How many burpees needed for a burpee workout to be considered cardio?

You need to do them at least 20 to 30 minutes to get any benefit.

The same as with running.

thanks.

Guess I'll set my target to 150.

Easier thing to do would be 15 mins of 30s on 30s off

30s on - you do as many burpees as possible

30s off - you take this as rest or do some jumping jacks

Now you have a HIIT workout and get about 120 burpees in if you can do 8 every 30s. At least that's the bare minimum I've known for HIIT workouts, obviously you can extend it to the 20-30 mins as mentioned above.

At least 20 minutes wrote:

You need to do them at least 20 to 30 minutes to get any benefit.

The same as with running.

That's like saying you need to sprint (even on and off) for 20-30 minutes to get a benefit. Source?

How do we know they didn't just edit the video to replay parts of the clip while keeping the timer part static? Haha you can do anything with video editing. Loop him doing 10 or so, repeat...

Neta wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3iVEjmf1I4

markschultz25 wrote:

How do we know they didn't just edit the video to replay parts of the clip while keeping the timer part static? Haha you can do anything with video editing. Loop him doing 10 or so, repeat...

Neta wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3iVEjmf1I4

We don't know, but who cares...challenge yourself

Wouldbe cool if a video editing detective can tell if some of these feats are not just sets played in a loop.

At least 20 minutes wrote:

You need to do them at least 20 to 30 minutes to get any benefit.

The same as with running.

@at leat 20 minutes wrote:

That's like saying you need to sprint (even on and off) for 20-30 minutes to get a benefit. Source?

Sprinting is not cardio.

If you sprint the straights and jog the curves for 20 minutes, that's more of a cardio benefit.

Shade77 wrote:

Easier thing to do would be 15 mins of 30s on 30s off

30s on - you do as many burpees as possible

30s off - you take this as rest or do some jumping jacks

Now you have a HIIT workout and get about 120 burpees in if you can do 8 every 30s. At least that's the bare minimum I've known for HIIT workouts, obviously you can extend it to the 20-30 mins as mentioned above.

This is a guaranteed way to hear your rotator cuff or triceps. It sounds like you're trying to get in a hard functional fitness workout. Of you're simply used to running or basic bro lifting at a low heart rate, ANY form of non-running exercise at a high HR will destroy you within 5ish minutes. My max burpees in 5 minutes is 108, but I know a couple guys who hit 130. I'm used to doing burpees and my triceps and rotator cuffs were destroyed for a week after that. Focus on a variety of non-running exercises to get your HR high without destroying the same muscle group.

A lot of my workouts consist of running for 2-4 minutes, immediately doing 30-60s of some functional fitness set (lunges, pullups, burpees, squats, etc.), then going back into the run without rest. Repeat for 50-70 minutes without rest.

I'll share a good one that my coach (who has coached 15+ OCR athletes to a top-25 finish at either the Spartan Race World Championship or OCR World Championship, including myself):

Max distance run in 5 minutes (0%)

Rest 30s

Strength (see below)

Rest 30s

Max distance run in 5 minutes (0%)

Strength (above) is do as many reps in 5 minutes following this pattern:

6 burpees

3 pullups (dead hang, no kipping)

6 thrusters (60-lb bar, use lower weight if needed)

Every 0.01 miles and every 1 rep counts as 1 point. Add everything together and see how close you get to 300 pts. A few of us have broken 300, but trust me, your score will be humbling the first time.

Check out

if you want to step up your fitness and get a great functional workout while maintaining your running fitness. I'm currently running faster at 180 lbs than I did in college (low-16 5k at 160 lbs).

I like everything you offered, but have to disagree with your criticism of the workouts I did. I've done that for the past year pretty much, had no issues. I usually use it to replace a second 30 min run if I'm not feeling the best or if its a down week mileage-wise. I would also disagree that any form of non-running exercise with high HR would destroy you in 5 mins - I've done plenty of crossfit type of workouts, rowing workouts, circuit based gym or calisthenics workouts and had no issues dealing with bursts of higher HR. I mean these are sessions where we're going maybe 10 mins of high HR to 10 mins or medium (by no means low) HR. But of course, I've been running and doing calisthenics for a long time, so my body is more accustomed to the exertion necessary. And also, the guy was asking for a burpee based cardio workout, never mentioned anything about a functional or running-integrated workout.

I was under the impression that the OP just did his first workout ever involving burpees. Hence, why I suggested that he doesn't do 30 minutes of 30 on/30 off burpees right now.

Of course, if he has done several workouts like the one you've suggested, then I would have no issue with someone doing what you suggested ASAP. I'm just going off personal experience that my first few workouts involving burpees and similar bodyweight exercises. A few of my friends and I were in mid-16 shape and had been lifting 2-3x a week for a couple years. We got destroyed for the first 4-6 weeks before our bodies adjusted. Just my two cents. You might not have needed as much time to comfortably add HIIT to your workouts, but most people need a few weeks.

My point was that doing burpees alone isn't necessarily the best workout. My advice was more along the lines of mix running with several types of bodyweight exercises (not just one) in a roughly 3-5:1 ratio.

Anyone heard of circuit training?

Pick 6-10 different exercises, do 30sec work / 30 rest (or better, 40/20), rotate through them. 2-3 sets total with 5min between. Make one of them burpees, and one of them shuttle runs or med ball throws. You'll put your heart rate through the roof. Burpees were definitely one of the harder ingredients when we did this in college.

All burpees, and you might hurt wrists/shoulders/knees. No reason you couldn't get used to it but going straight into it sucks.

markschultz25 wrote:

How do we know they didn't just edit the video to replay parts of the clip while keeping the timer part static? Haha you can do anything with video editing. Loop him doing 10 or so, repeat...

He's slowly moving forward throughout the set. You can also watch the people in the back.

lulz...dude watch the video wrote:

markschultz25 wrote:

How do we know they didn't just edit the video to replay parts of the clip while keeping the timer part static? Haha you can do anything with video editing. Loop him doing 10 or so, repeat...

He's slowly moving forward throughout the set. You can also watch the people in the back.

He's cheating by not actually jumping in the slightest. True burpees involve jumping up to full extension. That guy is just hop squatting.

It's still impressive but doing them properly and halving the number would be more impressive.

Mike Boyle has a great article about burpees. His feeling is that it is used too much. It's great if you want to get tired and burn calories but too risky.

At least 20 minutes wrote:

At least 20 minutes wrote:

You need to do them at least 20 to 30 minutes to get any benefit.

The same as with running.

@at leat 20 minutes wrote:

That's like saying you need to sprint (even on and off) for 20-30 minutes to get a benefit. Source?

Sprinting is not cardio.

If you sprint the straights and jog the curves for 20 minutes, that's more of a cardio benefit.

The 1970s called. They want their definition back.