According to Christine Bullock‘s website, Super Shred is Evolution 20 on hyperdrive. So if you’ve done Evolution 20 and are ready to kick it up a notch–Christine has you covered with Super Shred. She keeps the 20 minute workout format and still gives you multiple levels to do the workout at. One big difference in these workouts is equipment–you need dumbbells for two of these workouts.
Unlike the Evolution 20 program, she has no exercisers with her. That means Christine is doing the entire workout with you. No breaks for form pointers like she does in Evolution 20. In the Super Shred workouts, Christine is clearly working hard. These workouts tax her, too. In fact, she even mentions in one of the workouts that these are the same workouts she does. She only works out 20 minutes a day and at this intensity. So everything is tested on her and if it works for her, she brings it to us on DVD. However, because of this you also do not get the same amount of modifications that you do in the original Evolution 20.
I definitely found these workouts more advanced and challenging than the workouts in Evolution 20. I also liked them a lot better. I loved 3 of them: Metabolic Blast, Tour De Force and Total Knockout. I did not really care for Core Crusher but that is entirely due to the fact I hate loooooong core workouts. Not fun at all to me. They are all intense calorie burners that fit very nicely into the Evolution 20 program. However, there is no instructions on how to incorporate them into the Evolution 20 rotation. But they’re 4 workouts and for each phase of Evolution 20 there are 5 workouts. So I would assume, that you do one workout a day just like in Evolution 20, separating the ones that use dumbbells from each other by a day and on the 5th day, do one of the Balance workouts from Evolution 20, which is yoga. Unlike the original, there is no yoga workout in this collection.
Metabolic Blast is 20 minutes long; 2 minute warm up and 1 minute stretch. This is an intense little cardio + strength workout and I really liked it a lot. Christine was working very hard–she was breathing hard, too! You need dumbbells and a mat. Christine only uses 4 pound dumbbells, but I used 12, 10, and 8 pound dumbbells. The workout consists of 4 supersets. Each superset consists of 1 minute of a compound strength move and 30 seconds of cardio. You repeat each circuit once. If a move is done on one side of the body, when you repeat the circuit it is done on the other side of the body. The workout ends w/ four 30 second cardio blasts. Excellent little workout.
Superset 1:
Strength: wide squat, hammer curl, overhead press and twist torso to side while arms are overhead; alternate sides (I used 12# DBs)
Cardio: Jump squats + kick, alternate sides (I used 8# DBs)
Repeat
Superset 2:
Strength: Tick-Tock deadlift (warrior 3 while pushing DBs up behind you, palms to sky and arms straight, come to standing and raise knee while doing a bicep curl) (I used 8# DBs)
Cardio: single leg burpee
Repeat
Superset 3:
Strength: front lunge pass (alternating front lunges while passing one DB under front leg) (I used 10# DB)
Cardio: weighted alternating plyo lunge jumps (I used 10# DB)
Repeat
Superset 4:
Strength: Static curtsy lunges w/ overhead press (I used 10# DBs)
Cardio: speed skaters
Repeat
Cardio Finisher: Each exercise is done for 30 seconds, no DBs used
- Mountain climbers
- Star jump (air jacks)
- Bullock Bounce (get into quadruped and move feet to one side of mat; jump feet from one side of the mat to the other)
- Heel claps (fast jumps while tapping heels together)
Tour De Force is 20 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 1 minute stretch. An excellent and intense little cardio workout. This one is made up of mini circuits of exercises: you do 2 exercises; each is done for 30 seconds then you repeat them before moving onto the next circuit. You get a brief rest between circuits. There are 6 two minute circuits then the workout ends w/ 1:30 minutes of core work. No equipment needed except a fitness mat.
Circuit 1: 1. jump forward and back, moving laterally the length of your mat; 2. skiers (scissor legs moving laterally); repeat
Circuit 2: 1. fast feet, running feet wide and narrow while moving forward the length of the mat and back; 2. frog jumps (squat jump, touching fingertips to floor, plus two narrow little hops; keep repeat moving forward the length of the mat until you get to the end then do a 180 squat jump to turn around); repeat
Circuit 3: 1. crab walk (crab walk forward the length of the mat then back); 2. plank walk w/ mountain climbers (one plank walk + one mountain climber); repeat (second time through add tapping toe w/ opposite hand to the crab walk)
Circuit 4: 1. side shuffle the length of the mat and touch ground w/ outside hand; 2. lateral heismans; repeat (the second time through on exercise #1 change the touch to ground to a burpee)
Circuit 5: 1. break dancer (in bear/quadruped, twist knees side to side); 2. plank ladder (or pike ladder jumps) (start in plank, jump feet in a little then back out, jump feet in further then back out, jump feet in furthest then back out–so 3 jumps, closer to hands each time); repeat
Circuit 6: 1. single leg hop, hopping the length of the mat (change legs the second time through circuit); 2. chimney jumps (4 tuck jumps moving them length of the mat, jog around back to start); repeat
Core: 1. V-ups (banana to bent knee boat); 2. bicycle maneuver
Total Knockout is 20 minutes long; warm up is 2 minutes long and the stretch is 1 minute long. For such a short little workout, this a pretty excellent total body strength training workout. There is no impact in this workout–so entirely low impact. The workout ends w/ a weighted boxing blast that does get the heart rate up, but again–no impact. This workout is made up of 6 circuits; each circuit is made up of 2 exercises and each exercise is done for 30 seconds then repeated. You need dumbbells and a mat for this workout. Christine only uses a set of 4 pound dumbbells but I used a much bigger variety than that. 3, 5, 8, 15 and 20 pound dumbbells.
Circuit 1:
1. lay on back, knees bent, heels on floor; do a chest press while also doing a hip lift (20# DBs)
2. weighted one leg teaser (one leg bent and foot on floor, other leg raised, hold DBs w/ straight arms and roll torso down then raise torso up pushing DBs toward knees) (5# DBs)
Repeat circuit
Circuit 2:
1. tricep dips in crab
2. overhead press in V sit, feet raised off floor and knees bent (8#DBs)
Repeat circuit
Circuit 3:
1. renegade rows (20# DBs)
2. side plank shoulder shredder (while in side plank, place tricep against side w/ elbow bent and DB toward ceiling; bend at elbow, moving forearm/DB down, then back up then press DB to ceiling ) (8# DB)
Repeat circuit
Circuit 4:
1. tush push (get on knees, holding DBs against thighs, lean torso backward, not bending knees or hips; as you lean torso back you also do front raise w/ DBs) (8# DBs)
2. knee push ups w/ leg raise/kick, alternate legs
Repeat circuit
Circuit 5:
1. squat w/ wide bicep curl (15# DB)
2. side reach (come down into deep plie squat and hold DBs together in front of chest; lean side-to-side, tapping elbows to top of thighs) (8# DBs)
Repeat circuit
Circuit 6:
1. static curtsy lunges w/ chest press (8# DBs)
2. curtsy lunge w/ knee raise/oblique crunch while hold DBs together in front of chest (8# DBs)
Repeat circuit
Boxing Circuit:
1. lunge, touching DB to floor, stand and front kick while punching w/ opposite DB (5# DBs)
2. alternating upper cuts in low squat (5# DBs)
3. fast front punches (3# DBs)
Repeat boxing circuit
Core Crusher is 20:30 minutes long. No actual warm up. The workout consists of 2 circuits that containing 6 exercises. The first move of the first circuit is the “warm up.” You repeat each circuit once. There is a short 1 minute stretch at the end. This is basically a pilates workout. And it is very tough and intense, but I simply do not care for 20 minutes straight of hard core work, so even tho it is an excellent and effective workout, I probably will not return to it. All that is needed for this workout is a mat. The first time through the circuit, Christine kind of eases you into each exercise to show you the different levels. What I will be describing below is the most advanced level of the exercise, but know that for the majority of the exercises she does give you easier options.
Circuit 1:
- Roll down (stand at edge of mat and spinal roll down till hands are on floor, walk hands out the plank, walk hands back to feet and roll back up standing)
- Plank windshield wiper (in straight arm plank, bring one knee under you to same side wrist, then move knee to opposite armpit, return to same side wrist; switch legs)
- Heel tap (lay on back w/ knees bent and heels on floor; raise head/neck/shoulders and reach hands to sides to tap heels)
- Side plank kick (get into modified side plank (bottom knee bent); raise and lower hips while kicking top straight leg in front of you whole touching toe w/ top arm)
- Sweaty angel (lay on floor spread eagle; sit up while raising one straight leg and opposite straight arm, touching foot w/ finger tips)
- Cannon ball burpee (roll like a cannon ball up onto your feet, stand up and jump)
Repeat circuit
Circuit 2:
- Runner crunch (in V sit, do a sort of bicycle move, bringing elbow to knee)
- V- Flip (do a full bent knee sit up; at the top of the move, place one hand on floor, push up into one arm crab, hips raised, and reach other arm overhead twisting to side, keeping both feet flat on floor)
- Ab jack (lay on back w/ hands under bottom to support back, bend knees and raise feet off ground; push then out straight and open and close straight legs then pull knees in; this changes to raising straight legs to ceiling then lowering legs a few inches off floor and doing the “jack” legs)
- Straight leg V-ups on hip
- Banana roll (lay out in banana, roll over to belly to superman, swim arms and legs, roll back to banana)
- Spider jump (wide mountain climbers, so feet go to outside of hands)
Repeat circuit
