I love that you include "no one likes them" as a reason for not including burpees. I did a class once that STARTED with "death by burpees" where you had to do an increasing number of burpees on the minute for 20 minutes. (So minute 1, one burpee, minute 2, two burpees, and so on.) I remember the instructor was pleased with his evil "warm-up" and that some of those people, I never saw in his class again.

I normally hate back squats but since I'm 7 months pregnant I actually find them a lot more comfortable than front or goblet squats right now. I found that I can do a barbell back squat to a box very comfortably even with a big belly and weakend core.

For some weird reason I actually prefer, and feel safer, performing a curtsy lunge instead of a lateral lunge. Loved your video and explanation as always, Justina!

If my coach put burpees in any of my programs, I would fire them in five seconds flat! Also for push ups getting one of those pushup boards helps tremendously. They are relatively cheap and help with shoulder mobility and give extra range of motion.

I love back squats! I'm a beginning powerlifter tho. But it was and still sometimes is indeed a challenge to get them right. Agreed with you on all other exercises! And growing out of the goblet squat is so real, I can't hold the weight I want to do in my little hands for that long anymore 😂

Literally agree with everything you say & adapt all my exercises for my clients . Focus & form goes out the window (mostly) with the exercises you mentioned . Great information 😊

I learned so much from your videos, so a big big thank you! Also love that you continue to educate yourself ❤

I joined a community group workout thing a couple years ago and the leaders started the WARMUP with burpees. I was SHOCKED but for some reason my sick competitive brain decided to go all out and I ended up hurting my shoulder (OBVIOUSLY). I then vowed to never do a burpee ever again because there was no point and that I would never program them for any clients unless they specifically wanted them. (But nobody ever has, unsurprisingly.)

I love love love your attitude, empathy and common sense Justina! You are an amazing coach, love your videos! Thanks!!! ❤

Love your videos. I was a personal trainer and a fitness instructor for 28 years. I love burpees but there is a niche market. I agree.

Excellent one Justine! Tricep dips, pistol squats and burpees wayyyyy too hard for me!

I totally agree with you about sprinting (and all running). And tuck jumps unless on a rebounder. But back squats, dips, curtseys...? Unexpected! They seem such staple moves.

Out of all the exercises above, tricep dips have ALWAYS been a struggle and never felt good when doing them. I frequently skipped any sort of dip when it's been in a program. Loved the video and hearing what you do instead to work with clients.

In my experience, the response to burpees breaks down like this: 70% of people - “burpees? Ahh shit!” 25% of people - “burpees? Never heard of them.” 5% of people - “Burpees? Love them - let’s go!” If you ever meet one of the last group, back away slowly and seek medical assistance because that just ain’t right.😧

I enjoyed this video and also found it interesting as I applied your list to the movements I perform regularly. I agree with you with a lot of those. Burpees...I don't guess I'd say I hate them but as you mentioned there are just way better cardio options out there. Same with muscle ups, to me, just a party trick. Impressive... absolutely, but as far as regular training goes..I'm very meh on it for me but I can see how it would be extremely beneficial to a CrossFit athlete. A dip machine is a great alternative if it's available for people. Dips are one of my favorite movements as it just feels really nice to control my body through space like that. Partner supported dips can also be done with a partner if that is an option for someone. Stay cool!! ☃️☃️

Not Justina including deficit push-ups and tricep dips as advance moves 😭 boosting my confidence here as they're in my current programming as "skills" to practice 😂. I feel like a beast now, thank you. 💀

5:43 I started the push up program to work on my push-ups more since I’m not doing well in those. I can’t wait to see how I progress!

Personal experience here…I stop completely doing curtsey lunges one day when I feeling my knee almost literally popping out of place (I have weird hyperextensions on my elbows and knees) I panic and know I just do reverse lunges instead, then for pull ups…. my bar literally fell when I was doing it at home and miraculously I didn’t land straight up to my coxis so please guys be careful with your equipment and for burpees i just like those just my pesonal preference! amazing video like always!

Loved this video!

I modificate a lot of exercices. I've got problems with my knees (torn meniscus in the left one and ligaments problems in the right) and, a lot of times, I choose a unilateral squat over a lunge because I'm more stable. Of course I do lunges, but normaly bodyweight or very very slowy if I use weights. Same with triceps, my shoulders are weak and triceps dips are painful, so I do skull crushers. Sometimes I feel like a fraud, but I suppose even if I choose the basic movement there will be progress. I fear the lesions more than lack of "gains".

Great video as usual. What are your thoughts on Turkish get ups, and what would be a good substitute?

I've adjusted to being OK with curtsy lunges, but used to hate them and skip them or do an alternative lunge move. I'm fine with burpees, but don't do them now because I have neighbors below my apartment, so I do push-ups instead of the jumping. And I do not like doing dips and will do skullcrushers or tricep presses with weights as an alternative.

I generally understand and agree with your opinions and I appreciate this video and its perspective for functional training of non-athletes. But two things sounded off to me, and I'm curious if you have some reasoning I'm missing. (I mean that genuinely; it would be really helpful in programming!) 1. Eccentric push press as a "vertical pull": If we could use eccentrics of one movement pattern in place of opposing ones, then wouldn't we be able to skip about half the movement patterns? To my knowledge the pulling muscles will only play a smaller stabilizing role here, which is also why eccentrics contribute an excise amount to hypertrophy of the same muscles that contract during the concentric, without significant activation or hypertrophy of the opposing or stabilizing muscles. Not that hypertrophy is the same as functional use, but as a rough proxy for activation and strengthening. 2. Back squats as a hamstring exercise with "some quad as well": The hamstrings are biarticular (except the bicep femoris short head), so the lengthening from hip flexion is largely compensated for by shortening with knee flexion, and vice-versa, making the hamstrings important for stabilization but not primary drivers. Quads are mostly monoarticular muscles (excepting the RF) that contract to perform knee extension in a squat, which is reflected by much higher levels of activation in EMG and hypertrophy in MRI studies. Again, I know I'm more hypertrophy-focused on this and am curious about the functional reasoning for these. I love the pullover as an at-home vertical pull and definitely understand forgoing back squats for most clients, but the anatomical/physiologic pieces aren't making sense to me.

I honestly don’t mind burpees also excited for you to work on your cscs

I’m honestly so scared of burpees! And then I tried lunge jumps which make burpees feel so easy 😂

You always have such unique video content. And very informative as well! Hope you had a great holiday 😊

Your hair looks great!

Criminally underrated video

I'm struggling with an old knee injury, so I generally try to avoid exercises involving me putting pressure on my knees (so I would rather do push-ups at an incline, instead of doing them on my knees) - so I struggle a bit with doing hip CARS while on my knees (I do add some padding underneath, but I still get some knee pain). Can I do them while standing, instead?

For some reason, I do okay with tricep pushups and tricep dips (feet supported on floor), but find the extension part of skullcrushers incredibly challenging and have to use a lower weight than I use for everything else. Does this mean I just need more strength or is it an indication that I'm doing tricep pushups/dips wrong?

You hinted at this so I figured I might as well ask! Is it "normal" to hire a trainer specifically to learn to do a particular exercise? I've only worked with a personal trainer at one time (distant past lol) when I was trying to get into powerlifting and she helped me with form but it's been many years since then. I have a few big goals, but I'm experienced in the gym, I just am kind of on my own. But yeah so is it weird to be like "I want you to teach me to do this one specific exercise"?

That floor pull-up with the rack demo really didn't emphasize pulling with the back enough. I try to get people to visualize and feel their shoulder blades coming together to get the right engagement.

One thing I see in some programs is a plank, to low squat to bicep curl 😅 Hard pass lol

Just recently stared to follow your channel. Do you have any videos for strength training for beginners maybe starting with body weight than weights.

I was going to profess my undying love for burpees, but I feel scared and unsafe now. I'm gonna go on a full contrarian rant just to piss off this whole burpee-hating crowd, just watch! Muscle ups are done correctly (= not looking like a worm experiencing some mildly intense seizures) by less than 1% of humanity, nobody is going to pay for your knee replacement the day you finally destroy it forever attempting that goofy curtsy lunge exercise and pistol squats suck for reasons that are too hard and too many to explain. Period! Thanks for the great video, though, I'll try to stick around even if you disrespect burpees (and thus, my feelings) on a regular basis. ❤️

Great video thanks for the upload hit that like button and I will always support you and your channel

When I went to OTF we called them crusty lunges. 🤣. Also burpees ~ Ehhhh hate em.

Justine, I really want to thank you for what you do. I've learned so much following you and you honestly make me feel so validated in where I am at in my fitness journey. You're my fittube safe place 😆 I do have a question that isn't related to the video but that I've been dying to have your input on. I recently started weightlifting, both for strength and a bit for aesthetics for one very specific aspect. I've had my weight fluctuating for years and unfortunately my breasts have suffered the most aesthetically, I've been incorporating more chest exercises in my routines to try to help with that. I know miracles aren't going to happen but I'd love to hear your opinion about it just so that I can manage my expectations 🥲 That was a lot of words 😅 Thank you for all that you do 🌸

❤

I HATE curtsey lunges.

burpees evil.