WORKOUT

This work­out serves as Day 1 of our Strength and Car­dio with Bri­an 10-Day Chal­lenge but can be used as a stand­alone work­out anytime!

Hey Team!

Wel­come to Day 1 of my 10-day chal­lenge! We’re kick­ing things off on the right foot with a pow­er­ful work­out designed to build strength and endurance. Today’s ​“Strength with Drop Sets” work­out fol­lows my Full-Body Drop Set Cir­cuit work­out. This work­out will tar­get mul­ti­ple mus­cle groups, includ­ing your legs, back, arms, and core, using a mix of dumb­bell and body­weight exer­cis­es. The drop set for­mat ensures you’ll chal­lenge your mus­cles to the max, pro­mot­ing mus­cle growth and car­dio. This work­out is per­fect for any­one look­ing to build strength, improve mus­cle endurance, and enjoy a struc­tured, chal­leng­ing routine.

Equip­ment needed:

• Dumb­bells (Light, Medi­um, Heavy)
• Mat (Option­al)

We are start­ing Day 1 with a two-round warm-up of exer­cis­es, each last­ing 30 sec­onds, includ­ing arm cir­cles, high knees, inch­worms, lat­er­al lunges, hip cir­cles, the World’s Great­est Stretch on both sides, and butt kicks. We all know how impor­tant it is to get that body warm. So, we will be focus­ing on a com­bi­na­tion of car­dio and mobil­i­ty move­ments to get things going.

Today’s main work­out is a 27-minute func­tion­al strength drop set cir­cuit designed to keep things excit­ing and effec­tive. This cir­cuit is struc­tured in a no-repeat, bored-easy for­mat while tar­get­ing var­i­ous mus­cle groups. You’ll spend 40 sec­onds on each exer­cise, fol­lowed by a 20-sec­ond rest peri­od. You may need to change weights often dur­ing this work­out, so use these short breaks to adjust your weights or tran­si­tion to the next exercise.

Dur­ing this work­out, we’ll engage mul­ti­ple mus­cle groups and focus on func­tion­al strength. For instance, dumb­bell dead­lifts and swings will work your ham­strings, glutes, and low­er back, pro­mot­ing bet­ter pos­ture and sta­bil­i­ty in dai­ly activ­i­ties. Rene­gade rows and bent-over rows will tar­get your upper back and core, which can improve your pos­ture and help with lift­ing and car­ry­ing tasks. Split squats and lunges focus on your legs and glutes, strength­en­ing them for bet­ter bal­ance and mobil­i­ty. Exer­cis­es like push-ups and tri­cep dips will chal­lenge your upper body, enhanc­ing your abil­i­ty to push and lift objects. Core exer­cis­es such as planks and seat­ed twists will strength­en your abs and obliques, sup­port­ing your low­er back and improv­ing over­all core stability.

Each exer­cise is designed to build strength and improve func­tion­al move­ment pat­terns, mak­ing every­day tasks eas­i­er and more effi­cient. Also, with today’s work­out, because we are focus­ing on drop sets, the goal each round is to low­er your weight. So you may start the first exer­cise with a heavy weight, but we will reduce the weight or drop to body­weight exer­cis­es in the fol­low­ing exer­cis­es. Remem­ber to use the 20-sec­ond rest peri­ods to adjust your weights and pre­pare for the next move.

As always, the Team remem­bers that form is cru­cial for max­i­miz­ing results and pre­vent­ing injury. For this work­out, there are a few exer­cis­es I real­ly want you to focus on when it comes to your form. For the dumb­bell dead­lift, keep your back flat and core engaged. Low­er the dumb­bells slow­ly, feel­ing the stretch in your ham­strings. In rene­gade rows, main­tain a sta­ble plank posi­tion, and if it’s chal­leng­ing, switch to a table­top mod­i­fi­ca­tion. Dur­ing push-ups, keep a straight line from your head to your heels, low­er­ing your body until your chest near­ly touch­es the floor. For the alter­nat­ing dumb­bell clean and snatch, focus on using your hips to dri­ve the move­ment and avoid using your low­er back.

This cir­cuit’s struc­ture of 40 sec­onds of work fol­lowed by 20 sec­onds of rest keeps your heart rate up and your mus­cles work­ing hard. The drop set approach for exer­cis­es like the bicep curls and tri­cep dips ensures you’re push­ing your mus­cles to their lim­its, even as they fatigue. This work­out is designed to be chal­leng­ing but scaleable. To make it less intense, start with lighter dumb­bells. To make it more intense, increase the weight of your dumb­bells. Also, I will show any mod­i­fi­ca­tions or offer sug­ges­tions for each exer­cise as needed.

We’ll fin­ish today’s work­out with a five-minute cooldown. Through­out this chal­lenge, we will be push­ing our­selves to take more time with each cooldown. The cooldown will focus on reliev­ing ten­sion in areas that worked hard dur­ing the ses­sion such as ham­strings, low­er back, and hips. It will also gen­tly stretch your upper body, help­ing to release any tight­ness in your neck and shoulders.

Now, Team, it’s time to get start­ed. Remem­ber, start­ing strong sets the tone for the rest of our chal­lenge. Keep push­ing, stay con­sis­tent, and cel­e­brate your progress along the way. As you move through each day, remem­ber this quote: ​“The only bad work­out is the one that did­n’t hap­pen.” Keep this in mind, and let’s crush this chal­lenge together.

After your work­out, share your thoughts and expe­ri­ences in the com­ments below — we’re in this together!

Work­out Structure

Warm-up — 2 Rounds, 30 Sec­onds Each (8 min)

• Arm Cir­cles
• High Knees
• Inch­worms
• Lat­er­al Lunges
• Hip Cir­cles
• World’s Great­est Stretch L
• World’s Great­est Stretch R
• Butt Kicks

Func­tion­al Strength Drop Set Cir­cuit — 1 Round, 40 sec­onds work / 20 sec­onds rest (27 Min)

• Dumb­bell Deadlift
• Dumb­ell Swings
• Body­weight Good Mornings
• Rene­gade Rows / Table Top Mod­i­fi­ca­tion is needed
• Bent Over Rows
• Delt Rows
• Split Squats L
• Split Squats R
• Body­weight Alt Fwd Lunges
• Decline Floor Press
• Close Grip Press (1 dumbbell)
• Push-ups
• Alter­nat­ing Dumb­bell Clean
• Alt Snatch­es — — — > Need a short on Snatch form
• Body­weight Jump Squats
• Ham­mer Curl
• Bicep Curl
• Light Alt.Bicep Curls (burn-out set)
• Seat­ed Twists
• Plank with Shoul­der Tap
• Moun­tain Climbers
• DB Hip Thrust (box, bench needed)
• DB Glute bridges
• Body­weight Glute Bridge
• Tri­cep Kickbacks
• OH Tri­cep Ext.
• Tri­cep Dips (use bench or chair)

Cool Down — 1 Round, 40 Sec­onds Each (5 min)

• Stand­ing For­ward Fold
• Neck Stretch L
• Neck Stretch R
• Pigeon Stretch L
• Pigeon Stretch R
• Seat­ed For­ward Fold
• But­ter­fly Stretch
• Seat­ed Twist L
• Seat­ed Twist R
• Childs Pose