Are burpees bad for your wrists?

Wrist discomfort during burpees usually comes from landing with a bent wrist or placing the hands too far forward. Keeping the wrists stacked directly under the shoulders in the plank and distributing pressure evenly across the entire palm rather than just the heel of the hand reduces strain considerably. People with existing wrist issues sometimes use push-up handles or perform the step-out variation to limit impact on the joint.

How many burpees should I do to lose weight?

Burpees burn calories at a relatively high rate because of how much muscle mass they involve, but the number needed depends entirely on individual factors like bodyweight, fitness level, and overall diet. Rather than chasing a specific number, most people get more consistent results by fitting them into a broader program that includes strength work and paying attention to nutrition overall.

Why are burpees so hard?

The difficulty comes from the combination of demands happening at once. Your cardiovascular system has to supply oxygen to your upper body, lower body, and core simultaneously while your nervous system manages rapid position changes. Even well-trained people find burpees challenging because there is almost no way to rest a muscle group while the movement is happening, unlike most exercises where one muscle works while another recovers.

Can I do burpees every day?

Many trainees do include burpees in daily movement practice, particularly at low volumes, without issue. Recovery tolerance depends heavily on total training load, sleep, and how hard each session is pushed. High-volume, high-intensity burpee work done daily without adequate recovery tends to accumulate fatigue faster than most people expect, especially in the shoulders and wrists.

What muscles do burpees work?

Burpees function as a full-body movement that also serves as a cardiovascular drill. The push-up phase loads the chest, shoulders, and triceps. The plank position demands continuous core engagement. The squat and jump phases involve the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. The heart rate elevation classifies them as cardio regardless of the muscular demand, which is why they sit in both strength and conditioning contexts.

How to Do the Burpees

By Zachary, builder of Mariposas · Reviewed against published exercise-science sources (references) · Last updated June 2026

The burpee earns its place in training because it chains a squat, plank, push-up, and jump into one continuous movement, forcing your cardiovascular system and nearly every major muscle group to work simultaneously in a way that isolated exercises or even most compound lifts simply cannot replicate. That combination of strength demand and metabolic stress is what makes it a staple for conditioning blocks, circuit training, and anywhere you need maximum output with zero equipment. The movement trains the ability to accelerate and decelerate your own bodyweight repeatedly under fatigue, which carries over to sports, general athleticism, and functional fitness in ways that a treadmill jog never quite matches. You can track every burpee session, personal records, and workout totals for free in the Mariposas app.

Bodyweight Compound

How to do it

Stand with your feet roughly hip-width apart, arms at your sides, and your weight balanced evenly across both feet before initiating any movement.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to drop into a squat, then place both hands flat on the floor just inside your feet with fingers spread wide for a stable base.
Jump or step both feet back together in one controlled motion so your body forms a straight plank line from heels to shoulders, with your core braced and hips neither sagging nor piked.
Lower your chest all the way to the floor in a full push-up, keeping your elbows at roughly a 45-degree angle from your torso rather than flaring them wide.
Press forcefully through your palms to extend your arms back to the top of the push-up, then immediately jump or step your feet forward so they land just outside your hands.
Rise out of the squat by driving through your heels and straightening your hips and knees, bringing your torso upright before the jump phase.
Swing your arms overhead and jump vertically, leaving the ground completely and reaching full hip and knee extension at the peak of the jump.
Land softly by absorbing impact through the balls of your feet first, then bending the knees to cushion the load, and immediately transition into the next rep.

Form cues

Chest to the floor, not just close.
Hips flat in the plank, every single rep.
Jump your feet outside your hands, not between them.
Full hip extension before you leave the ground.
Soft landing, bend the knees on contact.

Common mistakes

Letting the hips sag in the plank position, which shifts load onto the lower back instead of the core and shoulders. Actively squeeze the glutes and brace the abs the moment your feet hit the floor behind you.
Skipping the full push-up and just dipping the chest toward the floor, which eliminates the pressing stimulus and trains the habit of cutting reps. If full push-ups are not yet available, drop to your knees for the push-up portion rather than faking the range.
Jumping the feet between the hands instead of outside them on the way back up, which crowds the hips and forces a rounded-back ascent. Aim to land the feet beside the hands so you can load the glutes properly.
Not reaching full extension before the jump, meaning the rep ends in a half-squat hop instead of a true vertical jump. The hip extension is where the power comes from, so shortchanging it also reduces the cardiovascular demand.
Speeding up so much that the push-up becomes a chest bounce off the floor. This is common when people race for time, but it removes the eccentric loading and increases elbow and shoulder strain. A slightly slower descent pays off in both safety and training effect.

Why do the Burpees?

Burpees produce a very high metabolic cost in a short time because they recruit large muscle groups in both the upper and lower body within a single rep, making them efficient for improving cardiovascular conditioning without any equipment.
The movement builds practical coordination between the upper and lower body under fatigue, a quality that transfers directly to field sports, martial arts, and any activity that demands repeated explosive efforts.
Performing burpees trains the body to manage rapid transitions between positions, which improves proprioception and body control in unstable or fast-changing situations.
Because no external load is needed, burpees can be performed anywhere, making them a reliable option for maintaining conditioning when gym access is unavailable or when travel disrupts a normal training schedule.
The push-up component adds meaningful pressing volume to conditioning circuits, so trainees accumulate upper body work alongside cardiovascular stimulus rather than separating the two.

Burpees variations

Step-Out Burpee: Stepping the feet back and forward instead of jumping reduces impact and heart rate spike, making it a practical option for beginners, those with wrist or knee sensitivity, or as a lower-intensity version in longer time caps.
Burpee Without Push-Up: Removing the push-up by just touching the chest to the floor and pressing up passively is useful early in the learning process when someone is building the coordination to string all components together.
Burpee Box Jump: Replacing the vertical jump with a two-foot jump onto a plyo box adds a power demand and increases the explosive requirement at the hip, making it a common choice in advanced conditioning circuits.
Burpee Pull-Up: Placing a pull-up bar overhead so the jump transitions directly into a pull-up pairs a pushing and pulling stimulus in one movement, a staple in high-intensity functional fitness programming.

How to program it

Burpees most commonly appear in metabolic conditioning circuits, finishers at the end of a strength session, or standalone AMRAP and EMOM formats. Rep counts vary widely depending on context, from sets of 5 to 10 in a strength-focused circuit to sets of 20 or more in endurance-oriented workouts. Because the movement taxes the cardiovascular system quickly, many coaches program them in timed intervals rather than strict rep schemes, such as 30 seconds on with rest periods between rounds. They typically show up later in a training session after heavier strength work, though some programs use them as a warm-up tool at lower intensities.

Log the Burpees free in Mariposas Track every set, watch your strength climb · collect a cute pet 🐾

FAQ

Are burpees bad for your wrists?: Wrist discomfort during burpees usually comes from landing with a bent wrist or placing the hands too far forward. Keeping the wrists stacked directly under the shoulders in the plank and distributing pressure evenly across the entire palm rather than just the heel of the hand reduces strain considerably. People with existing wrist issues sometimes use push-up handles or perform the step-out variation to limit impact on the joint.
How many burpees should I do to lose weight?: Burpees burn calories at a relatively high rate because of how much muscle mass they involve, but the number needed depends entirely on individual factors like bodyweight, fitness level, and overall diet. Rather than chasing a specific number, most people get more consistent results by fitting them into a broader program that includes strength work and paying attention to nutrition overall.
Why are burpees so hard?: The difficulty comes from the combination of demands happening at once. Your cardiovascular system has to supply oxygen to your upper body, lower body, and core simultaneously while your nervous system manages rapid position changes. Even well-trained people find burpees challenging because there is almost no way to rest a muscle group while the movement is happening, unlike most exercises where one muscle works while another recovers.
Can I do burpees every day?: Many trainees do include burpees in daily movement practice, particularly at low volumes, without issue. Recovery tolerance depends heavily on total training load, sleep, and how hard each session is pushed. High-volume, high-intensity burpee work done daily without adequate recovery tends to accumulate fatigue faster than most people expect, especially in the shoulders and wrists.
What muscles do burpees work?: Burpees function as a full-body movement that also serves as a cardiovascular drill. The push-up phase loads the chest, shoulders, and triceps. The plank position demands continuous core engagement. The squat and jump phases involve the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. The heart rate elevation classifies them as cardio regardless of the muscular demand, which is why they sit in both strength and conditioning contexts.