Fit Body by Julia: No Equipment Crazy Cardio

No Equipment Crazy Cardio is a workout from Fit Body by Julia, a YouTube workout channel. Now that I have scheduled so many of Julia’s workouts over the next month I have noticed that, though she performs all of the workouts, many of them are created by other people and she always gives credit to that person in the breakdown below the video, in her introduction to the workout and sometimes even in the title. This workout was created by someone named Oxana–and it is grueling. Seriously. Of all the words I could think of to describe this workout, grueling was the most appropriate. At least from my perspective.

Though the title of this workout is “No Equipment” Crazy Cardio, Julia uses equipment. I did not use equipment and I still found it grueling! Julia is a beast! No joke! For the first part of this workout (all of the combo move pyramids except #3 + Burnout AMRAP) she wore a 10 pound weighted vest. She took it off for the ab bonus but put on ankle weights for that. Like I said, I did this equipment free (except a fitness mat) as the title suggested and found it extremely challenging. I cannot even imagine wearing a weighted vest to do this workout. I own them, too–several weighted vests. But I have never worn them for cardio–only for lower body workouts. I am not at the level where I can wear a weighted vest for cardio and I will be honest with myself–I never will be. In fact–I don’t want to be! It is not a goal I am working to achieve! But I bow to those who can/are. They are way beyond what I am capable of.

I was, however, capable of performing this workout without equipment, but I did not enjoy it. There is no music so I provided my own and, unlike the only other Fit Body by Julia workout I’ve done (HIIT to Boost Metabolism #1), her children were nowhere to be seen or heard. I did get an excellent and extremely challenging (and grueling) workout, but there is definitely a dread factor. It is a long workout and I felt every minute of it crawl by. So, I probably will not return to this workout. Not because it isn’t excellent and effective, but because I like workouts that challenge me but are also enjoyable. I don’t want to be counting down the minutes of a long workout.

No Equipment Crazy Cardio is 64 minutes long; 3 minute warm up and no stretch (I finished this workout off with Jessica Smith‘s Short & Sweet Stretch). The workout is done pyramid style (this is described in the breakdown below). BTW–this is probably what made this workout seem to crawl by–the pyramid factor that structures the entire workout (except the Burn Out). This is a plyometric and bodyweight strength workout.

Warmup (each move is done for 30 seconds):

1. Walkout pushups
2. Runners lunge twist
3. Fire hydrants
4. Squat pulses
5. Jumping jacks

Combo Move Pyramids: 1-5 reps (The first time through each combo you do each move one time, then you repeat the combo and do each move 2x–and keep going until you are doing each move 5x. On #5, you do the entire pyramid on one side of the body, then repeat the entire pyramid on the other side of the body. For #6, instead of doing one rep of each move and adding a rep each time–you do it in multiples of 10; so the first time through you do 10 reps of each exercise, the second time through you do 20 reps and keep going until you have reached 50 reps of each exercise. Finally, as far as counts go, “2=1” just means it is a 2 sided move, so doing the exercise on the right and the left equals one rep.)

1. Burpee + frog plank hop + angry donkey + jump squat
2. Groiners + spider push up 2=1 + Kick through 2=1  + plank jacks shoulder tap 2=1
3. Roll back + tricep push up + plank tuck jump + tuck jump
4. Reverse lunge into front kick 2=1 + in and out squat + 2 switch lunges + skaters
5. Pistol squat + 1 leg burpee + Lunge back touch down rocket up (2x-once on each leg)
6. 10 Juggler runs + 10 speed skaters 1=1 + 10 standing mountain climbers 1=1 + 10 mountain climbers 2=1 + 10 Squat Jacks (pyramid to 50)

Burn out: AMRAP 10 minutes (it takes Julia 5 minutes to get through this entire round once, so you end up doing the round 2x if you are keeping pace with her, which I was)

1. 10 pike push-up to pike jumps
2. 10 diamond push-ups to diamond jumps
3. 10 tricep dips crab toe touches (10 on each side–so 20 total)
4. 10 side plank dips + toe touches (10 on each side)

Ab Bonus (do circuit 2x)

1. 25 leg raises (lay on back and raise and lower straight legs)
2. 20 flutter kicks
3. 15 plank hip dips per side
4. 10 V-ups
5. 5 sit-ups arms behind head

For more info on Fit Body by Julia and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.