Burpee

Movement

From standing to the floor and back

A 2019 study of norms describes the burpee as starting with a squat thrust and finishing standing up⁸. A 2022 school study broke the traditional burpee into a squat, a plank, a push-up and a jump¹. In that study, the hands went down about shoulder-width apart and the feet jumped back to a push-up position¹. The chest and thighs touched the floor, then the body pushed up, the feet jumped in, and a jump finished with the arms overhead¹.

Versions without the push-up or the jump

In the 3-Minute Burpee Test, each cycle drops to a squat with the hands down and kicks back into a plank on straight arms⁸. It returns to the squat, and the person stands to clap overhead⁸. A 2023 study of this test in 127 young men left out the push-up and the jump². In pilot testing, push-up technique and count varied between people, and jump height varied widely².

Among 5,971 men and 3,862 women aged 18 to 25, men averaged about 57 cycles in 3 minutes, women about 49⁸.

What it loads

What has and has not been measured

Burpees are described as working the pectoralis major (chest), deltoids (shoulder caps), quadriceps, hamstrings and trunk muscles². That description cites earlier work, not muscle activity measured in the study². The authors of a 2022 study wrote that no experimental study had confirmed claims that the burpee taxes the whole muscular and cardiovascular systems⁴. The authors of a 2024 conference paper called the research on its biomechanics, the forces and movements in the body, limited⁹.

The authors of a 2022 study wrote that no experimental study had confirmed claims that the burpee taxes the whole muscular and cardiovascular systems.

That paper recorded the burpee push-up with motion capture⁹. It predicted the ground reaction forces, the push of the ground back up on the body, at the feet and hands⁹. The knees were the most loaded joints, reaching 3.5 times body weight in the landing⁹. The joint loads were worked out from predicted, not measured, forces at the feet and hands, in one analysis⁹.

What the separate phases show

These findings were measured in each movement on its own, not inside a burpee^10,11,12. The jump rows come from countermovement and squat jumps, some on a sledge machine, covered on the box jump page^12,13.

Phase	Who was studied	What was found
Plank	18 men and women aged 23 to 45	Face-down and side exercises on the toes drew roughly 25 to 185% more trunk, latissimus dorsi and rectus femoris activity than on the knees10
Push-up	A review of 30 articles	Triceps brachii and pectoralis major most active in the standard push-up11
Jump	10 healthy men	Vastus lateralis more active in the push-off than gastrocnemius or gluteus maximus12
Jump	4 volunteers with tendon sensors	Peak patellar tendon force above peak Achilles tendon force in every submaximal jump13

The jump study measured the vastus lateralis, the quadriceps muscle on the outer side of the thigh¹². The plank study measured the rectus femoris, the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh¹⁰. Latissimus dorsi is the broad muscle across the middle and lower back. Gastrocnemius is the large calf muscle nearest the skin, and gluteus maximus the large muscle of the buttock. A countermovement jump starts with a quick dip; a squat jump goes straight up from a held squat.

How hard the whole body works

One randomised crossover study, in which each person tried every option in turn, tested 10 healthy young adults⁵. Of seven bodyweight exercises, burpees ranked highest for effort, heart rate and metabolic load, and the plank lowest⁵.

In 10 resistance-trained men, three sets of 10 burpees averaged more oxygen than any free-weight lift tested¹⁴. The lifts used up to 10 repetitions at 75% of the one-repetition maximum, the heaviest load a person can lift once¹⁴:

Exercise	Average oxygen use (ml/kg/min)
Burpees	22.914
Squat, the highest free-weight lift	19.614
Plank	7.914

Interval studies measured oxygen use and blood lactate during burpees^15,16:

• In 11 moderately trained college-aged adults, all-out modified burpees reached about 78% of peak oxygen uptake, the highest rate measured in a test¹⁵. This did not differ significantly from sprint cycling¹⁵.
• In 20 men, a 20-minute session of burpees, squat jumps, jumping jacks and mountain climbers raised blood lactate from about 1 to 14 mmol/L¹⁶. Lactate is a substance the body makes at rest and during exercise.

In another study of 20 men, putting burpees and squat jumps first gave fewer total movements than starting with jumping jacks¹⁷. Heart rate and lactate did not differ between orders¹⁷. It was funded by Brazilian public grants whose funders had no role in it¹⁷. Two authors declared a conflict of interest from selling clinics and workshops on the topic¹⁷.

How the body adapts

Trials of burpee intervals

A 12-week randomised trial in 319 inactive young men compared four groups⁶. They did supervised burpee intervals, unsupervised ones in everyday settings, supervised sprint cycling with the same timing, or no exercise⁶. Each session was two 20-second all-out efforts, 3 to 5 times a week⁶. It was funded by the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, and the authors declared no conflict of interest⁶.

Supervised burpee intervals raised maximal oxygen uptake as much as sprint cycling, by about 5.0 ml/kg/min⁶. The unsupervised group gained less, about 3.0, but felt better about the exercise⁶. In the supervised group, 21 people reported upper-body and 36 thigh soreness, mostly in the first two weeks and all mild to moderate⁶.

Other burpee studies found mixed results^1,18,19:

• In 26 Army ROTC cadets, 4 weeks of all-out burpees did not change aerobic or anaerobic capacity or fitness test scores¹⁸. Nor did about 60 minutes of their usual training, and the groups did not differ¹⁸.
• In a 4-month school study of 52 adolescents, the group that added burpees improved its 2,000 m run by 8.6%¹. The control group’s 1.9% change was not significant¹. The authors noted training volume was probably not matched between groups¹.
• In a crossover study of 18 moderately active young adults, burpee intervals brought more enjoyment than continuous running, and more soreness 48 hours later¹⁹.

Circuits with burpees among other moves

In a study of 22 recreationally active women, 7 did 4 weeks of brief interval sessions, 4 a week²⁰. Their peak oxygen uptake rose by about 8%²⁰. Each session was eight 20-second bouts of one exercise: squat thrusts, mountain climbers, jumping jacks or burpees²⁰. Another 7 ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes and gained about 7%, and 8 did no training²⁰. Only the interval group improved muscular endurance²⁰.

A randomised trial took 28 adults who were less active than World Health Organization advice; 14 trained and 14 were controls²¹. Eight weeks of home video workouts raised peak oxygen uptake 5% and leg lean mass 3%²¹. Neither participants nor investigators were blinded, and a fitness company made the videos to the investigators’ design²¹. The Brussels Region funded the trial²¹.

What reviews of whole-body intervals found

A 2022 meta-analysis, a study that pools earlier studies, looked at randomised trials of interval training using body weight and whole-body moves²². Against no exercise, it improved cardiorespiratory fitness, fat-free mass, fat mass and musculoskeletal fitness²². Cardiorespiratory fitness is how well the heart and lungs supply the body with oxygen during exercise.

Against aerobic training, it had a smaller effect on that fitness and a larger effect on musculoskeletal fitness²². Its effect on fat and fat-free mass was similar²². All but one of its trials lacked blinding, and only two reported hiding group assignment²².

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand describes progressive overload as the need to raise the stimulus on the muscle throughout a programme²³. Studies with burpees raised the demand in different ways^1,3,21,24:

Who trained	How the programme was progressed
Adolescents, 4 months of school lessons	Bouts rose from 60 to 90 and then 120 seconds as rest was adjusted1
14 inactive adults with obesity, 6 weeks	Every 2 weeks, work rose and rest fell: 30 s on and 90 s off, then 40 and 80, then 60 and 603
Inactive adults, 8 weeks of home videos	In each 2-week block, a basic version in week one and a harder one in week two; 3 sets rose to 4 after week 221
Untrained female university students, 9 weeks	Three 3-week phases, from 70 to 80% of maximal heart rate to 80 to 90% and then above 90%24

In the home videos, the basic burpee was a low-impact version and the harder one lacked the jump²¹.

Progressive against constant intensity

The 9-week randomised trial used a circuit that included burpees without a push-up²⁴. One group rose through the three phases, and another stayed at 80 to 90% throughout²⁴.

In this exploratory trial, both circuit groups were linked to greater fitness gains than moderate continuous training²⁴. The progressive group also beat the constant group in sit-ups and the 800 m run²⁴. The authors note it also built up a higher internal training load²⁴. Participants were not blinded, but outcome assessors were, and the trial received no funding²⁴.

Injury reports

The figures here cover group classes and high-intensity functional training as a whole, not the burpee alone^7,25. In 100 adults in 6-week group strength-endurance classes, there were 9.0 injuries per 1,000 training hours⁷. Knees and back were injured most often, and burpees and squats were most often linked to injury⁷. A 2022 systematic review of high-intensity functional training estimated an overall injury prevalence, the share of people injured, of 36%²⁵.

Case reports of extreme sessions

A case report is a report on a single patient. Three such reports, one of them on two people, describe compartment syndrome or rhabdomyolysis after very long or hard sessions that included burpees^26,27,28,29. Compartment syndrome is a rise in pressure inside a closed space of muscle that limits blood flow. Rhabdomyolysis is a rapid breakdown of muscle tissue.

• A 33-year-old man did burpees for 18 hours after a 12-hour firefighting shift²⁶. Compartment syndrome followed in the trapezius, deltoid and supraspinatus on both sides²⁶.
• A 37-year-old man developed compartment syndrome in the outer lower leg after an interval session with 5 sets of 10 burpees²⁷. That space holds the fibularis, or peroneal, muscles^30,31.
• Two people had rhabdomyolysis in the infraspinatus after a challenge of up to 336 kettlebell swings and 336 burpees in 30 minutes^28,29.

Connections

The muscles and tendons it works

Authors describe the burpee as working the pectoralis major, deltoid, quadriceps, hamstrings and trunk muscles, citing earlier work². Measured on their own, the plank works the rectus abdominis and the push-up the triceps brachii^10,11. Jump studies measured the gluteus maximus and gastrocnemius¹². Jumps also load the patellar and Achilles tendons, and the knee carried the highest predicted burpee load^9,13.

Related exercise pages

The burpee’s phases are covered on the push-up, plank and box jump pages¹. The mountain climber was among the exercises in the trial in women²⁰. Raising the stimulus over time is covered under progressive overload²³.

Sources

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2. Yamashita Y (2023). The 3-Minute Burpee Test: A Minimalistic Alternative to the Conventional Estimated Oxygen Uptake Test.. Cureus. doi:10.7759/cureus.35841 PMID 37033564
3. Bellissimo GF, Bailly A, Bourbeau K, Mermier C, Campitelli A, Berkemeier Q, Specht J, Smith J, Ducharme J, Stork MJ, Little JP, Kravitz L, de Castro Magalhães F, Gibson A, Amorim F (2025). Impact of exercise video-guided bodyweight interval training on psychophysiological outcomes in inactive adults with obesity.. Frontiers in physiology. doi:10.3389/fphys.2025.1527171 PMID 40247925
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6. Hu M, Chen X, Nie J, Shi Q, Kong Z (2025). Real-world efficacy of equipment-free reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training in improving physical and mental health in inactive males: A randomized controlled trial.. Journal of exercise science and fitness. doi:10.1016/j.jesf.2025.06.006 PMID 40689309
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8. Podstawski R, Markowski P, Clark CCT, Choszcz D, Ihász F, Stojiljković S, Gronek P (2019). International Standards for the 3-Minute Burpee Test: High- Intensity Motor Performance.. Journal of human kinetics. doi:10.2478/hukin-2019-0021 PMID 31666896
9. Di Pietro A, Di Puccio F (2024). Biomechanical analysis of the burpee push-up using predicted ground reaction forces. ISBS Proceedings Archive, vol. 42, iss. 1, article 261 (42nd International Society of Biomechanics in Sports conference), p. 224. Link
10. Escamilla RF, Lewis C, Pecson A, Imamura R, Andrews JR (2016). Muscle Activation Among Supine, Prone, and Side Position Exercises With and Without a Swiss Ball.. Sports Health. doi:10.1177/1941738116653931 PMID 27302152
11. Kowalski KL, Connelly DM, Jakobi JM, Sadi J (2022). Shoulder electromyography activity during push-up variations: a scoping review.. Shoulder & elbow. doi:10.1177/17585732211019373 PMID 35599715
12. McHugh MP, Alexander Cohen J, Orishimo KF, Kremenic IJ (2024). Effect of Countermovement Depth on the Neuromechanics of a Vertical Jump.. Translational sports medicine. doi:10.1155/2024/7113900 PMID 38938526
13. Finni T, Komi PV, Lepola V (2000). In vivo human triceps surae and quadriceps femoris muscle function in a squat jump and counter movement jump.. European journal of applied physiology. doi:10.1007/s004210000289 PMID 11138584
14. Ratamess NA, Rosenberg JG, Klei S, Dougherty BM, Kang J, Smith CR, Ross RE, Faigenbaum AD (2015). Comparison of the acute metabolic responses to traditional resistance, body-weight, and battling rope exercises.. Journal of strength and conditioning research. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000000584 PMID 24942174
15. Gist NH, Freese EC, Cureton KJ (2014). Comparison of responses to two high-intensity intermittent exercise protocols.. Journal of strength and conditioning research. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000000522 PMID 24832968
16. Machado AF, Evangelista AL, Miranda JMQ, Teixeira CVS, Rica RL, Lopes CR, Figueira-Júnior A, Baker JS, Bocalini DS (2018). Description of training loads using whole-body exercise during high-intensity interval training.. Clinics (Sao Paulo). doi:10.6061/clinics/2018/e516 PMID 30379227
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19. Mayr Ojeda E, Castro FAS, Reich M, Astorino TA, Benítez-Flores S (2022). Burpee Interval Training Is Associated With a More Favorable Affective Valence and Psychological Response Than Traditional High Intensity Exercise.. Perceptual and motor skills. doi:10.1177/00315125221083180 PMID 35400227
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Every source the library cites

Changes

• October 22, 2026 First published.