Weightless Workout

If you are looking for a good workout without weights or fitness equipment, this may be exactly what you need.

The Burpee!!

Start in a standing position with your arms stretched up overhead, palms of hands together.

Step 1: Drop down into a squat with hands flat on the floor in front of you.

Step 2: Kick your feet back and go down into a pushup.

Step 3: Come up from pushup and jump feet forward.

Step 4: Jump up high and straight, clapping hands above your head.

You will probably find that one burpee is pretty easy to do as long as you are in good health and have normal flexibility in the joints. If you don’t find it easy doing one burpee then you probably need some advice from a doctor on how to get fit.

If you need to make it a little easier, you can cut out the pushups (but do still jump feet back and forward), or in step 4 you can just stand up instead of jumping.

To turn these into a full workout without weights, you need to do them in descending sets. This is the secret of making the burpee into a workout that can get you as fit as somebody would want to be in prison or in the military.

Descending sets work like this:

Warm up with stretches, then do 5 burpees without stopping. Then take a half minute break.

Next do 4 burpees without stopping, then another half minute break. Then 3, break, 2, break, 1 and you are done.

If that is easy, then next time you can start with more – say 7 or 10. If you start with 10, you need to do 10 then break, 9, break, 8, break, etc.

This means that if you start with 10 you end up doing a total of 55 burpees. If you start with 5, your total is just 15. So although 10 does not sound like a lot more, it really is. Be aware of that and do not start too high.

Never sacrifice form. This means each burpee should be smooth and well balanced. If you are losing your balance you risk injury. Concentrate on doing them well before you think about doing more.

Start at a level that you are comfortable with and then add one more set every 1-2 weeks until you are up to around 20. That’s the minimum that guys in prison aim for in order to consider themselves strong. Some go for 25 sets … but that adds up to 325 burpees so that is a real serious workout without weights!