Belly, Butt and Thighs

Belly, Butt and Thighs is another Prevention workout led by Chris Freytag. I got it a long time ago as part of a 2 DVD set–it was paired with Chris’s 3-2-1 Workout which will be reviewed here soon. As of this posting, it is cheaper btw to buy the two pack then to buy this DVD. Belly, Butt and Thighs contains 3 ten minute workouts–one for the belly, one for the butt and one for the thighs. There are also two bonus tip segments. One called Yoga that is 3 minutes long. In it, a woman shows you 5 different yoga stretches that you can do anywhere. The other is called Stress Relief. It is two minutes long and the same woman demonstrates a deep breathing technique to reduce stress.

For only 10 minutes, these are actually some pretty effective little workouts. When I did them this morning, I did all 3. Thighs followed by Butt followed by Belly. Then I did some yoga. As with any strength workout, the level depends on the weights you use–the heavier your dumbbells the more advanced the workout. Still, these are not advanced workouts. But they are solid workouts that are appropriate for beginners if you use no or light dumbbells and also for more intermediate exercisers who want a little add on if you use heavier dumbbells. There is a beginner modifier in all of the workouts.

Belly is 10 minutes. Equipment: a fitness mat. The workout starts with a short 1 minute warm up consisting of marching in place, shoulder rolls, standing cat and cows. The workout ends with a short stretch (just under one minute) of child’s pose variations and one deep breath. This was a great little core workout. I really enjoyed how it started with standing core work before it moved to the floor. It is also pretty varied, so it doesn’t get boring or tedious.

1. Reaching overhead side to side w/ heel lifts
2. Standing knee pull crunches, pulling arms down from overhead
3. Raise and lower one knee to the side, pulling down same side arm, tapping elbow to knee
4. Repeat #1-3 two more times, reducing the number of reps
5. Lay on mat and do sit ups with hands in guard; hold at top of sit up and do cross punches; changes to sit ups with 4 cross punches at top of sit up
6. Lay on back w/ feet raised off floor and knees bent, alternate lowering leg and tapping heel to mat
7. Still on back on mat, raise head/shoulders and straighten legs, scissor straight legs
8. Still on mat, raise arms overhead, legs extended straight on floor and do full body roll ups
9. In side plank, raise and lower hips; ends w/ side plank hold

Butt is 10 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat and dumbbells. A 45 second warm up consisting of marching in place, deep breathes, stationary side to side lunges. Ends with 45 second stretch consisting of reclining pigeon and seated forward fold. Only two exercises in this workout use dumbbells and Chris and crew’s dumbbells looked very light–no more than 5 pounds. I used 15 pound dumbbells but for what the exercises are I could have used heavier dumbbells. Most of the exercises are body weight exercises but there are some very easy ways to intensify this workout and make it more advanced. First, start the workout with a fire walker (resistance loop) around your ankles or above your knees (or both–one around ankles and one above knees). Remove them after exercise #1. Use heavy dumbbells and for #9, use something to either raise your shoulders or your feet off the ground (step, workout bench, stability ball) for deeper range of motion and place the dumbbells on your hips. Even without the above mentioned ways of making this more intense/advanced, it is still a very nice little glute workout.

1. Squats; changes to squat steps side to side (never raising out of squat)
2. Squats, raising and lowering arms overhead; add alternating glute raises (raising leg up behind you)
3. Narrow squat + hamstring curl, land in wide squat + hamstring curl
4. Repeat 2 & 3 two more times
5. Lateral skaters
6. Side kick + wide plie squat
7. Single leg squats (15# DBs)
8. Wide plie squats; raise calves (15# DBs)
9. Lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat, raise hips into bridge and lower

Thighs is 10 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat and dumbbells. 1 minute warm up consisting of marching in place, deep breaths, breath stroke arms while doing little plie squats, standing cat and cow. Ends with 30 second stretch consisting of opening legs wide in V while laying on back, butterfly stretch while still laying on back and deep breath. This is another one where the weight of your dumbbells determines the level of this workout. #1 was actually burning my legs out (but I did just have chemo a few days ago). Chris and crew’s dumbbells again looked very light. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Stationary lunges w/ bicep curls; changes to pulses w/ no bicep curls; 2 sets each leg (8# DBs)
2. Alternating reverse lunges; changes to lunges w/ 3 pulses; add a knee raise to pulse lunges (12# DBs)
3. Wide squat side to side w/ side lateral raises (6# DBs)
4. Combine 2 & 3: Reverse lunge w/ 3 pulses and knee raise then 2 wide squats to side with side lateral raise (6# DBs)
5. Alternating knee raises; standing on one leg, raise other knee and pulse; keep knee raises then extend leg straight and bend knee
6. Alternating side leg lifts (8# DBs)
7. Deadlifts (20# DBs)
8. Lay on back on mat, legs raised to ceiling and heels together, pull heels down toward bottom then press them back up to ceiling