Barlates: Fusion Flow/Dynamic

I am loving Linda Wooldridge‘s new series. She has created several new series; each series contains 4 workouts and they are all perfect for my current fitness level (recovering from major surgery). In fact, I emailed her a while ago and three of these new series (Dynamic Flow, Fusion Flow and Energy Flow) will all be offered together in a 3 disk set (12 workouts). All 3 series are currently available for free on YouTube. I just checked Amazon and the 3 DVD set is available! I just bought it! It is called Fusion Flow and it includes the 3 series listed above. I haven’t done all of the workouts yet but I have previewed all of them (to make sure they were appropriate for me right now) and they all look excellent. And just FYI, some of the other new series Linda has created that fall into this same workout modality (fusion/flowing/dynamic/feel good workouts) are her Warm & Stretch Series workouts and her Feel Good Series. All of the workouts in all of these series will eventually be reviewed here.

Fusion Flow: Dynamic is all flowing dynamic stretches. No complicated moves but it is active enough that you get cardio in this workout, too. You also get some lower body work since there is a lot of broad range of motion exercises. BTW–the focus of this workout is the lower body. It will work you well but it will also make you feel good–or at least it made me feel good.

Fusion Flow: Dynamic is 25 minutes; 30 second intro, 3 minute warm up (warm up is #1) and 1 minute stretch. Equipment: chair.

1. Squat, dropping/swinging torso and arms forward and raising arms overhead when you stand; this changes to swinging the arms in an opposing fashion (one up while the other is down) while also angling the torso to the side on a diagonal (continuing to squat while dropping/swinging torso/arms); add raising one knee at top of move
2. Holding onto chair back with one hand, swing outside leg forward in front of you and back behind you (knee is slightly bent); continue same move but straighten leg and raise leg higher in the front and back (hinging torso forward when swinging leg behind you)
3. Face chair back and hold onto chair with both hands, rotate one straight leg in large circles
4. Repeat #2 & 3 on other leg
5. Change direction of chair so seat is now facing you, place palms on chair seat in front of you and hinge forward sso you are in a modified down dog, bring one leg forward beside chair so you are in deep a lunge then swing same leg up straight behind you while pushing hips back
6. Still facing chair seat, palms still on chair seat, lower into a lunge with foot beside chair and back knee on floor (stretching hip flexor), lift back knee off floor while straightening both legs and hinging forward (supported pyramid stretch) then return to start position
7. Repeat 5 & 6 on other side of body
8. Change direction of chair again so the back of the chair is beside you, place one hand on chair back, swing outside arm overhead as you do a side bend while also pushing hip out to side then swing arm out to side as you lower into a shallow pulsing squat; move changes slightly–when you squat, you bring outside leg up and place ankle across other knee (into a figure 4 stretch position) when you do your pulse squats
9. Wide plie squats and at the top of this move, swing one straight leg up and across other leg, alternate sides
10. Stand behind chair with both hands on chair back, swing one straight leg out to side of body then swing back in across/in front of other leg

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