Burpee REHIT is a five-minute cardio protocol built on the most efficient idea in exercise science: REHIT, or reduced-exertion high-intensity training. The research behind it found that a handful of very short, truly maximal bursts embedded in easy movement can deliver outsized cardiovascular gains - the catch being that the bursts have to be genuinely all-out. Here, the easy movement is half step jacks or march steps, and the bursts are burpees. Two windows. Twenty seconds each. That's the whole bill.

This one works differently from the usual Darebee circuit: it's a single continuous timed sequence, not sets and reps. You move easy for 90 seconds, go all-out on burpees for 20, return to easy movement for another 90, hit 20 more seconds of maximal burpees, then close with 80 seconds of easy movement. The long, gentle stretches aren't padding - they keep the blood moving and the body warm so each sprint window launches from readiness rather than cold, and they let you actually empty the tank twice. The physiology hinges on those two windows: an all-out effort rapidly depletes the muscles' glycogen stores, which signals the heart and metabolism to adapt in ways that polite, steady effort never demands. Five minutes, most of it easy, all of it earning.

Keep the easy segments genuinely easy - a relaxed rhythm you could hold while talking. When the burpee window opens, spend it completely: full sequence every rep, chest low in the plank, feet in, jump tall, no pacing yourself for a future that's only 20 seconds long. Count nothing; the clock is the only rep scheme. Land soft throughout, because maximal never means sloppy.

Two twenty-second windows a day, and the door to real fitness swings open. The burpees just make sure you feel the hinges.

Make it Harder: Upgrade the easy segments to full jumping jacks while keeping the burpee windows all-out.

Make it Easier: Step the burpees out and in during the sprint windows and march the easy segments.