Solution: Exercises with squat thrusts and jumps - NYT Crossword

These are a vital component of functional fitness, that noble brand of exercise that at least tries to develop all the muscles that are laid waste by a sedentary lifestyle. I’ve struggled through them many times and always figured that BURPEES were so named because of how they shook the body up, if you know what I mean, but they were actually the invention of a Ph.D. student in applied physiology named Royal Huddleston Burpee back in the 1930s. (This is a very Wes Anderson-sounding story, isn’t it? Now I’ll always think of them as “Royal Burpees,” which unfortunately won’t make them any easier to do correctly.)