The short answer
Burpees or Running?
Run when you can. You can keep running for 30 to 60 minutes, and almost nobody can do that with burpees. Per minute, hard burpee intervals at 11.0 METs do edge out a 10 minute mile at 9.3, so burpees win when you have ten minutes, no space, or a HYROX race with 80 m of burpee broad jumps in it. Over a session you can actually sustain, running burns as much or more, and your wrists and shoulders get the day off.
Side by side
| Question | Burpees | Running |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Squat, hands down, feet back to a plank, chest to the floor, feet in, then jump. | Running continuously at a steady pace, outdoors or on a treadmill. |
| Equipment | Nothing but a body length of floor | Shoes and somewhere to run |
| Energy cost (2024 Compendium) | 7.5 METs as vigorous calisthenics; 11.0 as hard intervals with burpees, mountain climbers and squat jumps (codes 02020, 02214) | 8.5 METs at 8 km/h (5 mph); 9.3 at 9.7 km/h (6 mph) (codes 12030, 12050) |
| Per minute at 70 kg (154 lb) | About 9.2 to 13.5 kcal | About 10.4 to 11.4 kcal |
| Per minute at 90 kg (198 lb) | About 11.8 to 17.3 kcal | About 13.4 to 14.6 kcal |
| How long you can keep it up | Minutes, usually in intervals | Half an hour or more at an easy pace, once trained |
| Space | One body length of floor | A route, a track or a treadmill |
| What tires first | Shoulders, wrists and breathing, then form | Legs and breathing |
| Impact | A jump and a drop to the floor every rep | A landing on one leg every stride |
Choose the burpees when
- You have a hotel room, a small flat, or ten minutes.
- You are training for HYROX, where station four is 80 m of burpee broad jumps after the fourth 1 km run.
- You want a short, hard finisher after strength work.
- It is dark, icy or pouring and there is no treadmill.
Choose the running when
- You want 30 minutes or more of cardio, and burpee form falls apart well before that.
- Your wrists, shoulders or lower back complain on the floor part.
- You have a running race, or a HYROX race, which is 8 km of running between the stations.
- You want easy aerobic work you can do while holding a conversation.
Using both in one week
Three runs and one 10 minute burpee session a week makes a solid conditioning base, with the runs doing the long, easy work. For HYROX, practise burpee broad jumps straight off a run, since that is how the race serves them. Once a week, run 1 km at race pace, then do 20 to 40 m of burpee broad jumps, for three or four rounds. Keep burpee work away from the day before your long run and from heavy lower body days.
From zero to 80 m of burpee broad jumps
- Step-back burpees: 5 rounds of 5, chest to the floor, stepping the feet back and in.
- Jumping burpees every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. Do 5 to 8 reps at the top of each minute and rest for what is left of it.
- Broad jumps, 3 sets of 5, taking off and landing on both feet together and holding each landing.
- Burpee broad jumps: 4 x 10 m, walking back as your rest.
- 4 x 20 m, then 2 x 40 m, each straight after 3 minutes of running.
- Race rehearsal: a 1 km run, then 80 m of burpee broad jumps at a pace you could repeat.
The numbers
- A 10 minute mile (about 6:13 per km), 70 kg
- About 114 kcal9.3 METs (code 12050) x 3.5 x 70 / 200 = 11.4 kcal a minute, x 10. At 90 kg: 146 kcal.
- Burpee time to match it
- About 8.5 minutesHard burpee intervals at 11.0 METs: 9.3 x 10 / 11.0 = 8.45 minutes, at any body weight. As steady calisthenics at 7.5 METs: 12.4 minutes.
- Burpees per mile
- About 85 at 10 a minute8.45 minutes x 10, or about 100 at 12 a minute. Rough, because the MET value covers the activity and no particular pace.
- Time-matched, 20 minutes, 70 kg
- About 270 against 228 kcalHard burpee intervals: 11.0 x 3.5 x 70 / 200 = 13.5 kcal a minute, x 20. A 9.7 km/h run at 9.3 METs: 11.4 a minute, x 20. Only if the burpees last all 20 minutes.
- HYROX burpee broad jumps
- 80 mStation four of eight. Chest to the ground every rep, and both feet take off and land together (HYROX rulebook 26/27).
Mistakes that cost the most
- Treating burpees per mile as a fixed number. Pace, depth and rest all change the cost of a rep.
- Flopping to the floor with a sagging lower back. Aion's own cue is to step back instead of jumping back any time form frays.
- Sprinting the first minute. Burpee sessions fall apart at minute three when minute one was a race.
- Going for maximal broad jumps in HYROX training. The rulebook leaves jump length to you, so pick a jump you can repeat for all 80 m.
- Going a whole rep without breathing. Get a breath in on every rep, starting with the first.
Questions people ask
How many burpees equal a mile?
Matched on calories, about 8.5 minutes of hard burpee intervals equals a 10 minute mile (9.3 x 10 / 11.0), whatever you weigh. That is about 85 burpees at 10 a minute, or about 100 at 12. Take it as a ballpark: Compendium values are averages for the activity and know nothing of your pace.
Can burpees replace running?
For a week of travel, yes. For running fitness or a race, no. Few people can keep burpees going for the 30 to 60 minutes of steady work a run gives, and burpees do nothing for your stride. A HYROX race has 8 km of running and 80 m of burpee broad jumps, so it needs both.
Burpees or running for cardio?
Run for the base and keep burpees for short, hard work. Burpees win per minute, 11.0 METs against 9.3 for a 10 minute mile, but a 30 minute run is within most people's reach and 30 minutes of burpees is not.
Sources
- 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activitiesJournal of Sport and Health Science, 2024
- 2024 Adult CompendiumCompendium of Physical Activities (pacompendium.com), 2024
- Corrected METS, AdultsCompendium of Physical Activities (pacompendium.com)
- The Fitness RaceHYROX
- HYROX Single Rulebook, season 26/27HYROX, 2026
Figures on this page come from the studies above or from the arithmetic shown. Read how claims are reviewed and updated in How the guides are written.