WORKOUT

This work­out serves as Day 1 of our FB Remixed 2 week chal­lenge, but can be used as a stand­alone work­out anytime!

Focus & Ben­e­fits: This work­out is a ​“remix” of Brian’s first Fit­ness Blender work­out video, Quick Dumb­bell and Car­dio Cir­cuits: Upper and Low­er Body Strength with Car­dio. The pop­u­lar­i­ty of the orig­i­nal rou­tine stems from the effi­cient for­mat and sequenc­ing of the strength and car­dio exer­cis­es that has us con­tin­u­ous­ly switch­ing between extrem­i­ties with very lit­tle down­time from start to fin­ish. This reimag­ined rou­tine fol­lows a sim­i­lar flow/​structure and has the same goal of pro­vid­ing you with a total body con­di­tion­ing rou­tine to improve the interplay/​communication among the car­dio­vas­cu­lar, res­pi­ra­to­ry, and mus­cu­loskele­tal sys­tems (a super fan­cy way of say­ing that this work­out is a great way to devel­op over­all fitness).

Equip­ment: You’ll need your ​“medi­um” weights rel­a­tive to what you typ­i­cal­ly lift for your low­er and upper body work­outs. Note that the work inter­vals are only 30 sec­onds so your weight choic­es should be light enough to stay in motion and opti­mize your move­ment through­out the work­out but heavy enough to chal­lenge your rep com­ple­tions dur­ing the last 7 to 10 sec­onds of each inter­val. A mat could also be help­ful as a buffer between your weights and the floor for the goril­la rows.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: Pre­view the work­out to set­up your weights before press­ing play! You’ll only have 10 sec­onds of tran­si­tion time between exer­cis­es and there is no extra recov­ery time between the three rounds of each cir­cuit; there­fore, con­sid­er­ing your weight selec­tions ahead of time/​setting them up in an eas­i­ly acces­si­ble fash­ion in your work­out space will help save you some time and men­tal ener­gy dur­ing this quick-paced routine.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed as a lev­el 4 due to the quick pac­ing, lit­tle recov­ery time between exer­cis­es, and over­all sequenc­ing and for­mat. You’ll also notice that there is a ​“Fun Twist” for each cir­cuit. You can omit this tem­po change to decrease the dif­fi­cul­ty of the work­out and/​or decrease your weights, range of motion, as well as slow down the pace of exe­cu­tion for any of the exercises.

Clos­ing Notes: Have fun with this rou­tine! And always remem­ber that Bri­an is the one to blame for the inclu­sion of the burpee. It might seem like I’m the one to blame for the Fin­ish­er but let’s go ahead and just blame Bri­an for that as well.

Work­out
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (4:00)
‑Squat + Alt. Knee Hugs
‑Reverse Lunge + 2x Tor­so Rota­tions (in lunge + stand­ing) – R
‑Reverse Lunge + 2x Tor­so Rota­tions (in lunge + stand­ing ) – L
‑Inch­worm + Shoul­der Taps
‑Full Plank: Rene­gade Rows
‑Squat Jack Touch­downs (mid-tem­po)
‑Squat Thrusts (slow tem­po / option: no hop)
‑Arm Cir­cle Jump­ing Jacks

***30 sec off***

My Weights (not a rec­om­men­da­tion, just a reference):
‑Low­er Body (Medi­um): 20 lbs. (9.1 kg)
‑Upper Body (Medi­um): 15 lbs. (6.8 kg) / 20 lbs. (9.1 kg)

Cir­cuit For­mat: 30 sec on / 10 sec off / 3 rounds (blame Bri­an for the 3 rounds)
Cir­cuit #1: Ante­ri­or Focus – Low­er Body Strength / Upper Body Strength / Total Body Cardio
Cir­cuit #2: Pos­te­ri­or Focus – Low­er Body Strength / Upper Body Strength / Total Body Cardio

Cir­cuit #1: (6:00)
*Fun Twist: For Exer­cis­es 1 & 2, alter­nate com­plet­ing 3 reps at nor­mal tem­po imme­di­ate­ly fol­lowed by 3 mid-range puls­ing reps.
‑Front Squat
‑Over­head Press (neu­tral grip)
‑Squat Jack Touch­downs + Over­head Claps

***Water Break***

Cir­cuit #2: (6:00)
*Fun Twist: For Exer­cis­es 1 & 2, pause for 2 – 3 sec­onds every 3^rd rep.
‑Alt. Curt­sy Lunges + Knee Drive
‑Goril­la Rows
‑180-Degree Squat Jump + Burpee

***30 sec off***

Total Body Con­di­tion­ing Fin­ish­er: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 3 rounds (2:00)
(still Brian’s fault)
‑Thrusters

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 4:00)
‑Split Stance Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – R
‑Pyra­mid Ham­strings Stretch – L
‑Split Stance Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – L
‑Pyra­mid Ham­strings Stretch – R
‑Neck/​Traps Stretch – R
‑Neck/​Traps Stretch – L
‑Chest Open­er Stretch + Wrist Rotations
‑Slow Body Roll-Downs