Related guides: bench squat, goblet lunge, kneeling squat, reverse lunges, v squat, b stance hip thrust
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What is a burpee broad jump?
Simply put, it’s a variation of the burpee that replaces the upwards jump at the end with a forward jump. This slight change has a big impact on the muscles that are being worked during the exercise, which we’ll come onto later in our muscles worked section. You’ll usually find this exercise in a CrossFit gym as it’s a good test of lower body explosivity.
How to do a burpee broad jump
Burpee broad jump form tips
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your knees and hinge the hips so that you can put your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor, a few inches in front of your feet.
- From here, kick both of your feet back so that you’re in a plank position (you don’t need to hold the plank, move through it as quickly as possible)
- Lower your chest to the floor whilst keeping your elbows tucked to your torso
- Once your chest touches the floor, push your torso upwards, back into the plank potion, then jump your feet forward to just behind your hands
- From this crouched position, jump forward with both feet at the same time, landing with them, once again, shoulder-width apart. Make sure to swing your arms forward as you jump to cover more ground (if you’re into CrossFit that is)
Burpee broad jump workout
Due to differences in cardiovascular ability, there is a huge range of what might be considered a good workout with this exercise. We would recommend using it as part of a Hiit (high-intensity interval training) workout.
Novice: 20 seconds of BBJ, 40 seconds rest, 10 sets
Intermediate: 30 seconds of BBJ, 30 seconds rest, 10 sets
Adept: 40 seconds of BBJ, 20 seconds rest, 10 sets
Related guides: bench squat, goblet lunge, kneeling squat, reverse lunges, v squat, b stance hip thrust
Burpee broad jump benefits
Improve the explosiveness of the lower body
Broad jumps are great for becoming explosive, that is to say, covering the same amount of ground quicker. Practising this movement will develop power in the quads, calves and glutes.
Excellent for cardiovascular fitness and increasing metabolism
This is a full-body movement that has an element of rest for both the upper and lower body. When we’re prone, we’re resting our legs and when we’re jumping, we’re resting our upper body. This means that the lactic acid build-up is lesser compared to if we were just jumping for example.
This means we can push our cardiovascular system harder. Furthermore, this type of intense cardiovascular training increases our metabolism for a number of days, helping us to burn more calories and excess fat.
Burpee broad jump drawbacks
We can’t build a significant amount of strength in the legs with this exercise
If your goals are to be quick off the mark or lose some excess fat, this exercise is brilliant.
However, to improve the strength of our legs we have to overload them with weight which we can’t do effectively with the burpee broad jump. If you want to build strength you should be looking at low rep squats, deadlifts and lunges.
Burpee broad jump muscles worked
Gluteus Maximus
Whenever our femur (upper leg bone) is being pulled back from in front of us, our glutes are involved. They help us push our hips forward from a hinged position and are incredibly important for moving forward with pace.
The glutes and the quads are used heavily throughout the jumping and standing movements of the burpee broad jump.
Quadriceps
The quads extend the knee joint. In this movement, we’re doing that when we kick our legs back into a plank, when we jump our feet forward to stand up from a plank, when we stand up and when we perform the broad jump forward.
Considering this, expect a serious burn in this muscle!
Calf (gastrocnemius)
The calf muscle has a range of functions as you can tell by the mobility of your ankle and foot.
The function we’re interested in in this movement is the ability to pull our heel upwards, towards our knee joint and push the ball of our feet downwards. Every time we jump, we’re performing this movement which is why the calf is crucial to this exercise.
Gluteus Minimus & Medius (lateral hip) – Supporting muscle
These muscles help to stabilise the movement. The keep the femur where it should be, as well as externally rotating the bone where necessary,
Adductors – Supporting muscle
The Adductors are located on the inside of the thigh and serve to bring the leg inward toward the midline of the body. They are very active at the bottom of any squatting or lunging exercises and provide a great deal of strength and support during most lower-body exercises.
The adductors are extremely useful for any kind of squatting and lunging. They provide a lot of stability to the legs and hips and will be working to keep everything running smoothly during this movement.
Burpee broad jump alternatives
Burpee box jumps
If you want to gain the same benefits at the BBJ without jumping all over the gym, try the burpee box jump.
We’re targeting all of the same muscles and we can stay where we are. Furthermore, we can increase the size of the box for an added challenge.
Dumbbell squat press
If we’re looking for a lower and upper body workout that incorporates an aspect of rest, this exercise does the trick.
If you want to gain the cardiovascular benefit of this exercise, pick a weight that you can perform a higher amount of reps with.
Additional resources
- A Review of Adolescent High-Intensity Interval Training
- Effect of short-term sprint interval training on human skeletal muscle carbohydrate metabolism during exercise and time-trial performance
- Sprint running & burpees: comparison of acute physiological and neuromuscular effects of two high intensity interval training protocols
- Related guides: bench squat, goblet lunge, kneeling squat, reverse lunges, v squat, b stance hip thrust
Olly is a CIMSPA accredited personal trainer with a BSc degree in sport management from Solent University. He has over 10 years experience helping clients reach their health & fitness goals.
