Question

What muscles/joints are used in the five stages of a burpee?

Answer 1

Ans) Burpees is a high intensity full body strength training exercise with compound movements and involvement of various muscles and joints in different steps. It engages all major muscle groups like arms, chest, quads, hamstrings and abs and so it is a multi-joint , multi-muscle movement workout for full body strengthening.

First is the normal standing position with properly warmed up body muscles and joints, arms to side and place feet at normal couple of inches distance.

Second start with a squat position , with hands flat on ground and arms inside the knees, major muscle work here are to flex the spine with rectus abdominis and obliques, Gluteus maximus and hamstrings to flex the hip and hamstrings alone flexes the knee. biceps brachii for flexed arm.

Third is the thrust of feet to throw back with full extension of legs and knees off the floor and the weight is resting on hands and toes. This is a full plank position, where most muscles works. For extension of spine Erector spinae works, Iliopsoas, tensor fasciae latae and rectus femoris helps to extend the hips at hip joint, for knee extension at knee joint Quadriceps function and calf muscles ( gastrocnemius soleus) work for plantar flexion of ankle joint.

Again jump back to squat position with squat thrust , here the muscles working are Rectus abdominis and obliques to flex the spine, as similar as in step two of squatting position.

Finally back to standing position with arms by side. Here there is again extension of spine through erector spinae, extension of hip with gluteus maximus and hamstrings, knee extension by Quadriceps, The movement of shoulder and arm is controlled by Biceps brachii, deltoids and pectoralis major, elevation of scapula by Trapezius and levator scapulae muscles.

So various modifications are also there in burpees for more workout with involvement of different muscle groups, but basically all body muscle groups work even slightly in Burpees and hence it is considered a total body strengthening workout,