If Burpees Are Your Kryptonite, These Are the 3 Moves You Should Do Instead

Updated on 2/7/2019 at 3:27 PM

There are two types of people in this world: those who love burpees and those who despise them. One person who truly cannot stand burpees, and is probably the president of the anti-burpee club, is celebrity trainer Ben Bruno. He dislikes them so much, he dedicated an entire Instagram post to explaining why he isn't a fan.

If this were an assignment for class, we're sure he'd get an A+ on it. In his "why I don't like burpees" post, Ben made the following points:

They put "undue stress on the wrists, shoulders, knees, and lower back."
They're an "Advanced exercise masquerading as a beginner exercise. Most people lack the requisite strength and mobility to do them properly at all, let alone for high reps, which is how they're programmed since the goal is metabolic conditioning."
"High reps + poor form = Recipe for injury"
"They're often used in group settings and bootcamps, but most people suck at them, making it a bad choice."
"Strong athletes and advanced trainees with good mobility can probably get away with doing them, but have you ever seen a pro strength coach prescribe burpees? Me neither. Success leaves clues."

Instead of doing burpees, Ben recommends breaking the movement down "into its constituent parts." This means performing push-ups and squats (or squat jumps) separately in a circuit. He also recommends using any cardio machine such as the bike, SkiErg, elliptical, Versa Climber, rower, sleds, StairMaster, and doing sprints for metabolic conditioning work.

In conclusion, "literally anything else besides burpees." Check out how to do the alternatives ahead:

Squat Jump

Start in a squat with your arms by your sides.
Swing your arms to the ceiling, and jump.
Land quietly as you return to the squat position. This completes one rep.

Push-Up

Start in a plank position with your arms and legs straight, shoulders above your wrists.
Take a breath in, and as you exhale, bend your elbows out to the sides and lower your chest toward the ground. Stop as soon as your shoulders are in line with your elbows. Inhale to straighten the arms. This counts as one rep.
If this is too difficult, do this exercise with your knees on the floor.

Air Squat

Begin with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward.
Keeping your weight on your heels, sit back into your deep squat as you raise your arms overhead.
Return to standing while lowering your arms to your sides. This completes one rep.