Burpees
The simple bodyweight exercise that helped us win a World War can you help you, too
Good Morning!
Every now and then, I feel the need to really push myself physically—get my heart hammering, sweat a ton, and even suffer a bit.
Today was one of those days, so I tackled the one exercise I love to hate: the mighty burpee.
A staple for Navy SEALs instructors and masochistic high school football coaches everywhere, the burpee is proven to improve total body strength, stamina, and overall fitness while building mental toughness.
They are hard—that’s the point. And not many people like them, which is also the point.
Research tells us that doing things we don’t want to do and pushing outside of our comfort zone sharpen us mentally and physically.
Burpees—also known as up-downs—work because they simply and effectively target the entire body in a way that quickly (and painfully) overloads the cardiovascular systems of weekend warriors and elite athletes alike.
The burpee is simple, intense, and effective, and you don’t need a gym, weight equipment, or a partner.
The recipe for the exercise is simple: Squat, plank, pushup, repeat. That’s it.
And while you can slow down or modify almost every other form of exercise, there’s no avoiding the almost instantaneous “burpee burn.”
In my life, I’ve done more burpees than I can count, and each one has brought me closer to my goal of being fitter, stronger, more resilient, and mentally tougher.
But what motivated me to do them today was learning that this move has not only helped people like me get fitter but also helped us win World War II.
It turns out that the burpee was created (and named after) a man named Royal H. Burpee in the late 1930s. A physiologist, Burpee invented the move to address an epidemic that sounds awfully contemporary.
A report on military fitness at that time in Popular Science magazine stated:
“Today’s recruits are softies compared to their fathers of a generation ago. They look all right: they’re taller, heavier, better nourished, and freer from disease. But they haven’t exercised as much as their fathers used to, and they’re physical weaklings by present-day military standards.”
Sound familiar? Soon after, the Army adopted a 20-second burpee test for new recruits and made the exercise a cornerstone of its Daily Dozen conditioning program credited with getting our military in fighting shape to win the war.
So as you plan your fall workouts, don’t forget the formidable burpee, and check out this burpee-based training plan guaranteed to get you super fit in just 10 weeks.
The Best Thing Ever Said About: Burpees
“Those burpees were fun.” — No One, Ever.
Worth Reading
The Marine Special Operations Physical Fitness Training Guide, by The U.S. Marine Corps.
My deep dive into the burpee, led to the discovery of any of number of books on military physical training. What I like about them is that the programs use bodyweight exercises to get you functionally fit.
That means you can do them anywhere with less risk of injury, and you’ll get great results.
This book from the U.S. Marine Corps offers a 10-week program to get you in your version of fighting trim.
I also like the Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise Plans for Physical Fitness because it’s a program I followed when I was kid to get in shape for football. The book holds up, and I’m convinced it’s more effective than most conventional weight-training programs.
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