Burpees are considered by many a Functional Exercise, but are Burpees a good or bad exercise?


Well it is certainly tough, metabolic, and one that people love to hate, but I would not recommend it for most people. There are plenty of other exercises that you can do that have as much or more benefit with much less risk.


Why do I think this popular exercise is bad?

It does three motions poorly .

*squat - to do a burpee you must go into a deep squat which is too low for most people’s knee and forced extension from knee locked position can stress the cartilage of the knee

* push ups - push ups are great, but falling and then jamming into a push up while doing a burpee puts the wrist into forced extension with too much pressure. This may injure this small joint while also putting a lot of stress on the anterior compartment of the shoulder at the same time, which is where the shoulder is weakest.

*plank - a push up positioned plank is a fairly good core exercise, but going into a plank in a forceful nature from a flexed spine position is a recipe for damage (when the spine is flexed your discs are more vulnerable). This repeated flexion to extension can make the disc in the spine more flexible and thus vulnerable to future injury. Remember the spine needs to be stable not that flexible.


Add to this most people do them for many repetitions makes burpees a prime exercise for overuse injury.


Burpees was known back in the eighties as

the squat thrust. It was a contraindicated exercise in the nineties. It was banned by the military because of injuries.

Lets keep it that way. There are alternatives.


If you must do a burpee try it with a Bosu Disc (see exercise). or try burpees off a bench or step.