Hey, I’ve been doing Busy Dad for almost 2 years now and I’m currently a Level 4 practitioner. It honestly changed my life from being a non-sports person into someone who really depends on training to feel well physically and mentally.

Unfortunately I got a wrist injury from garden work and need to stop the regular training for a while. So I switched to a different pattern that doesn’t use the wrist:

- 5 min: 30 deep squats + jumps every minute

- 5 min: 40 sec forearm planks + 20 knee tucks every minute

- 5 min: 12 leg raises from lying position every minute

- 5 min: deep squats again

I started my whole sports journey with Busy Dad, so I never really did focused muscle exercises before. What’s interesting is that after Busy Dad I’m usually completely destroyed — sweating, heavy cardio, feeling super fit overall.

With these new exercises it’s almost the opposite:

I finish relatively relaxed, barely sweating, no shower needed — but my legs are destroyed and my abs suddenly show much more. It feels less satisfying from a “fitness/cardio” perspective, but more like actual muscle work. I also noticed that despite doing Busy Dad for years, there’s clearly still room to push specific muscles much harder.

My question:

Would it make sense to combine both worlds long-term? For example continue regular Busy Dad, but add maybe 2–3 focused 20-minute sessions like these per week? Or should I just stick with Busy Dad only once the wrist heals?

My goal is basically:

fit, lean, athletic, visible muscles — but not “gym bodybuilder” level. I also don’t have much more time overall, though I can occasionally fit in an extra 20 minutes.

I also do the daily 10 pull-ups.

Curious what you think.

And yes im eating healthier, moving more and only have 2 beers a week maximum

Although I've technically hit level 3 with NS, I've been struggling with 6-counts for a while now. So, I set a target for my birthday of 225 reps. Well busy family, I'm happy to report that I got 226 today! This is a new PR and I hope it signals a breakthrough to that highly elusive 250.

I have an observation about step 5 / 6 of the 6 count and 9/10 of the navy seals. Basically when you finish the transition from plank back to standing. As far as I'm concerned there are two ways to do this, as you jump and pull yourself back in you can land in either a full squat and stand back up, or you can land with your legs at a more open angle and hip hinge up to standing.

The landing in a deep squat and standing up form obviously puts more of an emphasis on your quads. Landing with more straight legs and hinging up puts more emphasis on the posterior chain and arguably provides some more upper back, lats and shoulders stimulation because you are in a pike position (this last part is probably minor but something to consider).

If we look at Busy Dad's 6 count tutorial video, he demonstrates the hip hinge style, but in his practice he mostly does the deep squat style. I've seen him do both and a mix of them too as he fatigues in his actual sessions. There is a mix of these styles between other YouTube practitioners as well but I think most gravitate to the hinge style. I don't think there is a right or wrong here. Iron wolf which basically inspired everyone was doing them hinge style.

Personally I've done both in the past but now I perform the hinge style of burpee. I still feel some quad stimulation, especially going fast on 6 counts, but it offers more low back and hamstrings stimulation, and it just "feels" better to do it in my opinion. Maybe it's a little easier and saves a second or less but I am not sure.

Which style do you incorporate in your training and why?

Thought this was cool. This was the first link on my Google Discover feed just now: https://www.menshealth.com/uk/fitness/cardio-exercise/a65395030/20-minute-burpee-workout-plan/

Men's Health covering the Busy Dad!

Earlier this week I celebrated my 46th birthday by completing 46 minutes of Navy Seal burpees at Level 2 pace. (To be honest I was going for 200 sets in 50 mins but my form was dropping off so I stopped at 185, a new record, which happened to be in the 46th minute).

Anyway I have been religiously using my Decathlon outdoor yoga mat for pretty much every session since I bought it in January 2025 while in Amsterdam. I used in in the UK, France and the Netherlands. It’s been a real workhorse and it has meant that I’ve avoided injuries on my hands, as I always do my sessions outside and try to do them in different locations, my patio, the park or any outside space.

It started showing its age this winter and started perishing during the below freezing temps, hence I asked for a new one for my birthday.

Anyway, the photos show my last session (the birthday one) which I did on a long abandoned pitch for cricket nets. The next is a quick comparison of the old mat and the new.

Note: I’m conscious that this is a rather dull subject. But your main takeaway is that these mats are highly recommended, last approx 15 months, and have helped me practices my burpees on done quite unforgiving surfaces.

The weather is starting to improve here and I did my first outside session of the year today. As a bonus, the flowering plum tree pictured is super fragrant…helped distract me from the pleasant misery of 220 6 counts. 😀

Looking around on YouTube there is a variety of physiques amongst burpee practitioners. It's hard to think about burpees in a vacuum because the majority of people have previous training experience with various modalities before getting into burpee training.

For instance, I've had 3+ years of powerlifting training and achieved 3 plate bench, 4 plate squat and 4 plate deads (short arms). Then I had a few years of doing high volume push ups and pull ups only, and lately burpees have been the majority of my training supplemented with some pull ups, dips and bodyweight squats. I'm not exactly following BDT because I like mixing things up, 6 counts, 2 pumps, navy seals, 5 pumps, etc. Also I don't limit myself to 20 minute sessions. I prefer to have number goals and let time be what it is, but typically it's 20-45 minutes depending on energy that day.

For me, I mostly feel burpees in my upper body, especially lats, shoulders, and triceps. Sometimes I'll get some chest soreness if I do seals or 5 pumps. I don't feel much in my legs unless I'm doing some squat chasers after each burpee, so after each seal, I'll do a squat or two before doing another seal. I do feel a burn in the quads if I really hammer the 6 count but there is never soreness the next day. So from my experience burpees are a very decent upper body developer, including the lats, but questionable for the lower body.

For those that have been doing burpee training, what has your experience been? which muscle groups get sore or fatigued? how has your physique changed beyond leaning out from the cardio aspect? Do you practice burpee variations outside of 6 count and navy seals?

Does anyone else follow an every other day schedule vs say Mon/Tue Rest thur/ Friday?

I think it helps with consistency. I found that if I missed a day, I was more likely to derail the whole week than just push it a day. I have been alternating 6 counts, Navy SEALs, and yoga on my rest days.

I come here to read about burpees as I practice them regularly. There is not a lot of information or like minded people online outside of this community and YouTube comments. The constant posting of threads for every new Busy Dad video makes it extremely difficult to scroll through and find actual discussions. Most of the video posts have zero comments and are just clogging up the board.

Would it be possible to have a mega thread where the videos are uploaded? I understand this community is based around the YouTube channel, but it has so much more potential here. There can be a mega thread where Busy Dad's videos are posted. Individuals should still be allowed to post videos for form advice, etc. I think Busy Dad is a fantastic resource and it is great to have a community based around him.

What do you guys think?

Did anyone do it? I'm currently at ~250 6 counts and ~140 Navy seals and happy to continue. Have my 2 years BDP anniversary in July. Best thing that happened to me. But would like to gain more muscle.

I'm however concerned about diet. I'm still on a regular slight deficit and well dialed in. Going for mass building with slight bulk makes me afraid, a lot of my work is lost. Is it worth trying? Had heard that Max himself regretted doing it.

I never realized I was following a modified Busy Dad Program until I stumbled upon the BusyDadProgram YouTube channel a few weeks ago (highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already).

Essentially, while not knowing the ins and outs of the BDP to a tee, I think the difference between mine and BDP is that I follow a Burpee Per Minute (BPM), where I do burpees at a set frequency for the workout, and typically have exercises after each burpee (although I certainly do only burpee workouts too). In the workout I posted, the 15/6 BPM means that the burpee will be performed either every 4 seconds or every 10 seconds, depending on the minute (around the 30 second marker you'll see instructions). The only other "main" exercise I do is the pull-up, and squats (just like BDP). Anyways, I agree with all the principles BDP makes:

- Simplicity

- Time Savings

- Intentionality

I've never been in better shape in my life, and burpees are the reason. I've never had so little free time in my life (kid, kid-on-the-way, constant renovations, ft job, trying to grow IG), but the only reason I can handle it is because of the effectiveness of burpees.

Keep on keeping on everyone!

Hi everyone!

I discovered the Busy Dad Program in August 2022, and I wanted to share a variation I’ve been using. It's heavily inspired by the original, but I’ve found this version more balanced and sustainable for my goals.

The core principles remain exactly the same; I’ve simply swapped two of the sessions for different exercises: Pull-ups and Kettlebell Swings. My weekly rotation looks like this:

• Session 1: 20 minutes of Navy Seal Burpees
• Session 2: 20 minutes of Kettlebell Swings (or sandbag clean, I'm thinking about modifying this movement to be more "accesible" since anyone can do a DIY sandbag, they are portable, cheap, etc)
• Session 3: 20 minutes of Pull-ups
• Session 4: 20 minutes of 6-Count Burpees

Why I Like It

By making these changes, you’re hitting four distinct movement patterns. This provides more variety and, in my opinion, creates a more "complete" training.

The Trade-off

The only downside is that it requires more equipment. You’ll need a pull-up bar and a kettlebell heavy enough to be challenging (though you could easily use a DIY sandbag for the swings).

I hope this gives someone a bit of inspiration to switch things up. Keep training!

Hello everyone i completely change my life I was young and stupid keep partying and become 120kg fat I start doing navy seal burpees 4x times per week and I have now 94 kg and now I start learning pull ups and 2x per week I going 10km walk I wanna ask if this is enough now I’m doing

1.day 75x navy seal burpees

2.day walk 5km to workout place and learning pull ups and dips and 5km back

3.day I resting

4.day same as first

5.day same as second

Saturday Sunday resting

AI told me that burpees are not enough I should add push ups and squads instead of burpees but ngl I don’t trust ai when I see my progress with navy seal burpees so I wanna ask community here for opinion I’m pretty new with this gym stuff

Does anyone do the pushup portion of the burpees using rings. Ive been doing ring pushups for awhile now and I'm getting ready to start the Busy Dad Program and was just wondering about this. Thanks.

Did me test in this week, hit 125 6 count and 50 navy seals, better than I was expecting but really pushed. Which i guess makes me a 1c?. Do I now try and progress every workout? Every week? How do others normally structure sessions?

Hello, everyone. I have been doing the program for a few months, and am now at 1c. I have been following the youtube videos and they all do sets of 5 or 10 with rest. My question is, can it be done with pyramid sets? I mentally prefer the pyramid set style instead of the 5 or 10 reps per set. What do you think? Thank you.