How Many Calories Do Burpees Burn? The Most Efficient Workout Move Explained

How many calories do burpees burn? Will they help you lose weight? Is it worth incorporating them into your workout routine? Are burpees as bad as people say they are?

If you know what burpees are or have heard about them, then you know that the majority of people in the fitness world have a lot of strong opinions about them. Most people would do anything to avoid them (and even look for options to replace them), while some, albeit a very small number, love them.

What Are Burpees?

A burpee is a calisthenic exercise that combines several simple movements, including a squat, push-up, and jump, and uses your body weight for resistance (9). To anyone who is unsure about what calisthenics are, they are low-resistance exercises that use your body weight rather than other equipment.

Typical examples of calisthenics include jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, planks, and lunges (3). Burpees can also be referred to as a compound exercise as they work out different groups of muscles at the same time.

What Are Some Benefits of Burpees?

They Are a Full-Body Workout

If you are in a time crunch and would love to work out both your upper and lower body, burpees are the way to go. When doing burpees, you can exercise the muscles in your legs, glutes, core, deltoids, arms, and more. After a quick dynamic warm-up, incorporating burpees into your workout will allow you to get a well-rounded full-body workout in a short amount of time.

Maximum Calorie Burning

As stated above, burpees are a full-body workout that targets several muscle groups throughout your body. Multi-joint exercises such as burpees are also known as compound exercises. The human body expends approximately five calories of energy to consume one liter of oxygen. As this kind of workout targets multiple muscles, it means that you’ll require more oxygen to perform it, which leads to more energy expenditure and calorie burning (1).

Improves Cardiovascular Fitness

Burpees are also a high-intensity plyometric workout that will get your heart pumping fast, providing an excellent cardiovascular workout. A healthy heart lowers your risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke.

A healthy heart also lowers blood pressure by improving and managing levels of cholesterol and other fats in the blood and improves your body’s ability to manage blood sugar and insulin levels. This lowers your risk for type 2 diabetes, helps you maintain a healthy weight, and reduces levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in your body, which may also lower your risk of heart disease (7).

Convenient and Versatile

While you can use weights when doing burpees, they are mostly done without them. As long as you have enough space around you, this workout can be done anywhere. If you need added weights to add intensity to the workout, light dumbbells and ankle weights at home should do the trick.

Improves Balance and Coordination

Moving from a push-up or plank position and then jumping can be quite challenging to your balance and coordination. Don’t be surprised if you stumble the first few times you attempt this exercise. However, with time and patience, your balance and coordination will significantly improve.

Improve Muscular Endurance

Burpees are a high-intensity exercise that requires nearly continuous muscle activity. This type of full-body strengthening plyometric activity is excellent for improving muscular endurance (4).

Weight Loss

As previously mentioned, you’ll burn a lot of calories while doing burpees due to the high metabolic demand they place on your body. High caloric expenditure paired with a balanced, calorie deficit diet will result in weight loss for those who wish to shed some weight.

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How Many Burpees Do I Need to Do to Burn 100 Calories?

How many calories do you burn doing burpees for 2 minutes? How many calories do 10 burpees burn? How many calories do 100 burpees burn? These are all questions that anyone who wants to lose weight or fat tends to ask themselves once they decide to incorporate burpees into their workout routines.

How Many Calories Do Burpees Burn?

According to Harvard medical research, doing moderate-intensity calisthenics can burn anywhere from 135 to 189 calories in 30 minutes for individuals who weigh between 125 and 185 lbs. Vigorous calisthenics for individuals of the same weight range can expect a caloric expenditure of 240 to 336 calories in the same amount of time. Typically, burpees are considered a vigorous calisthenic, which is associated with a higher range of caloric expenditure, but this will be determined by your pace and whether or not you are completing the full movement each repetition or a regressed variation of the movement. In addition, the number of calories burned during any activity is highly individual and is dependent on several factors such as age, gender, size, and genetic factors. Typically, the lighter you are, the fewer calories you’ll burn, compared to a heavier person doing the same type of workout (6).

While the exact number of calories burned per minute doing burpees (or any other activity) cannot be determined using an equation, most fitness trackers and smartwatches provide estimates that are fairly close, provided you have entered accurate biological information in the app.

On average, to burn the equivalent calories of a scoop of ice cream, you’ll need to do approximately 80 burpees, a slice of chocolate mud cake demands 493 burpees, and a 30g cookie requires 141 burpees(10).

Remember that the number of burpees done does not matter. What’s more important is the intensity with which you do them. We all work out at different speeds, so instead of aiming for a specific number, time yourself, and try to up the number of burpees you can do per minute while keeping proper form. Not only will this help with your endurance, it will also do wonders for the calories lost in a single session.

How to Do Burpees for Weight Loss

As we’ve already established, burpees are a great workout option for anyone who is working out to lose weight. Here’s how to do burpees safely:

• While standing up, start by reaching both hands in the air over your head, and then come down into a squatting position. Squat as low as you can.
• Reach your hands to the floor and kick your legs behind you, coming to the top of a push-up position. Your arms should be shoulder-width apart.
• Do a push-up while in this position.
• Jump your feet back to the squat position and push off your feet into an explosive leap with both hands directly above your head.

This is the most common variation of burpees and is known as a ‘push-up burpee’ (8). However, this can be quite difficult for someone who’s just getting into this workout. If you’re wondering how to do burpees for beginners, the process is the same. The only difference is that you’ll omit the push-up.

As you become stronger, you can incorporate the push-up. Other advanced burpee variations include:

The Burpee Pull-up

• While standing up, start by reaching both hands in the air over your head and then come down into a squatting position. Squat as low as you can.
• Reach your hands to the floor and kick your legs behind you, coming to the top of a push-up position. Your arms should be shoulder-width apart.
• Do a push-up while in this position.
• Jump your feet back to the squat position and push off your feet into an explosive leap with both hands directly above your head.
• Hold on to the pull-up bar above your head and pull yourself up. This is a great addition as it helps you build your upper-body muscles even more (2).

Read more: Burpees Benefits, Technique, and Everything Else You Need to Know

The Reverse Burpee

If you think that normal burpees are a walk in the park, try this variation instead:

• Start in an athletic position with your knees bent, chest up, and eyes looking forward.
• Lower your butt to the ground and allow yourself to fall backward on the ground/turf.
• Drive your knees toward your chest while driving the back of your shoulders into the ground.
• Rapidly shoot both knees forward, drive both feet into the ground, and stand up.
• As soon as you stand up, jump in the air, then land softly.
• Do this 10 times for three sets.

The Ball Slam Burpee

This is the perfect variation for anyone with pent-up aggression or who is just looking to improve the total body power needed for athletic performance.

• Stand tall holding a medicine ball with both hands.
• Rise on your toes and bring the ball overhead, then slam it into the ground as you drop into a burpee.
• As you pop back up, pick up the ball, lift it overhead, and repeat the movement.

You’ll probably be less angry once you’re done with this move, but it also puts your abs and front and lateral deltoids (the muscles at the front and sides of the shoulders) through a serious workout.

Pistol Burpees

• Start on one leg in an athletic position with your knees bent, chest up, and eyes looking forward.
• Lower your entire body to the ground and place both hands on the ground in front of you.
• Perform a push-up and rapidly bring the same leg that you have been standing on forward.
• Staying on the same leg, lower your butt to the ground and allow yourself to fall backward on the ground/turf.
• Drive your knee toward your chest while driving the back of your shoulders into the ground.
• Rapidly shoot that same leg into the ground while keeping your opposite leg straight (5).

Kettlebell Deadlift Burpee

• Stand between two kettlebells.
• As you drop down into a burpee, use the handles of the kettlebells almost as parallel bars, gripping them as you jump your feet back.
• Keep a tight grip on the kettlebells as you brace your core, and deadlift the kettlebells in front of your body.

Please note that the pistol and reverse variations are quite advanced. Work your way through the beginner, standard, ball slam, pull-up, and kettlebell deadlift versions before you attempt the two other types.

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FAQs

• How can I do burpees with proper form?

Proper form is essential in every workout. With the correct form, you can get maximum benefits from each workout, and you lower the risk of hurting yourself.

1. When you squat, ensure your hands are between your knees on the ground (approximately shoulder-width apart).
2. When you push back into a push-up position, your feet should be wide enough apart that you have a stable base of support.
3. Engage your core so you keep your body in a straight line during the high plank/pushup portion of the movement.
4. If you choose to do a push-up, touch your chest lightly to the floor while keeping your core engaged.
5. Once you leap back forward, your legs should be apart, keeping your hands in between your knees (5).

• Are burpees good for weight loss?

Yes, they are. This exercise is widely known for its ability to help burn fat in a short time. However, this is only possible if you eat healthy foods and are on a caloric deficit diet. If you’re working out while still overeating or excessively indulging in junk food, you will probably not see great results.

• How many burpees a day for weight loss?

This depends on how many you feel capable of doing without overworking yourself. Some people prefer to incorporate burpees into an everyday weight loss routine, while others may incorporate them into one or two workouts per week.

There’s no right or wrong as long as you also incorporate enough rest and recovery time to avoid burnout and overuse injury. In addition, although burpees work a ton of muscles, they shouldn’t be seen as the holy grail of exercise. Make sure you incorporate other exercises and other forms of exercise into your program for a more well-rounded routine. 

Don’t get too hung up on exactly how many calories you burn while doing burpees or any other type of exercise. As long as you stay consistent with your exercise, eat a balanced diet with the right number of calories based on your size and goals, and incorporate other positive lifestyle factors (adequate sleep, stress management, social relationships, etc), you’ll see some wonderful results. But remember, we’re not all built the same, and neither are our metabolisms and fitness levels. Always start small, mind your form, and manage your expectations.

The Bottom Line

Burpees burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. The plyometric, full-body nature of the movement means a variety of muscle groups throughout the body are working simultaneously at a high intensity. This places high metabolic demand on the body to burn calories quickly, while also improving endurance, strength, and coordination. The exact number of calories burpees can burn is highly dependent on the burpee variation you perform, in addition to your age, size, gender, and genetic factors. Generally, this type of workout is fantastic for both beginners and exercise veterans who wish to lose weight and fat quickly when paired with a balanced, calorie deficit diet and other positive lifestyle factors. 

Remember to pace yourself and not over-exercise when you’re attempting to lose weight or gain muscle. Before you attempt burpees, please consult your doctor to ensure your body can handle this and any other forms of exercise you may wish to attempt.