Burpees are a famously tough fat-burning move that leave you dripping in sweat—so what type of results would you get if you kept up a consistent routine and knocked out a set of them every single day? Brandon from the YouTube channel Superhero Jacked took on the challenge of doing 25 burpees each day to see what kind of results he would get after a whole month.
In addition to doing his burpees every morning, Brandon also made some changes to his diet. As this burpee challenge came along at the tail end of a bulking period, he reduced what he was eating to around 2,200 calories a day.
To make the experience slightly less arduous, Brandon broke down his daily burpees into 2 separate sets of 12 and 13. “I’m out of breath and exhausted,” he said on Day 5, and while his endurance slightly improved over the course of 31 days, by the end of the challenge he was still worn out at the end of the 25 reps.
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Brandon started out weighing 85.5kg, and at the end of the month he had dropped 6kg of body fat, weighing in at 79kg. What the video doesn’t reveal, however, is whether these burpees alone were responsible for the weight loss or whether Brandon was doing them in conjunction with a program of other exercises as part of his regular workout.
Whether you’re interested in trying out this challenge for yourself, or just want to incorporate burpees into your routine at the gym, it’s important to make sure you’re doing the move correctly and not wasting any energy.
“When you’re doing burpees, think of getting off the ground as ‘efficiently’ as possible,” says Men’s Health’s Ebenezer Samuel C.S.C.S. “Note that I didn’t say ‘quickly.’ If you focus only on quickness, but you’re not hitting efficient positions, you’re going to leak and waste energy. By default, you won’t get up as quickly as you want to.”
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When it comes to hitting the ground, “don’t be a jellyfish,” Samuel adds. Maintaining that stable plank position will engage you core, and help to protect you from back injury during the move. He also advises keeping your feet in a wide base; at least shoulder-width apart. “Do this, and when it’s time to jump, you won’t have to waste any time getting into optimal position to jump—because you’re already there.”
If you have any upper body injuries, leave the burpees on the mat. Instead, try to include move like jump squats and pushups to help alleviate potential injury from hitting the floor.
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health