Boost your cardio with burpees

To be fit it’s important to possess a degree of muscular strength as well as cardiovascular endurance. Today we share a series of two exercises that are part of our cardio burst series. That means they are exercises designed to get your heart racing. A good workout plan includes strength training with intermittent bursts of high intensity exercise.

Today, Tema introduces two burpee ‘cardio burst’ exercises that not only raise your heart rate but also engage a lot of muscle groups. Doing these will raise your temperature, your heart rate, and all the muscle groups used to stabilize and move you through the sequence.

Beginner’s burpee

1. Start by standing up with feet shoulder width apart.
2. Raise your arms up above your head.
3. Squat down, get that butt down and low.
4. Place your hands down in front for support as you step your legs back, one at a time.
5. You will end in the plank position; do not allow your butt to stick up in the air.
6. Now step your feet back up into the squat position, and
7. Stand straight up into the air while raising your arms ups.

Repeat 5 times.

Intermediate burpee

Now we’re going to add some explosive movement to the beginner’s burpee. Instead of just stepping up and down and just reaching for the sky, we will be jumping.

So instead of just raising your arms, your will jump up as you raise them. And instead of stepping back after the squat, you will jump back into the plank and then jump back up to the squat and then up again while raising your arms.

It’s basically three combined movements instead of six separate movements.

1. Jump up, arms reaching for the sky.
2. Land in the squat and jump back into the plank.
3. Jump back into the squat and right up into the air again, arms raised.

Follow along with Tema to do five.

Sets and reps

Burpees definitely get your body temperature up to improve blood flow. They raise your heart rate and improve cardio function. And, as you will discover, they work your arms, shoulders, legs, butt, and core!

Try three sets of five burpees, either beginner or intermediate, on their own as a workout, or if you are more fit you can place them between your strength training routine.  Have fun!