Now, I will admit, I do not own a vast library of Patrick Goudeau workouts, but of the ones I do own, I’ve come expect something from him: a brutal and taxing workout. So with the title of Hard Work Conditioning (and after doing Hard Work Conditioning 2) I was expecting some seriously hard work. Uhm…. Not so much.
Now, I don’t want to be unfair! This is a very solid workout and a fun one, too. I really like it a lot. But compared to the other 3 Patrick workouts I’ve done so far: Hard Work 2, Extreme Calorie Burn and Lean Hot Body, Hard Work 1 is easy. I came to this workout using conservative weights since I know from doing my other Patrick workouts that the first time through you just don’t go heavy—you have to give it a once through first before you determine the appropriate weights. I could have gone much heavier on some of these exercises. I will say that, like his other workouts, he uses primarily compound moves, so not only can you not go super heavy, but because he moves from one exercise to the next quickly, it does make it difficult to always use the appropriate weight for a particular exercise. That is a little frustrating. This is not a high rep workout, so when I would try to change to the appropriate weight I would miss reps, which I didn’t care for since in the case of this workout, every rep is essential. None of the exercises were terribly hard or complicated, but some were challenging. Most were doable. There are a lot of balance moves in this workout, more than in the other 3. In addition, though in each circuit he moves from compound move to compound move quickly, you actually get recovery time between circuits—so overall, not nearly as fast-paced as the other 3. And finally, in the other 3 the cardio blasts can primarily be labeled as HIITs, though sometimes they are more high intensity–but not all out intensity. In this one? For the most part they are just cardio intervals. Most are not terribly intense. And even the more intense cardio intervals are not HIIT level intensity.
None of this makes this a bad workout. It just makes it very different from Patrick’s other workouts that I have done thus far. The other 3 are advanced level. Hard Work 1 is intermediate and a great place for people to start before working up to his advanced metabolic strength workouts. I have decided after doing this workout that I need to get Hard Work Conditioning 24/7. I went to Patrick’s website and viewed a clip of it and though some of the compound moves do look awkward, I am going to give it a go. He has another one that has intrigued me as well called Kitchen Sink. I’ll probably get that, too as well as his medicine ball workouts. After that, I think I will own all of Patrick’s workouts that I am interested in owning (until he comes out with something new that interests me).
Patrick has several ways you can do this workout:
30 minute workout (includes warm up and stretch)
40 minute workout (includes warm up and stretch
Section one only (Circuits 1-4 below) (no warm up or stretch/20 minutes)
Section two only (Circuits 5-8 below) (no warm up or stretch/30 minutes)
For Hard Work Conditioning you need a step at 6 inches, a mat and several sets of dumbbells. Patrick is using 10 and 12 pound dumbbells. I had 8, 10 and 12 pound dumbbells and used them all. In the future I will go heavier on some exercises that I used 8 and 10 pounds on (though those weights were appropriate for some exercises) and also use 15 pound dumbbells for some exercises.
Hard Work Conditioning is 61 minutes long; 1 minute intro, 5:30 minute warm up, 49:30 minutes training time and 4 minute stretch. This workout is set up in circuit format.
1. Start on step with heaviest dumbbells held at shoulders. Step down, touch knee to opposite shoulder, step back up and squat. Stay on step in squat and tap outer leg on and off step while doing running man arms. Cardio: Put dumbbells on ground and tap and hop across step laterally. Repeat everything on other side.
2. Grab light dumbbells and stand on step with legs wide. Do curtsey lunge off step and at top of move raise one knee with overhead press. Lunge with reverse bow and arrow: put one foot on step and the other behind you in lunge; as you pulse down in lunge you raise one arm straight in front of you (still holding dumbbell) and as you come up (you are doing a static lunge with pulses at the bottom), you you raise knee, pull dumbbell back to shoulder while punching other arm (with dumbbell) forward. Do curtsey lunges and lunge with reverse bow and arrow on other side of body. Set dumbbells down and get behind step. Cardio: low step touches tapping step; change to fast side to side shuffles tapping step.
3. Grab dumbbells (he says light or heavy but he grabs his heavy). Stand on step. Lunge back and pulse 3 times, then come up, keeping leg behind you and do 3 knees into back leg extensions with hammer curls. Stand on step on one leg and do hammer curls. Come forward over step into front lunge and do static lunges (one foot still on step) with one arm hammer curls. Repeat on other side of body. Stand behind step and do fast shuffle taps onto step; change to taps with jacks.
4. Grab one light weight. Stand behind step and do side lunge onto step raising dumbbell into side lateral extension at top of move. Set dumbbell down and do front leg extensions. Cardio: step tap onto step; change to step jump. Do everything on other side of body.
5. Put mat on top of step. Grab heavy weights and lay on back on top of step; hold one leg straight out and the other bent above you. Do chest flies. Hold dumbbells together and bring arms and legs in then press out. Put dumbbells down. Come to corner of step and sit on hip, knees raised and one arm behind head; touch elbow to opposite knee–fast. Put dumbbells on either side of step near top (where head/arms will be) and get into plank position over step holding dumbbells. Do plank to superman on step. Renegade rows. Cardio: 180 jump squats with one foot on step. Repeat everything on other side of body.
6. Grab dumbbells (he says light or heavy but he grabs his light). Put one foot on step and do one arm horizontal rows. Get into warrior 3 with finger tips touching step and do one arm row (with same arm that did horizontal rows). Up and overs; similar to overhead press but he states it is working lats. Repeat exercises on other side of body.
7. Put mat back on step. Get on all 4s with one light dumbbells. Tricep kickbacks. One kickback then push dumbbell in front of you while kicking opposite leg back. Take mat off step. Come forward in plank with feet on step. Step feet on and off step; change to plank jacks on and off step. Repeat on other side of body.
8. Grab light dumbbells and do weighted burpees. Hold dumbbells overhead and swing one leg back and forth in pendulum. Do burpees and pendulum on other side of body. Get into wide squat, put elbows on thighs and do bicep curls. Put dumbbells down. Stand behind step with legs wide. Lunge side to side then come up and tap top of step while staying low in squat. Grab one light dumbbell and do windmills. While holding dumbbell overhead, raise knee on same side of body as dumbbell and touch elbow to knee. Do windmill and knee to elbow on other side of body. Grab other light dumbbell and sit cross-legged on the front of your step. Hold dumbbells on front of you with with elbows bent and palms up. Rotate dumbbells to side, then push out until arms are straight (shoulder work). Put one dumbbell down. Lay back on step and do Turkish get ups on step. Repeat shoulder work and Turkish get up on other side of body.
Stretch.
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