30 Minutes to Fitness: Athletic Conditioning Volume 2

Athletic Conditioning Vol 2 is the second volume in Kelly Coffey-Meyer‘s Athletic Conditioning series. They are a “young adult series” within her 30 Minutes to Fitness series that was apparently created to help young people stay in shape in their off season. This was explained in Volume 1. Volume 2 just carries the title and has young people (her son and niece) as her background exercisers, but otherwise she doesn’t push the young sports-oriented aspect like she did in the first volume. And I appreciate that. Like all of her 30 Minutes to Fitness workouts there are two approx. 30 minute workouts on this DVD. In Volume 1, she gave you one high intensity cardio workout and one stretch workout. No premixes. In Volume 2 she gives you a very intense metabolic weight training workout and a core workout with some stretching in it. And premixes! I am very pleased with Volume 2. Now, I loved Volume 1, but this one, IMHO, is produced better. And like Volume 1, the two workouts on this DVD work very well together. I did workout 1 and 2 back to back this morning and got an awesome 58 minute workout. This is how I will probably always use this workout–either Workout #1 as a doubles workout, or Workout #1 followed by Workout #2 for my morning workout. However, the premixes make this workout accessible to anyone. Workout #1 is very challenging and maybe you are struggling to get through just one round. Well, she has premixes for you that are only one round and add on parts of Workout #2. Or maybe you worked your way up to 2 rounds but can’t do 3–again, she has premixes for that too. Plus other premixes.

For workout #1 Kelly and crew each only have one set of dumbbells. She and her niece have 10 pound dumbbells and her son has 15 pound dumbbells. On the DVD case it tells you that beginners should use 5 pound dumbbells, intermediate 10 pound dumbbells and advanced 15 pound dumbbells. As usual, I found I needed more than one set of dumbbells to get the most out of this workout. I used 10s, 12s, 15s and 20s. For workout 2, all you need is a mat, no dumbbells.

Workout #1 is 32 minutes; 3:30 minute warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. As mentioned above, Kelly and crew only have one set of dumbbells each but I suggest you have a variety to get the most out of your workout. The workout is set up in 3 rounds. Each round consists of 12 exercises, 10 reps of each exercise; you repeat the same round 3 times. You get no rest between exercises but a brief rest to towel off and get a drink between each round. With the right weights, this is an extremely challenging and awesome metabolic strength workout.

Exercises (each exercise is done for 10 reps; repeat this circuit 3x):

1. Squat w/ bicep curl (stand with legs wide, dumbbells together in front of you, squat low, do a bicep curl then stand); I used 15# DB
2. Pec decks (dumbbells at sides, raise them with straight arms so that they meet at the top, about face level); I used 10# DB
3. Pommel horse (put DBs on the ground, still holding handles/bars and bring feet to the side; jump feet from side to side)
4. Reverse lunge w/ one arm overhead press (overhead press on same side as your lunging leg; 5 reps on each side); I used 10# DB
5. Switch split jumps (one rep = 3 switch split jumps and a pause); no DBs
6. Lawnmower rows (alternate sides so you end up dong 5 each side); I used 20# DBs
7. Overhead tricep extensions (Kelly uses one DB, I used two 12# DBs)
8. Pop squat and figure 8 DB between legs; I used 10# DB
9. Crescent kick into a curtsy lunge (no DBs, 5 reps each leg)
10. Overhead pull (split legs and hold one DB at hip of front leg; circle DB overhead to other hip and change legs); I used 12# DB
11. Bicep curl to overhead press; I used 15# DB
12. Get into bear crawl position holding one DB; row and hold DB at chest, flip over so you are in one arm crab, do an overhead press, then return to bear crawl with DB on ground again (do 5 each side)

Workout #2 is is 26 minutes. Since this workout consists primarily of core work alternated with some stretches there isn’t really a warm up and, tho you do stretch at the end, you are also doing some stretching throughout the workout, so technically no cool down either.

Exercises:

1. Bird dogs; first slow then fast
2. Plank to down dog
3. Bicycles (3 bicycles then pause)
4. Upper body crunches
5. Sit up then lean back on hands and straighten legs; pull knees to chest then straighten legs
6. Lay on stomach, arms to side and bent like a goal post; lift chest and straighten arms overhead then bring back and lower chest (you have the option of also raising your feet while raising your chest)
7. Get into elbow plank; start alternating tapping knees to ground then tap both knees to ground at the same time
8. Pigeon stretch
9. Lay on one forearm and one hip, legs straight and top arm raised overhead; bend knees, bringing them in to chest while bringing arm down
10. Bridge with leg thread (lay on back in bridge with hips raised; raise on knee then thread foot under bent leg)
11. Stay in same position but cross one leg over knee; raise and lower hips
12. Repeat 10 & 11 on other leg
13. Repeat #9 on other side of body
14. Repeat 10, 11 & 12
15. While still on back, stretch one leg to ceiling then figure 4 stretch; repeat on other leg
16. Still on back, raised legs, bend knees and cross feet, hands behind head; cross crunches
17. Reverse crunch (start w/ feet on ground, knees bent and bring legs straight up to ceiling, raising hips, return feet to ground; her niece shows an advanced option where you straighten legs about 6 inches off the ground at bottom of move instead of returning feet to ground)
18. Sit ups w/ 2 punches at top
19. Cobra stretch
20. Get into elbow plank and lift hips and round back, then return to elbow plank; keep alternating–plank to rounded back
21. Low lunge stretch w/ back knee on ground
22. From low lunge, straighten front leg and lean hips back so hamstring is stretched
23. Stand and side stretch
24. Neck stretches

Premixes (all premixes have warm up & stretch):

No Impact Mix 17:49

Single Round + Abs 24:03

Single Round + Core/Stretch 26:25

Double Round 23:25

Double Round + Abs 33:33

Double Round + Core/Stretch 35:54

Triple Round + Abs 44:48

Triple Round + Core/Stretch 43:14