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Exercise library · Full body

Half burpee

Explosive lift for the whole body with your bodyweight.

How to do it

1 of 4

Bend down, hands on the floor

  1. Starting position

    Stand with your feet hip-width apart, bend down and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet.

  2. The movement

    Jump back into a high plank, jump your feet toward your hands and stand without a push-up or upward jump.

Most common mistake

Don't let your hips sag in the plank, brace your core and land with your feet close to your hands.

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Muscle group
Full body
Equipment
Bodyweight
Where
Home or gym
Logged as
Reps

Muscles worked

The half burpee is the burpee without the push-up and the jump. Your legs and glutes work as you drop towards the floor and stand back up, and your hip flexors and abs pull your legs in as you jump your feet forwards. Your shoulders, chest and triceps hold you up briefly in the plank. Without the push-up and the jump there are fewer parts to hold together and less impact on your knees and feet, so your heart rate rises without the technique becoming as demanding. That makes it a good first step towards the full burpee.

Common mistakes

  • Shoulders behind your hands. Jump too far back and the plank gets long and harder on your trunk. Land with your shoulders directly over your hands.
  • Not standing all the way up. Rep by rep, the top position gets lower until you are standing half hunched. Extend your hips and stand fully tall before the next rep.
  • Weight in your wrists. Spread your fingers and press into the floor with your whole hand, so your wrists do not take it all.

Variations and alternatives

  • Burpees are the next step, with the push-up and the jump added back.
  • Mountain climbers keep you in the plank while you switch legs, when you want your trunk to work for longer.
  • Jumping jacks raise your heart rate standing up, with no need to get down on the floor.

Sets and reps

The half burpee fits well into interval sessions. Try 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for 6 to 10 rounds, or 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps. A couple of sets at an easy pace also work in your warm-up. For choosing between sets and intervals, see the guide to sets and reps.

If the jumps feel hard on your knees, step back and forward one leg at a time. Then improve by fitting more reps into the same time, and move on to the full burpee once you can manage a few minutes with steady form. That is how you apply progressive overload to a bodyweight move. If your knees, wrists or back hurt, stop the exercise and have it looked at by a doctor or physiotherapist.

Also called

  • squat thrust

Swap for

Taken, or missing the equipment? The same movement with something else.

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