What we may not know: although burpees may get your heart rate up, they're also highly contested, even among pros in the industry. "Overall, I'm antiburpee," says health coach and personal trainer Rachel Prairie. "There is a time and a place to sprinkle them in, but smart programming will have strength training at its core and only use burpees as a tool to integrate high-intensity cardio or as an occasional challenge. There's no need to be doing them every week."

Grace Taylor, PT, DPT, says that burpees can be beneficial — when they're executed the right way. "When done correctly, the burpee can have incredible health benefits, but it's very easy to compensate and do more harm than good," she says. Learning how to do a burpee correctly is essential in order to prevent injury and maximize the overall benefits. And they're not for everyone. If you have a heart condition or pain in your hips, lower back, shoulders, or wrists, for example, Taylor doesn't recommend adding burpees to your workouts. For anyone starting out or unsure of their form, she recommends performing burpees in front of a certified personal trainer, coach, or physical therapist to make sure you're doing them properly.

To learn how to do a burpee exercise with proper form, Prairie and Taylor walk us through the basics, sharing whether or not the burpee benefits live up to all the hype. Find their best burpee tips below, plus modifications to help make burpees a little more bearable.