The burpee has been around for a long time, and its staying power is in its simplicity and quality.
No other exercise combines cardiovascular strength, lower body strength, core strength, upper body strength, and ease-of-access like the burpee. The closest contender would perhaps be running or jumping rope - but both disciplines have significant holes for whole-body fitness. Running does very little for the upper body, and jumping rope only works an extremely localized upper body region, and requires some equipment.
On the other hand, you can do nothing but burpees for your workout routine and work yourself into excellent physical condition. Ideally, burpees are paired with other disciplines like running and pullups for instance. But if you can only pick one, it's hard to imagine a movement better suited to full-body conditioning.
That is why burpees are the workout of choice in the Rhythm of the Sword program. It's hard to go wrong (or get injured) by committing to a reasonable number of burpees on a daily basis. This discipline gives you a good baseline for other, more specialized areas of physical activity.
Finally, simplicity can breed variety. A movement as simple as the burpee can be modified in hundreds of ways, for example with the popular Navy SEAL variation. Also, since burpees are a high-rep activity, the practitioner can try all kinds of arrangements for their sets and workouts. The burpee is highly adaptive and customizable to the individual user.
Give the burpee a try. Old-school, effective, and tough - the king of calisthenics.
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