Burpee Challenge Day VII: Burpee Variations for Maximum Pain and Discomfort

I know what you’re thinking, “Burpees are my very most favorite exercise and I love them for their simple burpeeness.” Well I have to do 100 burpees a day for this challenge and I’m bored with them and I don’t think Lauren is going to call any time soon, so allow me a little Franken-burpee-steining.

Here’s a list of variations I either know of or came up with. Most of the variants arise from an insertion either at the push-up or the jump. A few require equipment like a barbell, dumbbell or box. And a few are just weird.

Variants at the push-up:
Mountain Climber Burpees - Push-up, then two mountain climbers
Handstand Burpees – Push-up, then kick into handstand, back down, then jump
Bear Crawl Burpees - Push-up, then 10 meters bear crawl
Sit-up Burpees – Push-up, jump feet forward, roll back, do 5 sit ups, roll forward onto feet, then jump

Variants at the jump:
Flying Burpees – Broad jump instead of vertical jump
Handstand Push-up Burpees – Jump, then kick up and do one handstand push-up
Pistol Burpees – After the jump do two pistols, one each leg
Jumping Jack Burpees – Jump, then do five jumping jacks
Sprint Burpees – Jump, then sprint 20 meters
Lunge Burpees – Replace jump with two lunge steps

Variants with equipment:
Wall Ball Burpees – After the push-up, grab a wall ball, throw at target as you stand up
Jump Rope Burpees - With a jump rope in your hand, perform burpee, then do 5 double-unders
Box Jump Burpees – Jump up onto a box
Deadlift Burpees – Deadlift (.75x bw) then push-up while holding bar
Dumbbell Burpees - Perform burpee holding two dumbbells, instead of jumping, finish with snatch, clean and/or press
Sumo-deadlift High-pull Burpees – As you stand, grab barbell and do sdhp
Muscle-up Burpees – Jump up, grab rings, do muscle-up
Jumping Pull-up Burpees – Jump up, grab bar, do pull-up

Yoga variants:
Crow Burpees – Squat down, do crow, then push-up
Down Dog Burpees – Squat down, kick back into down dog, then up dog, then do push-up
Plank Burpees - Push up, then hold in plank

Weird variants:
Inverted Burpees – Start on your back, either spring up onto your feet or forward roll onto feet, kick up into handstand and back down
Beer Burpees - Do a burpee, drink some beer
Double Burpees – Two push-ups, two squats
Dizzy Burpees - Do burpee, spin in a circle
Blind Burpees – With eyes closed
One Arm Burpees – Active arm performs one arm push-up and touches top of head at top of jump, passive arm braces against back of thigh during entire repetition
One Leg Burpees – Passive leg may not touch ground at any time
Grocery Store Burpees - Perform a burpee for each item you put in your cart, five for every non zone-friendly item
Juggling Burpees – After the jump, juggle balls, clubs, small children
Mixer Burpees – Perform all or any combination of the above in one workout

If you can think of any others, please leave a comment. I’ll compile them all, write a little intro and submit them to the CrossFit Journal (I’ll give you credit) and we’ll all be famous.

DAY VI: 8:14.8
DAY VII: 8:02.5