The awesomeness of burpees will condition you like no other exercise

(MensFitnessFocus.com) One of the best overall body conditioning drills – we won’t call it an “exercise” because they really are much more than that – are burpees and if you’ve never done them, you’ll understand what we mean after your first set.

They’ve been around for a while but have really been made popular by the Crossfit movement. Yet, as more guys learn about the butt-kicking awesomeness that are burpees, they become hooked for life.

First things first: learn to do them properly. Here’s a great video explaining how to properly execute the burpee movement without hurting yourself:

“A burpee is somewhat equal to a push up, good morning, air squat, and a vertical jump all in one,” says Reebok CrossFit Games athlete Annie Thorisdottir. If done correctly, the exercise will train the pushing muscles of the upper body, all the muscles of the lower body, and the core muscles. Like we said, awesome.

For beginners:

— 3 sets of 10 burpees x 3 days a week

After a few weeks consider ramping it up:

— 4-5 sets of 10 x 3 days a week.

Now, if you really want a to put your weight loss and cardio fitness on hyperdrive, check out this great regimen from Bodybuilding.com, where you combine 30 seconds’ worth of burpees with 30 seconds’ worth of shadow boxing/punching a heavy bag:

BEGINNER PROGRAM

• 4 x 2-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest between rounds

INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM(S)

• 6 x 2-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest between rounds
• 4 x 3-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest between rounds

ADVANCED PROGRAM

• 6 x 3-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest between rounds

MASTER’S PROGRAM

• 6 x 3-minute rounds with 30 seconds of rest between rounds

“You can wear a wristwatch to monitor time. You can also determine the number of Burpees that you can perform per 30 seconds. For example, if you perform 15 Burpees in 30 seconds and throw 100 punches in 30 seconds, you will not need to keep track of time. Counting repetitions may be helpful if you train alone,” says Bodybuilding.com.

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