Buck Furpees

by Grace Lin

The infamous slogan that is plastered on fitness enthusiast apparel, Buck Furpees.  For some reason, burpees are the exercise everyone loves to hate.  Personally, I think burpees are under-valued and have been given an unjust reputation.  They are a simple, full body movement, which is what makes them so incredibly effective.  Fall down and get back up.  Of course there are some efficiency tips in there, but that’s the core of it.  Touch your chest on the ground and get back up.  If you are one of the burpee haters, here are some reasons to give it some love:

Simplicity.  I mentioned this before.  The burpee is simple.  You don’t need any equipment (unless you want a weight vest).  No bars, no kettlebells, no pull-up bar.  All you need is yourself.  And do you know what that means?!  You can take it ANYWHERE!  Yay!  Now there is absolutely no excuse not to get a workout in if you can’t make it to the gym. 

Functional.  The burpee is a total body movement.  Pretty much every major muscle group is used during this movement: arms, chest, quads, hamstrings, glutes, abs.  They can be programmed at high reps in a workout, which means high load because you are moving your bodyweight over a large amount of repetitions.  This results in increased muscle endurance.  It’s also good for life.  We all need to be able to get off the floor as long as we’re alive, and the second half of the burpee is just that.  Finally, it’s great for sports – for example, getting up quickly from paddling to standing position on a surfboard, or snapping back onto your feet after diving for a ball in any ball sport.

Weight loss.  As mentioned before, the burpee is a full body exercise.  It recruits all the big movers in your body, which elevates the heart rate.  Elevated heart rate results in calories burned.  And similar to most of the other exercises we do at CrossFit, you will continue to burn calories long after your burpee-filled workout is finished.

Versatility.  They can be added to pretty much any movement!  You know how we like to keep it constantly varied.  Well, adding a burpee can drastically change any exercise.  Just think of the difference between box jump overs and burpee box jump overs.  Game changer.  The same can be done to other exercises, like burpee pull ups, burpee muscles ups, burpees over the bar, and the list can go on.

Mental toughness.  This is my faaaavorite reason to love the burpee.  IT BUILDS MENTAL TOUGHNESS.  Why?  You have 2 options when doing burpees in a workout: Keep moving or stop moving.  And the only reason you stop is because you want to, not because you need to.  You will never fail a burpee.  You can always fall down and get back up.  You’re only stopping because it’s uncomfortable.  Well, pushing through that uncomfortableness is what builds mental toughness.  You can always, ALWAYS keep going.

People can hate on burpees all they want, but I enjoy them and I hope you will too.  They really are a great exercise, physically and mentally.  So the next time you see burpees on the board, think about these reasons why they deserve all the love and enjoy your time with them!