Burpees ONLY for body conditioning

[andy100]

Over the last 10 weeks I've been working on getting fit(ter) and using basic bodyweight exercises combined with a 3 mile walk (including up & down some pretty steep hills) 5 times a week. My routine has varied but is centred around push ups, sit ups (now stopped doing these), basic burpees & more recently pull & chin ups.

Already I've dropped a jeans size and my body is showing some muscular definition, plus I feel physically stronger and fitter. Currently I've reached doing 100 push ups & burpees in ladder sets and 30 chin ups in varied set lengths, 3 times a week.

However both for quickness and simplicity I've been wondering whether doing basic burpees only would be effective conditioning to maintain my current physique but maybe help to keep building up my core strength?

I really enjoy doing push ups (and the burpees mostly, believe it or not!) but have had problems finding somewhere to do pull ups properly - I've found a pretty good solution at home by sling a metal bar across to high parallel cupboards, but I'm not 100% happy with it. Plus I'm worried that if I continue doing push ups without pull ups I'll end up with muscle imbalances and all that it entails. However you read that burpees are an all over body workout (and of convicts using them only) so wondered whether they're my 'ultimate' solution?

Thanks for any advice!

[Lupin1]

Sorry to sound dumb here, but what are burpees?

[andy100]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_%28exercise%29

Though another basic version (that I use) is to start in a standing position, then squat, and after the kick back return to a standing position.

They're also known as squat thrusts...

[Lupin1]

Oh ok. I've always just heard them called squat thrusts.

[andy100]

Me too, until recently when I discovered they're the same thing in fact!

[mr_obvious]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

Good resource.

[Kuma]

Burpees are big in some prisons, since you don't have much room to work out. Doing a lot of them will give you a workout for sure.

http://norulestraining.com/the-dreaded-prison-burpee-ladder/

[andy100]

Burpees are big in some prisons, since you don't have much room to work out. Doing a lot of them will give you a workout for sure.

http://norulestraining.com/the-dreaded-prison-burpee-ladder/

I've read similar before. I can do 100 in ladders, but think doing descending sets of 20 - 1 would kill me!

[Jeffrey]

Chuck Lidel swears by these. Burpees are the king of workouts. I like to do them in sets one right after the other. Start by doing 1 then 2, then 3 till you can't move. So far I have never gotten past 15 before. It's the pushups that do me in every time.

[sperki]

andy100,

Anybody that tells you that ANY single workout / exercise is THE "ultimate" workout is lying to you, and potentially to themselves. There's a lot of great research out there addressing periodization (which essentially says doing the same workout over and over leads to either overtraining or plateauing) and specificity of training (make your training simulate your competitive event). I recently had some people try to convince me that the crossfit would be the greatest thing. Yea, I got a good workout in 30 minutes, but it's missing some components to fitness. What if I expect have to keep my heart rate up for 90 minutes? Or what if I think I'll be doing higher exertion, but for only 3 minutes? Then my 30 minutes of crossfit probably improved my overall fitness, without getting me much closer to my ultimate goal.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that burpees are great, but why are you doing them? If keep doing burpees and stop going for your three mile walk you'll probably find that next time you go for a hike it'll be harder than it needs to, because you haven't done much endurance training. Good fitness stems from cardiovascular fitness, muscular fitness, and eating appropriately. Without putting some effort into all three you'll never be the epitome of the human specimen