The Complete Guide to Navy Seal Burpees (Benefits, Proper Form and Muscles Worked)

Navy seal burpees are hybrid calisthenics exercises that train your cardio fitness, balance, and strength.

Essentially, the movement combines a standard burpee with a mountain climber step on each side. It adds intensity at the bottom of a push up and forces the person doing them to work several muscle groups at once out of a plank position—likely with a high heart rate, especially if you’re doing lots of repetitions.

In this guide, learn how to do Navy Seal Burpees, plus five killer body weight workouts you can add to your routine.

How to Do Navy Seal Burpees

Follow these steps to do navy seal burpees correctly:

1. In the starting position, stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2. Squat down and place your hands on the ground.
3. Jump legs backward into a push up position (or plank). Perform a push up.
4. At the top of your push up, bring your right knee out to touch your right elbow. Return to a plank.
5. Repeat the same thing on the left side—left knee to left elbow.
6. Jump back to a standing position.
7. Extend your hips to jump and clap your hands overhead.
8. That’s one rep. Now, repeat.

Navy Seal Burpee Challenge/Modifications

Navy seal burpees are a variation of the traditional burpee. But there are also ways you can extend or modify the full body exercise to make it easier or more difficult.

• Some athletes perform the push up on their knuckles. You need good wrist strength to do this variation of the resistance exercise, so proceed with caution.
• Do three push ups on each repetition; one where you’d normally do a push-up, then again in between each mountain climber.
• Wear a weighted vest when performing navy seal burpees.
• Jump higher to complete each repetition to work your cardiovascular system more.
• Mix navy seal burpees with other calisthenics exercises like squats, squat jumps, sit-ups, and more.
• Mix navy seal burpees with weight lifting exercises

Muscles Worked with Navy Seal Burpees

The muscles worked with this full body workout include:

• Pecs (navy seal burpees build pecs definition)
• Shoulders
• Abdominals/lower back
• Hips
• Legs

The exercise truly hits everything, and many other muscles, including the stabilizers in the lower legs, forearms, and smaller muscles in the arms like your triceps all get a killer workout. Whether you want to lose weight and shed belly fat or build muscle, navy seal burpees are a great addition to any workout routine.

Benefits of the Navy Seal Burpee

The Navy SEAL burpee can help you:

• Improve cardio fitness
• Build muscle mass, especially in your upper body (shoulders and chest) and core.
• Burn fat, whether as a fitness goal or to help achieve Navy SEALs standard goals.
• Improve other bodyweight exercises, like planks and push ups.
• Burn more calories than doing traditional burpees
• Get a killer workout with nothing more than a hard floor or mat.

5 Navy Seal Burpee Full Body Workouts

Burn fat, add physical strength, and build a killer physique in your shoulders, arms, and core with these 5 full body exercise workouts.

1. Time-Challenged Navy Seal Burpee Workout

For time, complete 100 Navy SEAL burpees.

If you’re going for extreme fitness gains, do the three push ups modification for each repetition. Aim to perform 100 Navy SEAl burpees in 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Full Body 15 Minute Workout

This five minute circuit training challenge will incorporate other movements and help you build muscle and burn fat.

3 rounds (50 seconds on, 10 seconds off, for maximum repetitions):

1. Navy Seal Burpees
2. 10lb Medicine Ball Slams
3. 75lb Barbell Thrusters
4. Back Extensions
5. Kettlebell swings (53lbs)

Your score is all the repetitions completed. Rest 1 minute in between rounds.

3. Body Weight Hell Workout (With Navy SEAL Burpees)

For a greater focus on bodyweight exercises, try this workout.

For time:

• 100 push ups
• 25 Navy SEAL burpees
• 100 sit-ups
• 25 Navy SEAL burpees
• 100 squats
• 25 Navy Seal Burpees

4. US Navy Training WOD

For those training for the military, here’s a Navy Seal Burpees WOD you can do to prepare for fitness tests:

Test:

• 1.5 mile run
• 2 min max sit ups
• Max set of pull-ups in 1 minute
• Max set of push-ups in 2 minutes

Rest 3 minutes, then do:

75 Navy Seal Burpees

Rest 3 minutes, then repeat the test exercises.

5. Navy Seal Burpee Strength Workout

For those trying to build muscle in the shoulders, legs, arms, and chest, try this barbell themed workout with Navy Seal Burpee supersets.

• Bench Press 10-10-10-10-10 (65% of 1RM)
• Perform 12 Navy Seal Burpees in between sets, then rest 2 minutes.

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• Back Squat 7-7-7-7-7 (70% of 1RM)
• Perform 15 Navy Seal Burpees in between sets, then rest 2 minutes.

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• Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (75% of 1RM)
• Perform 18 Navy Seal Burpees in between sets, then rest 2 minutes.