is the unwanted guest of the fitness world, hated, feared, misunderstood—and yet, it sticks around because it works. A lot like kale, but for people who bench press their self-doubt.

If you’re into flashy gym equipment, Instagrammable yoga poses, or fitness routines that don’t make you contemplate your life choices at rep 17, burpees might not be for you. But if you want raw, unfiltered, no-nonsense conditioning that will melt fat, build endurance, and forge an iron will? Pull up a mat and prepare to sweat.

What Is a Burpee, Anyway?

It’s basically a push-up that decided to become a jumping jack, then had an existential crisis and became a full-body punishment ritual. Here’s the standard version:

How to Do a Basic Burpee (Step-by-Step):

  1. Start Standing: Feet shoulder-width apart.
  2. Drop into Squat: Hinge at the hips, lower into a squat position with hands on the floor.
  3. Kick Back: Pop your feet back into a plank position. (Optional push-up here.)
  4. Jump Forward: Return your feet to the squat position.
  5. Explode Up: Jump straight into the air, arms overhead.

Repeat until your soul leaves your body.

burpee

Why Burpees Work: The Big Payoff

Burpees are like compound interest for your body. Here’s what you’re building:

  • Cardiovascular Endurance: Your heart will scream. In a good way.
  • Full-Body Strength: Legs, chest, core, back—it’s all in the mix.
  • Explosiveness: The jump trains your fast-twitch muscle fibers.
  • Coordination: It’s a dance move from hell.
  • Fat Loss: This is a furnace workout.
  • Mental Toughness: You vs. you, every single rep.

The Road to 100 Burpees (Unbroken)

Week 1-2: The Foundation

  • Start with 3 sets of 5 burpees.
  • Focus on form. No flopping.
  • Rest as needed. This is about quality.

Week 3-4: Volume and Consistency

  • 3 sets of 10 burpees.
  • Begin reducing rest between sets.
  • Mix in a day of EMOMs (Every Minute On the Minute: 5 burpees).

Week 5-6: Capacity Building

  • Aim for 50 burpees in under 10 minutes.
  • Alternate days with 30 burpees for time.

Week 7-8: Peak Week

  • Try 75 burpees unbroken. Then cry a little.
  • Recover, then go for the big one: 100 burpees, no rest.

Tip: Use a metronome pace. 1 burpee every 3-4 seconds is sustainable if you’re a beast.

Scaling Up: Hundreds a Day?

Yep. People do this. It’s not normal, but neither is greatness.

Here’s how to scale it:

  • Burpee Ladder: Start with 1, then 2, then 3… up to 10. Then back down.
  • EMOMs: 10 burpees every minute for 10-20 minutes.
  • Chunking: 5 sets of 20 with 30 seconds rest.
  • Grease the Groove: Sprinkle small sets throughout your day.

This isn’t just a workout. It’s a lifestyle. A sweaty, slightly masochistic lifestyle.

Variations to Keep It Spicy

  1. Burpee with Push-Up (Standard upgrade)
  2. Burpee to Pull-Up (Prison yard special)
  3. Burpee Broad Jump (Destroyer of quads)
  4. One-Leg Burpee (Test of balance and frustration)
  5. Burpee over Object (Add a hurdle, or your dog)
  6. 8-Count Bodybuilder (Military precision, military suffering)

Influencers of the Burpee Cult

Iron Wolf: A Marine Corps vet and the burpee dark wizard. He casually drops 300+ reps in a single session. Follow him on YouTube if you need motivation and a firm kick in the psyche.

The Burpee King (Brandon Richey): Makes you question whether gravity affects him differently. King of pacing and mental grit.

Honorable Mentions:

  • David Goggins: Not a burpee specialist, but 100% shares the same DNA as a burpee.
  • Funk Roberts: Incorporates high-rep burpees into savage conditioning circuits.

Burpees in Books

  • “You Can’t Hurt Me“ by David Goggins: Not burpee-specific, but mental toughness gold.
  • “Built to the Hilt“ by Josh Bryant: Includes bodyweight conditioning as a crucial tool.

So What Kind of Training Is This?

Burpees are the Swiss Army knife of suffering:

  • Cardio: High-rep burpees will torch your lungs.
  • Strength-Endurance: Especially legs, core, and upper body.
  • Anaerobic Threshold: You’ll ride the edge of oxygen debt.
  • Mental Conditioning: Few things test your quit-meter like minute 8 of burpees.

Mental Grit: The Real Benefit

Here’s the truth: Burpees are mostly a mental game. Sure, they’re physical, but after rep 30, it’s your brain that wants out.

The beauty is, if you stay in it, if you grind through the burn and silence the voice that says “stop,” you start to unlock something rare. Mental resilience. The kind you can take into job interviews, creative blocks, bad breakups, and long nights with no end in sight.

Burpees don’t lie. They expose weakness and force adaptation.

Final Word: Burpee or Bust

You don’t need a gym, a trainer, or an app. You just need the floor, a little space, and the will to move.

Start with one. End with a hundred. Then keep going.

No one said it would be fun. But it might just change your life.

#StaySavage