Doing 100 burpees every day is a realistic, time-efficient challenge if you’re healthy and already have a decent fitness base, but it isn’t a proven way to transform your body.
The main risk comes from doing it daily with no easy days and no gradual build-up, so keep reading for a more detailed explanation of what it does, what to expect, and how to do it safely.
What the 100 Burpees a Day Challenge Is and Where It Came From
The core format is simple: 100 burpees a day, most often for 30 days, which adds up to 3,000 reps. No single person or organization started it. It grew out of gym culture and the internet, and it keeps resurfacing because it costs nothing and needs no equipment.
The exercise itself is much older than the challenge. In 1939, physiologist Royal Huddleston Burpee created it as a short fitness test while working on his PhD at Columbia University’s Teachers College. His version was four reps with heart-rate measurements, nowhere near hundreds.
Common versions of the challenge
- 30-day fixed: You do 100 every day from day one. Most viral “I did it” videos follow this format.
- 100-day ramp: You do 1 burpee on day one, 2 on day two, and so on up to 100 on day 100, for 5,050 total. CrossFit gyms popularized this one from about 2009.
- Year-long: 100 a day for 365 days, which only a small number of people finish.
- Charity and community versions: Spartan runs a 30-day challenge with personal goals ranging from 5 to 300 a day. Burpees for Vets was founded in 2018 by Mark Divine. “Make America Burpee Again” asks for 3,100 reps across January.
What counts as a burpee
The standard changed over time. The original was a four-count squat thrust. The military later added a push-up, and the CrossFit version now requires your chest to touch the floor, followed by a jump with a clap overhead.
The chest-to-floor version is considerably harder, so pick one version and stick with it for the whole challenge. That way your times stay comparable from week to week, and you can see whether you’re improving.
How Long It Takes and What Results People Report
Time per day depends mostly on your fitness level and how much you rest between sets. Budget 10 to 20 minutes a day at first, then expect that number to shrink as the weeks go by.
How long 100 burpees takes
- Beginners: About 10 to 14 minutes, and 15 or more once you add breaks.
- Intermediate: About 7 to 10 minutes straight through. With planned rest, such as 10 sets of 10 with 30 seconds between sets, it runs closer to 12 to 18 minutes.
- Advanced: About 5 to 7 minutes. Elite athletes finish in under 5, and the fastest reported time is around 3 minutes.
What participants report
These are self-reports, so treat them as examples rather than a forecast of what you’ll get.
- YouTuber, 30 days: His time dropped from 10:40 to 7:00, and his weight went from 181.8 to 179.2 lb (down 2.6 lb). He said the reps never felt easier, because he kept pushing harder each day.
- Spartan participants: One went from 13:03 to 8:24, and another from 13:40 to 10:20. One person’s max push-ups rose from 35 to 50, and another lost about 4 to 5 lb.
- Trainer doing it alongside six-day-a-week strength work: His resting heart rate fell from 72 to 68 bpm. His weight went from 175 to 170 lb, body fat from 16% to 12%, and waist from 34 to 32 inches. He also had a knee niggle on day 17, which is worth noting given how much total training he was doing.
- Blogger: She finished 25 of 30 days. She skipped about one day a week because her body asked for a break, and she said the reps got easier in week 3.
- Year-long finishers: Some people have completed the full 365 days.
The pattern across these stories
Most people see their times and work capacity improve within 2 to 4 weeks. Soreness peaks in week 1, and boredom tends to show up around week 3. Weight change is usually small, about 2 to 5 lb.
Keep in mind who ends up sharing these stories. They’re people who finished, and many changed their diet or other training at the same time, so the results can’t be credited to the burpees alone.
What the Research Says About Benefits
No controlled study has tested 100 burpees every day. What we know comes from related studies on burpee-based and whole-body interval training, and those used 3 to 4 sessions a week, not 7. So the findings below point in a direction, but they don’t prove what a daily 100 will do.
Cardio fitness
- Whole-body functional intervals: In a four-week study, this style of training raised VO2max by about 11%. Running intervals raised it by about 13%, so the two came out close.
- Tabata-style training: Twenty-two active women did burpees, jumping jacks, and mountain climbers four times a week. Their VO2peak rose about 8%, and their push-up performance jumped 135%.
- Army ROTC cadets: They did 4 to 7 all-out 30-second burpee bouts three times a week for four weeks. They held onto their fitness as well as a group doing about 60 minutes of standard training, but neither group improved.
Taken together, burpee intervals work as a time-efficient way to build or maintain conditioning, especially if you’re not already highly trained.
Strength and muscular endurance
Your muscular endurance improves, including how many burpees and push-ups you can do. Burpees build endurance more than maximal strength or muscle size, so don’t expect them to add much muscle.
Calories and body composition
At 7.5 to 11 METs, 100 burpees (7 to 12 minutes) burns roughly 70 to 150 kcal. Over 30 days, that adds up to about 2,000 to 4,500 kcal. If your diet stays the same, that’s roughly a pound of fat. Claims that burpees keep you burning calories for 24 hours afterward are overstated.
Mood
A 2022 study found that people rated burpee intervals as more pleasant than sprint intervals or vigorous steady exercise. That may help explain why many participants report feeling more confident.
How it fits with activity guidelines
A daily 7 to 12 minutes adds up to about 50 to 85 vigorous minutes a week. That covers the 75-minute vigorous-activity target. It still doesn’t replace a varied program that works all your major muscle groups.
The Risks: Overuse Injuries, Rhabdomyolysis, and Who Should Modify the Challenge
Most of the risk comes from volume and speed: the same high-impact movement, every day, often rushed. Overuse problems are the most common result. Rhabdomyolysis is far less common, but it’s the one worth knowing about before you start.
Overuse injuries
Trainers and physical therapists point to the hands, wrists, shoulders, knees, and lower back. Form tends to break down as you tire, and each body part has its own failure point:
- Lower back and shoulders: Rushing, flopping to the floor, and “worming” back up can irritate the lumbar discs and the rotator cuff. A sagging plank adds more strain on the lower back.
- Wrists: Dropping into a plank over and over loads the wrist joint.
- Knees: Landing with stiff knees, or letting them cave inward on the jump, is the main knee-injury mechanism.
Exertional rhabdomyolysis
This is rare but serious. Muscle tissue breaks down and releases its contents into the blood, which can injure the kidneys.
- Main trigger: Sudden, unaccustomed high-rep work. Military recruits show the highest rates, at 410.4 per 100,000 person-years, which is more than 13 times the rate for officers.
- Other risk factors: Heat, dehydration, recent illness, certain medications and supplements, and sickle cell trait.
- When it’s most likely with burpees: Day one for someone who isn’t conditioned, and on big catch-up days of 200 or more reps.
- Warning signs: Brown, red, or tea-colored urine, along with severe muscle pain, swelling, and weakness. These typically show up 24 to 72 hours after the exertion.
Overtraining and burnout
True overtraining is rare. Overreaching is more realistic, especially if you stack daily burpees on top of an existing program. Watch for slower times, soreness that builds from day to day, poor sleep, and low mood. Boredom is common too, and it’s a risk for quitting even if it isn’t a physical one.
Heart concerns
If you have a heart condition or uncontrolled blood pressure, get medical clearance first. Chest pain during or after a set means stop.
Who should avoid or modify the challenge
- Anyone with current wrist, shoulder, knee, or lower-back pain
- Pregnant or postpartum people
- People with a BMI above 35, older adults, and anyone with balance problems
- Previously sedentary people, who should build general fitness first
- Anyone with a history of rhabdomyolysis or sickle cell trait, or who takes statins, and should check with a clinician first
- People already training hard 5 to 6 days a week, who should count the burpees as added training load and reduce something else
If you fall into one of these groups, you can often still take part with step-back, no-jump burpees or hands-on-a-bench versions, ideally with guidance from a clinician or physical therapist.
How to Build Up to 100 a Day Safely
The safest route is to start at a level that matches your current fitness, raise the volume weekly, and keep one easy day in every week. Don’t start at 100 unless you can already do about 50 clean reps in a row.
Step 1: Test your baseline
Warm up first (see below). Then do as many clean burpees in a row as you can, and stop when your form slips. Your result sets your starting tier:
- Under 10 reps: Beginner tier, using step-back, no-jump burpees.
- 10 to 29 reps: Standard tier.
- 30 to 49 reps: Advanced tier.
- 50 or more: You can start the full 100-a-day challenge.
Step 2: Follow a 4-week ramp
Each tier raises the daily count once a week, not once a day, and every 7th day is an easy one.
| Tier | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 10 a day | 15 a day | 20 a day | 25 a day |
| Standard | 20 a day | 30 a day | 40 a day | 50 a day |
| Advanced | 40 a day | 60 a day | 80 a day | 100 a day |
Once you reach 100, keep one easy day a week at about 50 relaxed reps.
Step 3: Structure each day’s reps
You don’t have to do all 100 in one go. Pick the format that keeps your form clean:
- EMOM (every minute on the minute): Do 10 burpees at the top of each minute for 10 rounds, and rest for whatever time is left in each minute.
- Fixed sets: 10 sets of 10 with 30 to 45 seconds’ rest, or 5 sets of 20 if you’re at an intermediate level.
- Split across the day: For example, 50 in the morning and 50 in the evening. This works well on busy days.
- Unbroken: Save this for after several weeks of conditioning.
Time of day doesn’t matter, so pick a slot you can keep every day.
Step 4: Use good form on every rep
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, squat down, and place your hands flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart, with your fingers spread.
- Step or jump your feet back into a plank, with your core braced and your hips level.
- Lower your chest to the floor under control if you’re doing the push-up version, then press up.
- Bring your feet back toward your hands.
- Stand up, adding a jump if you’re ready, and land softly with your knees bent and tracking over your toes.
Breathe on every rep instead of holding your breath. When your form breaks down, end the set.
Scaling options
Move up this list as you get stronger, from easiest to hardest:
- Hands on a bench
- Step-back, no jump
- Step-back with a jump
- Jump-back, no push-up
- Standard burpee with chest to the floor and a jump
- Harder variations
Hold off on a weighted vest until you’ve finished a full cycle without one.
Warm up for 3 to 5 minutes
- Easy movement such as marching or light jogging in place
- Wrist circles
- 10 bodyweight squats
- Inchworms
- Incline push-ups
- 3 to 5 slow practice burpees
Track your progress
Log your reps and time every day, on paper or in an app. Doing the same reps in less time is your main sign that you’re improving.
Recovery, Fueling, and Knowing When to Stop
Daily burpees only work if your body keeps up with the load. Recovery, food, and a clear set of stop signals do most of that job.
Recovery basics
Keep at least one easy day a week, and protect your sleep, since that’s when tissue repair happens. If you already train hard, fold the burpees in as a warm-up or finisher instead of stacking them on top of your usual volume. Gentle stretching for the hips, chest, and wrists, plus foam rolling, is reasonable to add.
Normal soreness peaks in week 1 and then tapers. If it keeps building from day to day, or your times get slower for more than a week, cut your volume for several days.
Nutrition
Diet matters far more than burpees for fat loss, since 100 reps burns only about 70 to 150 kcal. Eat enough to recover, especially if you’re lean or training a lot.
- Daily protein: Aim for 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg of body weight. Some guidance uses a slightly wider range of 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg.
- In a calorie deficit: Intakes up to 2.3 to 3.1 g/kg may help preserve lean mass.
- Per meal: Spread protein across the day at about 0.25 to 0.3 g/kg, which works out to roughly 20 to 40 g per serving.
Hydration
For a 10 to 15 minute session, normal daily drinking is usually enough. Drink more in hot weather or when you combine burpees with other workouts, because dehydration raises rhabdomyolysis risk.
If you want to prehydrate, aim for about 5 to 7 mL/kg at least 4 hours beforehand. Dark urine before you’ve even trained is a cue to drink more and go easier.
When to stop
Stop for the day and switch to rest or an easier variation if you have:
- Sharp or localized joint pain in a wrist, shoulder, knee, or lower back (as opposed to general muscle burn)
- Form you can’t hold, even with longer rests
- Dizziness or nausea that doesn’t settle quickly
Get medical care promptly if you have:
- Dark brown, red, or tea-colored urine with severe muscle pain, swelling, or weakness
- Little or no urine despite drinking
- Chest pain or pressure, palpitations, fainting, or unusual shortness of breath
If you miss a day
Don’t double up. Resume the plan where you left off, and try never to miss twice in a row. Big catch-up sessions are exactly the kind of sudden volume spike that triggers rhabdomyolysis.
Conclusion
The 100 burpees a day challenge works as a short conditioning workout for people who build up gradually and recover well. Three habits matter most: start below 100, include easy days, and end a set when your form breaks down.
This article isn’t individualized medical advice, so check with a clinician or physical therapist first if you have any of the conditions listed above.
