The 21 Best Burpee Workouts

Burpees…a word that strikes fear in the hearts of athletes everywhere.

Interestingly enough, when I was coming up, we did these all the time at football practice, but we called them “grass drills”. So “burpee” didn’t seem quite so scary to me.

…but we all know the truth. Whether you use the “proper” name for this exercise or come up with your own “(un)safe word” for them, if they make their way into your metcon, you’re probably in for some suffering.

With that being said, if you just gotta suffer through one, you may as well suffer through one of the best ones. So without further ado, let’s take a look at…

The 21 Best Burpee Workouts

One of the best things about burpee workouts is that they’re well represented in all types of WOD classifications. CrossFit Open workouts, Hero WODs, “The Girls”…you name it.

Some of these are more “burpee-focused” than others, but rest assured…no matter which one you choose, you’re definitely going to get your burpee fix…

2012 CrossFit Open WOD

If you were around in 2012, you just knew that we had to kick things off with this…”classic”. Ironically, this was my first ever CrossFit Open workout…you’re probably just as surprised as I am that I’m still here and doing CrossFit after that introduction!

As grueling and taxing, both mentally and physically, as this one is, it serves as a very good barometer of raw, base-level fitness as well as a no-nonsense “gut-check” kind of workout…if you’re into those kinds of things…

GI Jane

While 12.1 was my first ever Open workout, GI Jane was actually my second ever CrossFit workout.

(and no…I didn’t finish: somewhere around rep 70, I got the first of many CrossFit-related blisters and called it a day).

Equal parts fitness and upper-body pulling strength are required here, however, if you have a decent level of upper-body pushing strength, stepping back and more slowly lowering yourself into each rep will keep your heart rate way down…with the trade-off being that you also end up doing 100 1/2 push-ups (worth it!)

Hotel Hangover

One of my most proud creations has made a number of appearances on this site and is still one of the best “post-long night of debauchery” workouts in existence.

You gotta push the pace on the row and you really gotta push it on the burpees to go Rx, but in just 20 minutes (technically just 19!) you will have secreted roughly 70 percent of the previous night’s toxins from your body (closer to 90 percent if “Pukie” makes an appearance!)

2025 CrossFit Open WOD 1

Our most recent addition to the list, 25.1 decided to run with the whole “burpee over dumbbell” thing introduced in 24.1 and even added unweighted lunges to the mix.

Depending on your personal strengths and weaknesses, the burpees may actually be the “easy” part here, especially since that dumbbell only seems to get heavier as the rounds go by, but just about everybody was ecstatic every time the lunges rolled by.

Bert

• Clicked on this article because you wanted some good burpee workouts
• Got a workout with 1.5 miles of running, 300 meters of lunging, and a bunch of push-ups and squats

The Seven

The Seven is not only a classic Hero workout…it’s also one of those metcons where the burpee sets are arguably (depending on how you feel about pull-ups and knee-to-elbows) the easy parts.

Yeesh.

If you want a workout where ~50 burpees feel really easy in relation to most of the other movements you gotta make it through, this is the one you’ve been looking for!

2014 CrossFit Open WOD 5

Truth be told, I’ve never actually done this workout.

Hypocrite, I know…

That being said, take a look at what it did to some of the OG CrossFit elites and you can see why I’ve always…coincidentally…just had something else to do every time I considered giving it a go…

Tommy Mac

The good news is, Tommy Mac is “only” 2 rounds.

The bad news is, you’re probably gonna be over it by about 37 seconds into the first round.

At least with a 1-to-1 burpees-to-other exercises ratio, nobody can make the argument that this one isn’t actually a burpee workout!

Beat Bagent

This is technically a “new” workout, but I did something similar for a qualifier back in 2017 (I think we only had 8 minutes; 100 cals of rowing and AMRAP burpees over rower).

As it is, the 2025 version sucks just as bad as the 2017 version with the head games being on high (“Do I try to keep that 25-cals per minute pace going as long as possible or do I take my chances with it being a 20-rep EMOM?”)

…and just in case you’re dreading this one right about now, rest assured that NFL quarterbacks (most notably, the workout’s namesake) and CrossFit Semi-finals athletes can’t even finish this one:

2022 CrossFit Open WOD 2

If you got good deadlifts, this one actually isn’t so bad…but if you don’t…yeah…not so good.

Pro-tip: the hinging from the deadlifts really starts to get to you and makes the burpees that much more difficult so if you’re looking at this and think that it doesn’t look too bad…beware…

Ship

What kind of metcon garners a 32-minute “good time to beat” for elite athletes?

Funny you should ask!

One with a lot of not light squat cleans and really high burpee box jumps. In the face of all of that, do you really want to be “going to the Ship”…?

Glen

A bunch of rope climbs, 2 miles of running, and Cindy…all before you get to the final 100 burpees.

I hope those burpees are worth it to you…

Omar

If 14.5 is just a bit too much for you, but you still want that thruster/burpee-over-bar combination, Omar is a pretty good alternative. With that being said, this one has much more of a “sprint” vibe to it than 14.5 so even though you don’t have as many reps, you’re expected to get after it more with this one than with the more grueling alternative…

Donny

This is arguably a better deadlift workout than it is a burpee workout, but if it’s anything, it’s one of those “this is getting easier…oh screw you!” types of workouts (due to its descending/ascending rep scheme).

Like 22.2, the heavy-ish deadlifts really mess with you on the burpees so…yeah…beware (again).

2023 CrossFit Open WOD 2A

This is another one of those “good news and bad news” situations:

The good news is, if you’re doing this today, you technically don’t have to do 23.2B (no burpees in that part!)

The bad news is, you still have 15 minute straight of shuttle runs* and ascending burpee pull-ups.

*I actually watched Hiller’s video before attempting this one back in the day and boy was he right. Shuttle walks for the win!

Grettel

Interestingly enough, we’ve already included a workout on this list that includes a version of Cindy to complement the requisite burpees. Thankfully, Grettel gives us a bit of a break by splitting everything up into more manageable sets which…I don’t know…maybe might be…worse?

Sentinel Training – August 19, 2025

One of Sentinel Training’s classic burpee workouts that gives you a lot to do both before the burpees and after the burpees.

It is an AMRAP so, no matter how many push-ups, cals, and burpees you do, once that clock hits 9 minutes, you’re gonna be done, but c’mon…if you’re gonna do a dedicated burpee workout, you may as well make yourself worthless for the rest of the day.

2018 CrossFit Open WOD 2

This one has serious 22.2 vibes, although with a much more generous time cap (there is a reason for this…watch the video to better understand!) and a movement that doesn’t screw you nearly as much for the burpees, it ain’t terrible.

Georgie

To be honest, I kinda hate long AMRAPs that are purely comprised of non-machine and non-running work (I need something to break up the monotony…sue me!)

With Georgie, most people are going to have about 19 minutes of burpees, push-ups and swings…so…I strongly suggest having a partner to grind through this one with (or make sure the “good scores to beat” are burned into your brain!)

2017 CrossFit Open WOD 1

This one is nicknamed “Spinal”…I’ll bet you’ll never guess why!

Clovis

One of the things I forgot to mention here is that you get to partition this one however you want:

9 miles, 150 burpee pull-ups, 1 mile…have at it!

149 burpee pull-ups, 10 miles, 1 burpee pull-up…the choice is yours!

10 miles of running followed by 150 burpee pull-ups…great!

One of the all-time great burpee workouts, it’s only appropriate to finish things off with this hero!

The burpees…so much more than a punishment movement…

We’re willing to accept that there is probably about a 50-50 chance that instead of getting you psyched to do one of these workouts that you’re instead looking to do…anything else for the next 20 minutes or so.

Don’t care; this is a list that had to be shared.

You know that there is going to be some kind of burpee variation in the Open or that you’re going to be late for class and have to do a bunch at some point in the (near?) future; may as well get used to the suck now…