Whole Body Exercises--Get-Ups and Burpees

I love exercises that involve my whole body and that force me to transfer weight, momentum or power through my hips. Two exercises do that especially well and you can do them with or without weight. Get-Ups and Burpees

• Both of them involve going from a standing position to a laying down position to a standing position again (the Get-up is actually reversed--floor-stand-floor).
• Both of them require your whole body to work.
• Both train your body to work together (rather than at the same time).
• Both force your to stabilize your stomach, back, and hips.

But the function of each exercise is different. The Get-Up can help prevent injury and is done slowly. The Burpee revs your heart rate and involves explosive movement, so it is good for fat-burning and work-rate conditioning.

There are risks with both exercises if you do them wrong. So take the time to learn to do them right--on the burpee, watch your hand position so that you don't cheat when it gets hard. I injured my shoulder that way. The rewards are great if you do them correctly (and if you're going to do an exercise, then do the full rep. Cheating for speed is silly.).

Here are a couple of videos describing how to do Get-Ups and Burpees

Turkish Get-Up

Burpee