Burpees From Beginner to Pro (With the Progressions Nobody Shows You)

Burpees are hard for a specific reason: they combine a push-up, a plank, a squat, and a jump into one continuous movement. That's your chest, shoulders, triceps, core, quads, hamstrings, and cardiovascular system all firing simultaneously, with no break between transitions.

Most people learn burpees wrong, then hate them and stop. The progressions below fix that. Start where you actually are, build the pattern correctly, and burpees become something you're genuinely capable of — which is different from something you white-knuckle through.

The standard burpee, broken down

Stand with feet hip-width apart. Hinge at your hips, bend your knees, and place your hands on the ground directly below your shoulders. Jump your feet back into a plank — or step them back, one at a time. Perform one push-up, keeping your elbows at 45 degrees from your torso. Press up, jump your feet forward toward your hands (or step them forward), stand up, and jump with your arms overhead. That's one rep.

The most common form breakdown happens in the plank phase. People rush through the push-up with hips sagging or elbows flaring, which puts load on the shoulder joint and lower back rather than the muscles doing the work. If your push-up form collapses during a burpee, the push-up is the thing to train separately before progressing.

Beginner modifications

No modification makes a burpee easy. What modifications do is reduce the aerobic demand or load enough that you can maintain form while you build the pattern.

Step-back, step-forward burpee. Instead of jumping your feet back to plank and forward to squat, step one foot at a time. Right foot back, left foot back, push-up, right foot forward, left foot forward, stand. This cuts the explosive demand by roughly half and gives you more control over your plank position.

No push-up burpee. Complete the step-back, step-forward or jump pattern, but skip the push-up. Just hold the plank for a beat, then come forward and stand. This version is good for building the rhythm of the movement before adding the push-up load.

Elevated burpee. Place your hands on a sturdy bench or box instead of the floor. This reduces the range of motion and the upper body load, making both the plank descent and push-up more manageable for those who find floor push-ups difficult.

"The elevated variation is criminally underused," says certified personal trainer and strength coach Charlee Atkins. "It lets you practice the full movement pattern, including the push-up, without breaking down at the thorax and hips. That pattern retention is what gets you to the full version faster."

Do 4-6 reps at a time with full rest between sets when you're in this phase. Prioritize form over everything.

Intermediate version

The standard burpee with a jump at the top. Both feet jump back to plank simultaneously. One push-up. Both feet jump forward. Stand and jump, reaching overhead or clapping above your head.

At this level, aim for sets of 8-10 reps with 60-90 seconds of rest between. The goal is moving through the pattern smoothly and maintaining form on the push-up even as you fatigue. When you can do three sets of 10 without your push-up form collapsing, you're ready to progress.

Advanced variations

Full burpee with push-up and tuck jump. Perform the standard burpee, but at the top of the jump, drive your knees toward your chest before landing. This adds significant explosive demand and requires strong hip flexors and core. Land softly with bent knees.

Burpee broad jump. Instead of jumping up, jump forward at the top — covering as much horizontal distance as possible. Turn around and repeat. This variation works the posterior chain harder on the jump phase.

Burpee pull-up. Perform a burpee below a pull-up bar. At the top, jump to grab the bar and perform one pull-up before dropping to the ground for the next rep. This is a genuinely elite movement and requires solid pull-up strength before you attempt it.

How to program them

Burpees work in three formats:

As a finisher: 3-5 rounds of 10 reps at the end of a workout, when you're already fatigued and just need to push through something.

As a HIIT interval: 30-40 seconds of burpees, 20-30 seconds of rest, 6-10 rounds. This is the format that produces the most cardiovascular training effect in the shortest time.

As a standalone challenge: a set number of burpees completed for time, tracked over weeks to measure improvement.

For different fitness levels, use rep counts as a guide: beginners should work in sets of 5-8 using modified versions; intermediate athletes can work sets of 10-15 using the full burpee; advanced athletes can work sets of 20+ or use timed intervals of 30-40 seconds.

The 30-day burpee challenge

The concept is straightforward: start with a number you can complete with decent form on day one, increase by one rep per day, and see where you land on day 30. If you start with 5, you finish the month with 35. If you start with 10, you finish with 40.

The catch: daily burpees without rest days accumulate fatigue and increase overuse risk. The smarter approach is to use the daily challenge framework but take one rest day per week — completing that day's target across two sessions instead. The habit formation benefit of the 30-day structure is real; you don't have to tank your joints to get it.

Track your reps, your time, and most importantly your form. A sloppy burpee is a different exercise than a clean one. The whole point is building fitness, not just completing numbers.

Start modified. Progress when your form holds. The jump will come.