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Burpees are one of the best movements for all-around muscle development and the best thing is you don't need any weights. If you can perform a full burpee (fro

Burpees are one of the best movements for all-around muscle development and the best thing is you don't need any weights. If you can perform a full burpee (from standing to the floor) then the benefits are huge. You can also scale and go from standing to plank position or use a swimming pool (stand in the pool near the edge, jump onto the ledge and then back into the pool and go into squat position underwater).

danenania 7y ago
Apart from the cardio, is there added strength value to doing burpees specifically instead of squats and push ups separately?
- komali2 7y ago
  Your strength will never go up that much until you force more resistance into the picture, either via bands or weights. You will be getting a shitload of hypertrophy with all this bodyweight exercising though so you'll look shredded if your body fat is low.
  - tashoecraft 7y ago
    Not fully true, body weight can make you gain lots of muscle, but you do need to add resistance. However, resistance doesn’t need to be weight or bands, but do a more difficult version of the exercise. Push ups are easy for you? Do planche pushups or diamond pushups. Squats easy for you? Try pistol squats.
    - hombre_fatal 7y ago
      I drank a lot of the Reddit/HN koolaid that you can't get big/ripped on bodyweight fitness until I moved into a new place with an amazing back patio will full sunlight all day where I felt bad exercising anywhere else. Much less under the fluorescent lighting of my local gym. For a year I've been exercising in my backyard with a podcast in my ears, maybe during a group phonecall for work, while thinking between programming sessions, etc. Now I realize that 100% of these people are full of shit. I got jacked. Whenever I've mentioned this to someone, they'll say something like, yeah but you can't get as big as $bodyBuilder, like Ronnie Coleman. The truth is I think very few people have actually tried a serious daily bodyweight regimen. Most people don't have a reason to try, they just go to the gym if they want a daily workout. And then we, including myself, have the human tendency to regurgitate ideas we've heard from others rather than from personal experience.
      - komali2 7y ago
        Well, I'm curious to hear out your experience, do you think the amount of time you spent bodyweight training was equal to the amount of time someone would need to do resistance training for similar results? This is why I chose resistance training - the gym is on my way to work and I am willing to spare about an hour and a half daily to fitness. My research indicated I'll get better results with that time at the gym lifting weights than body weight training.
        danenania 7y ago
        In my experience, bodyweight training is actually quite efficient in terms of time spent because you do a lot of compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. You can definitely get a good full-body workout done in an hour and a half. It can also be less efficient though in the sense that it can sometimes require a pretty big jump in both strength and technique to go from one progression to the next, so you can get stuck for awhile. With weights you can of course just keep adding a little bit more. But the plus side of this for bodyweight training is that apart from just strength, you also get improvements in muscular coordination, balance, flexibility, and body awareness. You don't really have to choose though--you can do both! They complement each other quite well.
      - tashoecraft 7y ago
        What’s funny is I’ve drank the Reddit koolaid in favor of body weight fitness, as the routine I do is the r/bodyweightfitness routine, with bordering mixed in for fun
  - danenania 7y ago
    I understand the need to keep adding resistance, though as my sibling commenter says, I think you're understating the potential of pure bodyweight progressions to increase strength. Exercises like one arm push ups, one arm chin ups, hand stand push ups, planches, pistol squats, nordic curls, etc. can be equivalent to seriously heavy weights and there are plenty of options for gradually progressing toward them. Lots of muscle bound guys who can lift a lot of weight still aren't strong enough do any of these advanced bodyweight moves. But anyway, what does that have to do with comparing burpees to squats/push ups? :)
    - kragen 7y ago
      What's the progression for push-ups? I was doing 1½ sets of ten wide push-ups on Friday (to failure, thus the ½) and today thought maybe I'd try a one-arm set. Couldn't do a single one, even on knees. Then I tried a set of narrow push-ups with the hands moved a bit footward, and could manage, like, four. On my knees. Is there a good guide to push-up progressions and resistance ratios?
      - komali2 7y ago
        There's a good subreddit on it, a quick google should get you there
        abecedarius 7y ago
        I guess you mean bodyweightfitness.
        komali2 7y ago
        Yup, sorry, was on a train smashed between people.
        kragen 7y ago
        Sandwiches are always the best!
brodouevencode 7y ago
Outside of the pool burpees are terrible on your joints - mainly your shoulders (subscapularis specifically). Even more so if you're carrying around extra weight.

danenania 7y ago

Apart from the cardio, is there added strength value to doing burpees specifically instead of squats and push ups separately?

komali2 7y ago
Your strength will never go up that much until you force more resistance into the picture, either via bands or weights. You will be getting a shitload of hypertrophy with all this bodyweight exercising though so you'll look shredded if your body fat is low.
- tashoecraft 7y ago
  Not fully true, body weight can make you gain lots of muscle, but you do need to add resistance. However, resistance doesn’t need to be weight or bands, but do a more difficult version of the exercise. Push ups are easy for you? Do planche pushups or diamond pushups. Squats easy for you? Try pistol squats.
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    I drank a lot of the Reddit/HN koolaid that you can't get big/ripped on bodyweight fitness until I moved into a new place with an amazing back patio will full sunlight all day where I felt bad exercising anywhere else. Much less under the fluorescent lighting of my local gym. For a year I've been exercising in my backyard with a podcast in my ears, maybe during a group phonecall for work, while thinking between programming sessions, etc. Now I realize that 100% of these people are full of shit. I got jacked. Whenever I've mentioned this to someone, they'll say something like, yeah but you can't get as big as $bodyBuilder, like Ronnie Coleman. The truth is I think very few people have actually tried a serious daily bodyweight regimen. Most people don't have a reason to try, they just go to the gym if they want a daily workout. And then we, including myself, have the human tendency to regurgitate ideas we've heard from others rather than from personal experience.
    - komali2 7y ago
      Well, I'm curious to hear out your experience, do you think the amount of time you spent bodyweight training was equal to the amount of time someone would need to do resistance training for similar results? This is why I chose resistance training - the gym is on my way to work and I am willing to spare about an hour and a half daily to fitness. My research indicated I'll get better results with that time at the gym lifting weights than body weight training.
      - danenania 7y ago
        In my experience, bodyweight training is actually quite efficient in terms of time spent because you do a lot of compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. You can definitely get a good full-body workout done in an hour and a half. It can also be less efficient though in the sense that it can sometimes require a pretty big jump in both strength and technique to go from one progression to the next, so you can get stuck for awhile. With weights you can of course just keep adding a little bit more. But the plus side of this for bodyweight training is that apart from just strength, you also get improvements in muscular coordination, balance, flexibility, and body awareness. You don't really have to choose though--you can do both! They complement each other quite well.
    - tashoecraft 7y ago
      What’s funny is I’ve drank the Reddit koolaid in favor of body weight fitness, as the routine I do is the r/bodyweightfitness routine, with bordering mixed in for fun
- danenania 7y ago
  I understand the need to keep adding resistance, though as my sibling commenter says, I think you're understating the potential of pure bodyweight progressions to increase strength. Exercises like one arm push ups, one arm chin ups, hand stand push ups, planches, pistol squats, nordic curls, etc. can be equivalent to seriously heavy weights and there are plenty of options for gradually progressing toward them. Lots of muscle bound guys who can lift a lot of weight still aren't strong enough do any of these advanced bodyweight moves. But anyway, what does that have to do with comparing burpees to squats/push ups? :)
  - kragen 7y ago
    What's the progression for push-ups? I was doing 1½ sets of ten wide push-ups on Friday (to failure, thus the ½) and today thought maybe I'd try a one-arm set. Couldn't do a single one, even on knees. Then I tried a set of narrow push-ups with the hands moved a bit footward, and could manage, like, four. On my knees. Is there a good guide to push-up progressions and resistance ratios?
    - komali2 7y ago
      There's a good subreddit on it, a quick google should get you there
      - abecedarius 7y ago
        I guess you mean bodyweightfitness.
        komali2 7y ago
        Yup, sorry, was on a train smashed between people.
        kragen 7y ago
        Sandwiches are always the best!

brodouevencode 7y ago

Outside of the pool burpees are terrible on your joints - mainly your shoulders (subscapularis specifically). Even more so if you're carrying around extra weight.