Total Body Transformation

Bob Harper’s Total Body Transformation is a cardio + strength workout. It is primarily metabolic weight training but it gives your shoulders and your lower body some serious work.

This DVD contains two workouts. The full 60 minute workout and a short 14 minute workout. Both are brutal. The problem, however, is that Bob continuously mentions that this is the hardest workout you will ever do. Well… maybe. It depends on how eclectic you are in your workout choices. Make no mistake–it is an exceedingly hard workout. Hardest I’ve ever done….? Eh, not really. Bob clearly hasn’t heard of Insanity. Or Asylum.

Nevertheless, it is a brutal workout that does the job. For this workout you need a variety of weights. Bob and crew have one heavy weight and two light weights. I needed more than that. I used one 15 pound dumbbell, one 12 pound dumbbell, two 10 pound dumbbells, two 8 pound dumbbells and two 5 pound dumbbells. That covered it pretty well for me.

There are 4 exercisers; 2 men and two women. One of the men, Angel, had a hard time getting through this workout. I’ve read reviews that seem to think he was faking his pain. It looked realistic to me. It is a hard workout and it looked like he was having a hard time pushing through it. Bob picked on him a lot, too–pushing him through it. Was Angel faking it? I don’t know, but it didn’t look like it to me. Bob functions mostly as a trainer in this workout, talking, giving instructions and demonstrating form. He did do some of the exercises though–including all of the dive bombers.

The main workout is 60 minutes with a 2 minute warm up. The training time is 53 minutes and the stretch at the end is 5 minutes.

The workout starts with your heaviest dumbbell. I grabbed the 15 pound dumbbell.
Single front arm swings
Single front arm swings with side jump
Snatch series (I changed to 12 pound dumbbell here):
Single front arm swing then hold overhead (straight arm) momentarily
Single front arm front swing then when overhead do shoulder press
Shoulder presses only
Repeat on other arm

Double arm swing (I changed back to the 15 pound dumbbell)

Grab one lighter weight (I grabbed an 8 pound dumbbell)
Cable flies–in a squat, holding dumbbell at opposite knee and, with straight arm, stand and raise dumbbell overhead/to side diagonally
Cable flies while holding squat
Grab other weight
Squat deep with elbows on knees and do bicep curls (10 pound dumbbells)
I dropped to 5 pound dumbbells
Do static lunges with lateral raises
Hold in lunge with dumbbells held isometrically laterally
Pulse
Seated upper body press: in chair pose do shoulder presses
Run in place
Sprint in place
Repeat from cable flies to sprinting in place doing moves on other side of body; exception: when doing static lunges do front raises instead of lateral raises

High/low plyos: jump squats where you touch the floor at the bottom and lift arms overhead at top
Around the world push ups
Hold in high plank
Grab light weights (I grabbed 10 pound dumbbells)
Rows
Rear flies (I lowered to 8 pound dumbbells)

Side burpees
Hold in side plank and do leg raises
Hold in side plank with leg and arm raises
Repeat side plank series on other side

More around the world push ups, but doing more push ups this time.
Hold in high plank

Weighted jumping jacks (I used 5 pound dumbbells)
Weighted sumo squats
Hold in sumo with arms held out at sides (you hold for a long time and set the weights down)
Plyo sumo squats

Dive bombers
Pike plank shoulder presses/pushups
Jumping jacks

Prisoner lunges: with arms behind head do controlled jump lunges
Russian squat kicks: hands remain behind head and squat, kicking while in squat

Dive bomber push ups with one leg raised
Prisoner alternating lunges–no jump lunges this time
Russian squat kicks
Chair pose held isometrically with arms overhead
Dive bombers with other leg raised

Hold plank position
Around the world planks, holding plank in different positions

Bridge series:
Lay on back, knees bent
Raise hips 15 times
Raise right leg out straight with knees level–raise hips 15 times
Cross right leg over left knee–raise hips 15 times
Lift right leg up straight–raise hips 15 times
Repeat bridge series on other leg

Cool down and stretch

Body Power Quick Bonus
Bob keeps saying this is a 10 minute workout but it is actually 14 minutes. You need one light dumbbell for this workout.

Run in place
High knee runs
Jumping jacks

Scorpion series:
Push ups with one leg bent and to the side
Fall back so that bent leg is on the ground, twisting body and raising arm overhead. Raise opposite leg and touch hand.
Combine these movements to make a scorpion push up

Jumping jacks

Scorpion series other side of body
Full scorpion push ups alternating sides

Low jacks (jumping jack while in squat)
Pike plank shoulder presses/push ups
Low jacks
Turkish Getups with light weight
Single arm shoulder presses
Low jacks

Chair poses series:
Pulse in chair pose
Hold chair pose with flat back and arms straight forward

45 second stretch

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