All Systems GO!

All Systems GO! is another workout I got at Mindy Mylrea’s $3.99 sale. This one uses a body bar and nothing else. Mindy labels it as a cardio and strength workout but it all depends on the weight of your body bar. I have two body bars. One weighs 15 pounds and one weighs 9 pounds. I couldn’t tell what the weight of Mindy’s bar was but I found my 15 pound bar too heavy for the pace of the workout. Plus there is a lot of balance work. There is modifier who does low impact versions of every plyometric move but she doesn’t always modify the balance work. The solution for this is to take out the upper body movements and use the bar for balance. That’s what I did. So this workout served primarily as a cardio and lower body conditioning workout for me. And btw–it was plenty intense even without all of the arm movements. I did do a lot of the arm movements. However, if they were done while on one leg, I used the bar for balance and didn’t do the upper body work. Otherwise I did everything. There were a lot of arm movements that I did do that I would have felt more with the 15 pound bar, but as I mentioned above, this workout has a brisk pace so you frequently go from a move that I needed a heavier bar for to one that a 15 bar would be too heavy–with no time to swap bars. So after rushing around to switch bars several times during the first Strength/Cardio segment below, I just stuck with the 9 pound bar for the rest of the workout.

I did enjoy this workout. It was plenty intense even with a 9 pound bar and balance modifications, and I will continue to use this workout as a cardio workout. As an aside, I found some of the cardio drills to have some complicated footwork. Some of it I never quite caught on to, but I did keep moving in my attempts which kept my heart rate elevated anyway. I may have to do some alternate moves in the future. But overall, I still liked it, even with the complicated choreography. That was only a small part of the workout anyway.

All Systems GO! is 62:30 minutes long; 1 minute intro; 5  minute warm up and  3:30 minute cool down/stretch. This is a high impact workout with lots of jumping. There is a modifier who does everything low impact.

Strength/Cardio 1 (13:30 minutes):

1. Plie squats; changes to plie hops; changes to plie squat jacks
2. Row the bar forward and back w/ one hand while also leaning forward and back; add a knee raise and leg extension at top of move; get rid of one arm row and now do upright row with overhead press; changes to hopping static lunge; repeat everything on other side of body
3. Kick front, lunge back–speeds it up into a Charleston kick; lunge back changes to back kick; narrow squat jumps
4. Place bar on shoulders–4 pulse lunges, pivot to front 4 pulse squats, pivot to other side and pulse lunge 4 times; changes to 2 pulses; changes to singles; remove bar from shoulders and hold in front of you–repeat everything but with a hop instead of a pulse; ends w/ side to side jump lunges
5. Lift straight leg out in front of you then sweep leg behind you while leaning torso forward (one leg deadlift w/ front lift); changes to single leg squat while doing overhead press w/ bar; changes to one arm overhead press (still holding bar w/ both hands); still on one leg, push other leg out behind you while doing bicep curls; add a squat (one leg squat then push leg out behind you while still doing bicep curls); repeat everything on other leg

Cardio Drills 1 (8:30 minutes) Bar is laying horizontally on the ground in front of you as a marker.

1. Cha-cha across bar; add straddle jog + 2 hops; add basic step over the bar and back + quick feet over the bar and back; add lateral skaters + front kick-back kicks
2. 2 lateral side leaps the length of the bar; leaps change to hops; changes to fast side to side jump ropes
3. V jumps (jump to one end of bar, jump laterally to other end of bar, jump back to start (forming a triangle), then jump in place)
4. Hop 4 times straddling bar, hop 4 times behind bar, hop 4 times straddling bar in other direction; changes to 2 hops; changes to singles; changes to 180 jumps straddling bar

Strength/Cardio 2 (12:00) Start holding bar in front of chest.

1. Forward lunge; add knee raise (don’t return to standing–lunge and raise front lunging knee); add butt kick (when raising knee, bring heel back to kick butt); combine them–one knee raise, one butt kick; repeat on other side
2. Clockwork lunges w/ bar on shoulders (front lunge, diagonal lunge, side lunge, reverse lunge); add knee lift after each lunge; changes to reverse lunge w/ knee raise while raising and lower bar in front of you; changes to alternating jump lunges; hamstring curl recovery; repeat on other leg
3. Squat side to side (fast); plie jack alternated with squat jack; combine the fast side to side squats w/ the plie jack/squat jack; changes to plie jacks only
4. 4 pulsing plie squats alternated with 4 pulsing regular squats; changes to 2 pulses; changes to 2 plie hops + 2 squat hops; changes to twist hops

Cardio Drills 2 (8 minutes) Bar is laying vertically on the ground in front of you as a marker

1. Fast straddle steps across bar, pivot turn and 2 hops; changes to straddle squat then hop over bar 3x; add a sort of high knee around the world; changes to high knee scoop/skips over bar; changes to high knee runs over the bar; repeat everything
2. Place on foot on bar and squat w/ small hops; lateral skaters tapping the bar with finger tips; changes to alternating back lunges still tapping bar on floor w/ each lunge; alternate skaters w/ lunges, first 4 of each then 2 of each

Strength/Cardio 3 (5:30 minutes)

1. In a deep lunge w/ back leg straight, row bar; add a raise and lower w/ front leg only (you’re doing a static lunge, not raising foot off floor); remain in lunge but bring bar behind you, right above glutes and as you raise and lower front leg do straight arm tricep lifts; repeat everything on other leg
2. In side lunge, raise and lower bar overhead w/ one arm; changes to “stirring” bar in front of you while doing a plie squat

Floor Strength (6:00 minutes)

1. In C-sit, raise and lower torso while also raising and lowering bar; remain in C sit and row the bar; add raising and lowering torso while continuing to row bar
2. Start in modified boat pose (knees bent) and straighten legs as you push bar overhead, bend knees again as you lower bar; in modified boat holding bar at chest level, tilt bar side to side so ends tap floor
3. In straight arm side plank, raise and lower bar (from floor to overhead)
4. Lay on stomach with bar on floor in front of you and forearms on bar–roll bar in with forearms, raising chest, then roll bar back out, lowering chest
5. Repeat #3 on other side
6. In straight arm plank with hands in front of bar, do one push up, move one hand behind bar, do another push up, move other hand behind bar and do another push up, repeat this in reverse (putting one hand in front of bar and doing one push up, and so on)

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