Fusion Sculpt #1 is yet another excellent and fun metabolic strength workout from Jessica Smith. This is one of her longer workouts and she really hits every muscle group–plus you get low impact cardio intervals. So it is a total body cardio + strength workout. It was fun, effective and I loved it. With the right weights you will really feel this workout. I will increase my weight on one exercise in the future (#8 below–I will use 20 pound dumbbells next time) and for the bridge exercises (#12 and #23) I will have my square step set up at 8 inches to place my heels on so I get a deeper range of motion. For #4 (low impact cardio boxing), I used 1 pound weighted hand grips to increase the intensity. A few quick notes–the cardio is low impact and not the most intense cardio around; however the metabolic strength training really makes up for that, keeping your heart rate elevated throughout. And this has a nice, long, thorough stretch at the end–so bonus!
Fusion Sculpt #1 is 53 minutes long; 8 minute warm and 6:30 minute stretch. Warm up is a very active and made up primarily of cardio boxing (I should probably use my weighted hand grips for that, too, in the future). Equipment: a mat and a set of dumbbells. Jessica only has one set of dumbbells and she doesn’t say what weight they are but they don’t look heavier than 10 pounds, possibly even lighter. The weights listed in the breakdown below are what I used.
- Squat w/ overhead press + squat w/ straight arm press back (10# DBs)
- Alternating rear lunges w/ alternating front punches (6# DBs)
- Push up + knee to elbow (Jessica does them on her knees)
- Cardio boxing
- Repeat 1-3
- Plie squat side to side, touching hands to floor w/ each squat; changes to reaching arms overhead and keeping feet in plie when you step together (narrow plie to wide plie)
- In straight arm plank, step feet side to side; changes to walking feet into hands then back to plank; changes to jumping feet in to hands and jumping feet back
- Split stance deadlift w/ bent over row (15# DBs; I will use 20# in the future)
- One straight arm raise to side while other arm raises to front while raising one leg straight to side (6# DBs)
- Bicep curls while twisting torso and doing knee raise (10# DBs)
- Repeat 8-9 on other side of body
- Narrow chest press to wide chest press while raising and lowering hips (15# DBs)
- Chest fly while raising and lowering legs (bent or straight) (15# DBs)
- Get on all 4s, one leg extended straight behind to you–raise opposite arm to ceiling then underneath of body
- Repeat #7
- Repeat #6
- Repeat 8-14
- In elbow plank alternate tapping knees to ground
- In modified side elbow plank, raise and lower top leg; changes to bringing top knee to top elbow (pushing arm overhead and leg out straight)
- Repeat #18
- Repeat #19 on other side of body
- Lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, head/shoulders raised–alternating raising arms from thigh to beside head; changes to raising and lowering both arms at same time
- Get into bridge and push up onto toes–raise and lower hips; raise one leg to ceiling while continuing to raise and lower hips
- Repeat #23 (doing the one leg raise on other side of body)
- Still on back, one knee bent w/ foot on floor the other leg straight out straight on a diagonal, opposite arm reached out straight to side, lift leg in attitude while raising arm and shoulder toward leg (she calls it attitude crunch)
- Reverse crunches w/ legs raised straight to ceiling; changes to windshield wiper legs
- Pilates single leg stretch (core move that alternates bringing knee into chest with head/shoulders raised and legs never touching the floor)
For more info on JessicaSmithTV and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
