WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: Tar­get your car­dio­vas­cu­lar endurance and aner­o­bic prowess in this total body rou­tine with pro­gres­sive­ly chal­leng­ing cir­cuits. The ​“lad­der-up” for­mat of the car­dio cir­cuits requires you to increase your rep counts by two while alter­nat­ing between two mul­ti­pla­nar exer­cis­es, not only test­ing your phys­i­cal agili­ty, coor­di­na­tion, and sta­mi­na but also stim­u­lat­ing your men­tal engage­ment (mind-mus­cle con­nec­tion). The HIIT (high inten­si­ty inter­val train­ing) seg­ments are straight­for­ward, each includ­ing one exer­cise so that you can tru­ly focus on an all-out, max­i­mum effort for short bouts of time. Train­ing your body to respond to these vary­ing car­dio­vas­cu­lar demands will improve oxy­gen and ener­gy uti­liza­tion, which trans­lates to improved phys­i­cal per­for­mance and bumps up the enjoy­ment fac­tor for your work­out experiences.

Equip­ment: No equip­ment is need­ed for this work­out oth­er than an option­al mat (poten­tial­ly for your push-ups and/​or the moun­tain climbers).

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: Pace your­self dur­ing the 60-sec­ond car­dio inter­vals, aim­ing to fill the entire work­ing inter­val with con­sis­tent, qual­i­ty move­ment. For the HIIT seg­ments, your focus shifts from ener­gy con­ser­va­tion towards using what­ev­er ener­gy you have as quick­ly as pos­si­ble (with min­i­mal regard for sub­se­quent rounds of work). In this work­out, you should feel the exer­tion dif­fer­ence between endurance (around a 5 to 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is max­i­mum effort) and HIIT (between an 8 to 10 on this same scale).

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed as a lev­el 4 due to the coor­di­na­tion required to switch between exer­cis­es in the car­dio cir­cuits as well as the over­all pro­gres­sive increase in inten­si­ty from start to fin­ish. To reduce the difficulty/​intensity, decrease exer­cise range of motion, slow down your cadence, and/​or opt for exer­cise mod­i­fi­ca­tions ver­sus progressions.

Clos­ing Notes: This is a body­weight-only rou­tine so you ulti­mate­ly deter­mine how chal­leng­ing this work­out is for you! Be hon­est with your­self and (safe­ly) lean into the dis­com­fort – work a smidge hard­er than you think you can and remem­ber that we often­times under­es­ti­mate our own capa­bil­i­ties because our brains are designed to pro­tect us from discomfort!

Work­out
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (4:00)
‑Alt. Knee Hugs
‑1/​2‑Pulse Squats
‑Reverse Lunge + Zom­bie March – R
‑Reverse Lunge + Zom­bie March – L
‑Squat-to-Plank Step Back
‑Push-Up + Knee Pull-Ins
‑Jump Rope + Feet Shuffles
‑High Knees (mid-tem­po)

***30 sec off***

-Car­dio Cir­cuit Format/​Directions: 60 sec on / 20 sec off / 2 rounds / Start­ing at 2 reps, ​“lad­der-up” by 2 reps per exer­cise dur­ing each 60-sec­ond work interval.
-HIIT Round Format/​Directions: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 3 rounds

Car­dio Cir­cuit #1: (2:30)
‑Exer­cise 1: Squats
[Tran­si­tion Move: Squat Thrust]
‑Exer­cise 2: Lat­er­al Push-Ups

***30 sec off***

HIIT Round #1: (2:00)
‑Lat­er­al Shuf­fles + Touchdowns

***Water Break #1***

Car­dio Cir­cuit #2: (2:30)
‑Exer­cise 1: Skaters (SL Lat­er­al Hop) + SL Ver­ti­cal Hop (reps total)
[Tran­si­tion Move: Pop-Up Squat Jack]
‑Exer­cise 2: Sumo Squat/​Horse Stance – Alt. Cross Punch­es (reps total)

***30 sec off***

HIIT Round #2: (2:00)
‑Moun­tain Climbers

***Water Break #2***

Fin­ish­er For­mat: Com­plete Exer­cis­es 1 and 2, 20 sec each, no rest between exer­cis­es. Rest for 20 sec then com­plete Exer­cise 3 for 20 sec. Rest 20 sec before com­plet­ing the cir­cuit again.
‑Ex1: 20 sec on / Ex 2: 20 sec on / Rest: 20 sec off / Ex 3: 20 sec on = 2 rounds (20 sec off between rounds) – an advanced math equation

Fin­ish­er Cir­cuit #1: (3:00)
‑Exer­cise 1: Squat-to-Plank Step Back
‑Exer­cise 2: Squat Thrusts
***20 sec off***
‑Exer­cise 3: Burpees

***30 sec off***

Fin­ish­er Cir­cuit #2: (3:00)
‑High Knee March
‑High Knee A‑Skips
***20 sec off***
‑High Knees

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 4:00)
‑Split Stance Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – R
‑Hamstrings/​Hip Hinge Stretch – R
‑Split Stance Quads/​Hip Flex­ors Stretch – L
‑Hamstrings/​Hip Hinge Stretch – L
‑Over­head Tri­ceps Exten­sion + Lats Stretch R
‑Over­head Tri­ceps Exten­sion + Lats Stretch L
‑Chest Open­er Stretch
‑Stand­ing Cat/​Cow Stretch