Barlates: Full Body HIIT Series

Full Body HIIT contains three approx. 20 minute workouts. I loved these workouts. Not only are they great workouts on their own, but because of their length, the can be used in other ways. I can use them as my doubles workout which is how I did them the first time I tried them (my second workout of the day after I get home from work). I can use them for my morning workout–doing all 3, one after the other, for an intense hour long cardio/metabolic weight training workout. And I can use them as an add on in lots of ways. As a finisher after a strength workout, as a warm up before yoga and even combined with one (or two, or three) of Linda’s other workouts. I am in love with her Back Strength workout. Any one of these could be used to finish that off nicely and give me an hour long workout. The two ways I envision using these workouts next is first doing all 3–in the following order: Full Body Ballet Box Express, Full Body Weights Express and end with Full Body Barre Express. Skip the stretches at the end of the first two and you have an intense workout that is approx. 53 minutes. I feel Full Body Ballet Express, since it is the least intense of the 3, serves as the warm up and then the workouts build in intensity. And if I want to do a shorter workout, I would do two. Full Body Ballet Box Express always the first (warm up) one then follow with one of the other two. If I skip Full Body Ballet Box Express stretch that is a 36 minute workout.

***8/30/17 update: This morning I did this whole DVD as described above: Full Body Ballet Box Express, Full Body Weights Express and I ended with Full Body Barre Express, skipping the stretches at the end of the first two. Wow! That was incredibly intense! Since there is a one minute intro at the beginning of each, I got a one minute recovery between them. And I needed it! Incredible hour long workout! I will definitely be returning to this one. I forgot to increase my dumbbells on Full Body Ballet Box Express to 5 pounders and after going through it with 3 pounds again, I definitely need to increase it to 5 pounds. Must remember next time. The rest of my dumbbell weights are still pretty appropriate. That final exercise in Full Body Barre Express, which was also the final exercise in the workout when doing them back to back as I did, Frog Jumps w/ bicep curls was killer. I was struggling! Definitely an intense and incredible hour long workout when done back to back.***

Though I purchased the DVD, all of these workouts are also available for free on YouTube. Because of this, I have already reviewed each workout below individually after doing it and linking those reviews to the YouTube versions. So if you’ve already read those reviews then you can stop here. If not, and are interested in getting the DVD collection, I also link to my other reviews in each of the breakdown/reviews below in case you want to preview each workout before you buy it.

Full Body Weights Express 21 minutes w/ a 1 minute intro and no warm up; 3:30 minute stretch. This was an excellent workout. It is a short but intense metabolic strength workout hitting just about every muscle in your body and in only 16 minutes. Equipment: one medium set and one heavy set of dumbbells. Linda used 5kg (10 pound) and 7kg (15 pound) dumbbells. I used 8, 15 and 20 pound dumbbells. The set up is 16 exercises. Each exercise is done for 50 seconds with 10 seconds of rest between exercises. This workout was tough and was obviously wearing Linda out–she was working hard and breathing hard! So was I! Listed below are the weights Linda used and the weights I used for each exercise. If I just list the weight, I used the same as Linda.

1. Clean and press burpee (15# DBs)
2. Lunge w/ wood chop (one 15# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2–#2 on other leg
4. Bicep curls to overhead press (15# DBs)
5. One arm row in low lunge w/ other hand on ground (Linda used one 15# DB, I used one 20# DB)
6. Repeat #4 & 5–#5 on other side of body
7. In plank, do a one arm row, bring DB forward then fly the DB to side (Linda used one 10# DB, I used one 8# DB)
8. Standing and holding one DB in both hands, lower DB to ground beside one foot then twist and push DB overhead other side of body (one 15# DB)
9. Repeat 7 & 8 on other side of body
10. Side plank hip dips while pressing one DB to ceiling (like a one arm overhead press while in side plank) (Linda used one 10# DB, I used one 8# DB)
11. Tuck ups (set two DBs on floor about hip distance apart, C-sit torso, hands behind you and thrust legs to one side of DBs, between DBs and to other side of DBs)
12. Repeat #10 on other side of body
13. Repeat #11 pattern except this time split legs around each DB when you thrust your legs toward it but still thrust both feet between DBs

Full Body Barre Express is a very intense little cardio workout. Though it is 21 minutes long the actual “work” period is 16  minutes long. There is no warm up and the stretch is 3:30 minutes. The structure is 16 exercises, each done for 50 seconds with 10 seconds of rest. You alternate toning moves w/ cardio moves. You use light handweights and a barre or chair. The handweights are to increase intensity. Linda used 1kg (2 pound) handweights. I used 3, 5 and 8 pound handweights. I found this to be very intense. It definitely builds and, as usual, Linda burns out whatever muscle she is making you work. It was 16 minutes of hard work! Though my FitBit didn’t agree, it felt as if it got to the HIIT level. Excellent little workout! I listed below what dumbbell weight I used for each exercise. The weight of the dumbbells you use will contribute to the intensity of the workout.

1. In plié squat, raise and lower heels while doing bicep hammer curls (8# DBs)
2. Plie jack touching DBs to floor then push DBs overhead while doing two foot cross/hop-jacks (5# DBs)
3. Come into lunge and shift hips forward and back while doing bicep hammer curls pushing back to tricep kickbacks (but not leaning torso forward) (8# DBs)
4. Step back, touching one DB to floor then jump up raising knee (5# DBs)
5. Repeat 3 & 4 on other side of body
6. W/ one hand on barre/chair, raise onto toes while bending knees and pulse while holding other arm out in front of you and rotating DB (one 3# DB)
7. Burpee w/ two jumps, pushing DBs overhead (5# DBs)
8. W/ on hand on barre/chair (opposite side from #6), raise onto toes while bending knees tuck hips in and out while holding other arm out in front of you and rotating DB (one 3# DB)
9. Swinging hinge w/ a hop at top while kicking one leg in front of you, alternate legs (the swinging is swinging the DBs up and down at sides as you hinge forward) (8# DBs)
10. With hands on chair back/barre, leg raised and back in attitude, pulse leg up 4x then kick it out in attitude position 4x
11. Start in down dog, kick one leg up in 3 leg dog w/ a jump, bring same knee in under chest then do 4 mountain climbers
12. Repeat #10 & #11 on other leg
13. W/ hand on back of chair/barre, feet in first position but up on toes and lowered in squat, reach forward touching one hand to floor then reaching same arm back behind you while tucking hips in
14. Frog jump forward, landing in deep plié squat and stay in plié squat and do 2 bicep curls (elbows are against inner thighs), frog jump back and repeat bicep curls (so frog jump forward and back w/ bicep curls in deep plié each time) (8# DBs)

Full Body Ballet Box Express wasn’t as intense as Full Body Barre Express or Full Body Weights Express but it was still a great workout and I really enjoyed it. It is set up the same–16 exercises, each done for 50 seconds with a 10 second recovery, so the total work time is 16 minutes. This workout is low impact, which is a big bonus. Linda uses light dumbbells to increase intensity, so one way to make this workout even more intense is to use heavier dumbbells. Now, since this is a fast paced cardio workout it is doubtful you can use anything really heavy. I used 3 pound dumbbells but the next time I do this workout I will use 5 pound dumbbells which might go a long way to increasing the intensity. And I will be returning to this workout! Full Body Ballet Box Express is 21 minutes long, no warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: light weights (Linda uses 1kg or 2 pounds), I used 3 pound dumbbells and in the future I will use 5 pound dumbbells. You are holding hand weights for everything–so you never put them down. This is a low impact cardio workout.

1. In plié, punch twice + 2 knee pulls; alternate sides
2. In plié, do one plié squat, one plié squat w/ heels raised, then pivot into lunge (doing bicep curls throughout); alternate sides w/ lunges
3. Running man arms w/ 4 knee pulls + front kick, side kick then step leg back
4. Seesaw w/ delt fly, then seesaw w/ front raise (seesaw is raising leg and lowering torso as you would in Warrior 3)
5. Repeat #3 & #4 on other leg
6. Curtsy w/ 3 punch downs + one side kick
7. Static curtsy lunges, for arms–bend arms, keeping elbows at side and rotate arms together then out to side, keeping elbows tight to side throughout
8. Repeat # 6
9. Repeat #7 but this time keep arms open to side and press arms out and in (so elbows to sides then press arms out straight to sides of body)
10. Two plie jacks w/ goal post arms (so doing bent arm chest press w/ each jack) + 4 upper cuts
11. Plie squats: come down into deep squat tapping DBs to floor then come up to standing onto tiptoes pressing DBs overhead
12. Three knee pulls + one knee raise to side + one side kick
13. Stand w/ arms raised overhead, raise knee to side and tap w/ same side elbow + raise same leg out straight to side tapping leg w/ same side hand; alternate these two moves
14. Repeat #12 & #13 on other leg

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