30 Minutes to Fitness: Strong & Lean

Posted on by 2lazy4gym in 30 Minute Workouts, 30 Minutes to Fitness, Cardio, Cardio + Strength, Kelly Coffey-Meyer, Kickboxing, Shorter DVD Workouts, Strength, Total Body Strength

Strong & Lean is a new DVD from Kelly Coffey-Meyer in her 30 Minutes to Fitness series. This DVD contains two 30 minute workouts plus a 5 minute bonus segment. This morning I did everything. I started with Workout#1: Weights, followed it up with the 5 minute Bonus Extension and ended the workout with Workout #2: Kickboxing. I got an excellent total body workout. In fact, with the addition of the Bonus Extension, my lower body was worked better than Kelly usually hits it. She is always good about burning out your upper body but I usually want more for my lower body than her workouts deliver. This one hit everything nicely for a total body workout. The Weight workout is high rep so I chose my weights conservatively and I got a nice burn. I never hit failure on any of the exercises though on several of the exercises my muscles were starting to burn by the end of the set. From Kelly’s commentary during the workout, it seemed like some (if not all) of the sets were timed. I did not time them so I’m not certain but it makes sense since there is no pattern to the amount of reps you do. She moves quickly from exercise to exercise. I had a weight chart ready so I had no problem when it came to the dumbbells but since I only used one barbell, I had to hit pause to add and subtract plates. Normally in situations like that I have more than one barbell set up but I didn’t feel like it this morning. Finally, when doing weighted tricep dips during Workout #1: Weights, Kelly was way too far away from the step–it looked like a shoulder injury waiting to happen. Your glutes should be much closer to the bench so you aren’t pulling away from your shoulders when lowering. So please do not follow her example on that exercise. **It is Monday, I did this workout on Saturday–my triceps are sore!**

I really liked the Bonus Extension. In 5 minutes she hits your glutes very nicely with some weighted bridges then burns your core out. But what makes zero sense to me is that she doesn’t have a basic premix that tacks this bonus on to the end of Workout #1: Weights before the stretch. Why? In her intro, she makes it sound like it will be included somehow. It may or may not be included in some of the premixes (I don’t know, I have only previewed one of them) but the titles of the premixes give no clues. Besides, the majority of the premixes are timesavers, cutting something out of the workout. I wanted the entire Workout #1 + Bonus Extension + stretch.

Workout #2: Kickboxing was a mixed bag for me. Overall, I did like it, but some of the combos were ho-hum and some I really enjoyed. One or two were even a little awkward. I am interested in trying the premix called Strong & Lean Intervals. It combines the two workouts, alternating kickboxing with strength work. It starts with the kickboxing warm up then goes straight into the first kickboxing combo. After that it alternates all of the strength segments with the 6 kickboxing combos and ends with the Weights stretch. It leaves out the 7th kickboxing combo, which isn’t really a combo, just some drills–but I did like those drills, so I wish it had been included. And of course, no Bonus Extension. But I do love cardio + strength workouts so I will give it a try. **10/16/19–Today I did the Strong & Lean Intervals premix and really enjoyed it. I used the same weights indicated below plus I wore my weighted gloves and I got a great cardio + strength workout. It was a winner! And fun! I, of course, ended the workout with the Bonus Extension. Gotta give the glutes some extra love!**

Workout #1: Weights is 28:30 minutes; 30 second intro, 2:30 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: barbell and plates, dumbbells, resistance tube (with handles) and a step at 8 inches. There is a modifier who only uses dumbbells and a resistance tube (no barbell). Kelly only has one barbell with one plate on each end. It looks like the same barbell I used, and, if it was, then she had it at 25 pounds. She never added or subtracted plates. She also only used one set of dumbbells. She did not reveal the weight of her barbell, dumbbells or the strength of her resistance tube. I used a medium strength resistance tube (purchased from Cathe‘s online store). The weights listed below are what I used.

Biceps:

  1. Barbell bicep curls, 8 single reps + 7 reps to slower tempo (up one, down 3) (25# BB)
  2. DB hammer curls, 9 double arm reps + 16 reps alternating arms (12# DBs)
  3. Stand on tubing, holding a handle in each hand and do 68 alternating bicep curls to a brisk pace

Back:

  1. Bent over barbell rows, 26 reps then she speeds it up and does 16 more reps fast (35# BB)
  2. Lower into a static sumo squat with back straight, a DB in each hand hanging down between thighs, do alternating rows for 28 reps; changes to sumo squats with double arm row at top of squat for 13 reps (15# DBs)
  3. Scapular squeeze (hold resistance band by handles then wrap the band 2x around each hand, extend arms out straight in front of you with the band pulled straight between hands, open arms out wide to side with elbows slightly bent ) for 16 reps + 8 reps alternating arms + 10 more double arm reps

Lower Body:

  1. Barbell squats (barbell is on shoulders behind neck), 16 reps (40# BB)
  2. Alternating side lunges w/ DBs, holding a bottom of lunge for 3 counts for 8 reps + 16 reps single count (bringing DB down toward foot while in lunge) (15# DBs)
  3. Stand on band with a handle in each hand, holding handles at waist and step side to side for one minute

Shoulders:

  1. Push press (start with barbell at shoulder level and do overhead press to single count and lower back to shoulder level slowly to 3 count) for 16 reps (25# BB)
  2. Alternating upright DB rows for 16 reps + double arm upright rows for 8 reps + 10 more alternating upright rows (13# DBs)
  3. Step in tube with one foot, holding a handle in each hand, do one single arm straight arm side raise + one single arm straight arm front raise, alternate arms, 8 reps each arm

Triceps:

  1. Sit on end of step with barbell across hips, do 28 tricep dips (DO NOT follow Kelly’s form for these–she is too far away from the bench; your glutes should be much closer to the bench when dipping–almost, but not quite, touching the bench) (25# BB)
  2. Laying double arm skull crushers w/ DBs for 11 reps, then she brings the DBs together so they are touching and does 8 more reps (11# DBs)
  3. Sitting on end of step, wrap tubing around bottom of both feet, holding a handle in each hand, hinge forward and do alternating tricep kickbacks for 24 reps + 6 double arm tricep kickbacks

Chest:

  1. Lying barbell chest press, 8 reps to an up 2/down 2 count tempo +  8 reps to a 3 counts down/1 count up tempo (40# BB)
  2. Lying DB chest flys, alternate arms for 18 reps (13# DBs)
  3. Sit up on step, wrap band around back, hold a handle in each hand and wrap band once around hands, do 1 peck deck (bent arm chest fly) + punching arms straight in front of you once, do 15 reps of this combo

Workout #2: Kickboxing is 33 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. Optional equipment: weighted gloves. This workout is made up of 6 cardio kickboxing combos that Kelly builds in layers. There is a 7th segment consisting of some drill work. This is not a low impact workout.

Bonus Extension is 5 minutes. Equipment: step at 8 inches, dumbbells and barbell.

  1. Sit on floor with shoulders against side of step, knees bent, feet on floor and barbell is resting on your hips, do 34 hip raises (40# BB)
  2. Sit on the end of your step, legs extended straight with heels on ground, lean torso back and place hands on edge of step behind you, pull knees it to chest then push them back out, tapping heels to ground for 32 reps
  3. Lay back on step with knees bent and feet on ground, hold one DB with arm extended straight to ceiling, do a sit up, keeping arm straight and raised to ceiling the entire time, 8 reps each side (one 11# DB)
  4. Lay back on step with knees bent and feet on ground, arms are bent overhead so you can grip the edge of the step, do reverse crunches, pushing feet up to ceiling and tapping them back on ground for 20 reps

Premixes:

Barbell Only (14 minutes)

Dumbbells Only (14 minutes)

Tubing Only (14 minutes)

No Shoulder Moves (25 minutes)

No Leg Moves (25 minutes)

No Barbell (22 minutes)

No Dumbbells (22 minutes)

No Tubing (22 minutes)

Kickbox and Barbell Interval (40 minutes)

Kickbox and Dumbbell Interval (40 minutes)

Kickbox and Tubing Interval (40 minutes)

Strong & Lean Intervals (55 minutes)

Published by 2lazy4gym

12 thoughts on “30 Minutes to Fitness: Strong & Lean”

  1. how many sets on weight workout?
    I also have a question different from this workout. Would you know what happened to Cathe Friedrich’s eye. I noticed in her news letter that she had a patch on her eye. I also want to get in touch with her to give her well wishes.

    Thank you

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    1. It’s been so long since I’ve done it that I don’t remember but from the break down it looks like you only do one set. If you repeat the set I usually note that, especially on my more recent reviews. This one was posted in 2019 so if you repeated any sets or circuits I probably would have noted it in the breakdown.

      And Cathe had a retinal detachment. Here is where it was announced on her forum: https://cathe.com/forum/threads/cathe-live-subscribers-please-read.316460/ if you go to her Facebook page it was also announced there.

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  2. I just got this dvd and I enjoyed the workout! I have never done kickboxing before. Some of the combinations left me a little lost. I am not that coordinated, apparently! but overall I had fun trying. I did the premix with intervals, which I really liked–the kickboxing got my heart rate up and then I was able to calm down with the weights. My tubing was too short but I had no trouble subbing a band. I had to drop down my weights from what I planned because of wearing weighted gloves, and I had to pause a couple of times to drag step out of the way for kickboxing, then back in place for weights, etc. All of that was easy enough. But I wished for a premix that includes both workouts + bonus extension + stretch! When we got to the stretch, I stopped, navigated to bonus extension and did that, then realized that there was no easy way to return to the stretch. I’ve heard that Kelly now has an app/streaming? so maybe there’s more flexibility there. I wonder if maybe there wasn’t room to list chaptered exercises because Kelly gives such a wealth of premixes–lots of variety, for sure!.

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  3. Many thanks for your quick response. A couple of months ago I came across a couple of KCM dvds at a local thrift shop and recognizing the name from reading your blog I snatched them up immediately. While I thought Step Boxing would be my favourite – since I love step workouts (Gin Miller, Karen Voight etc), I find that boxing and stepping at the same time (ish) are challenging for me. It turned out that I found the Muscle Definition DVD workouts to be amazing!

    I hope to work weight training workouts back into my weekly schedule and would like to pick up more KCM workout dvds, however the US – Cdn exchange rate is not in my favour, so I will research your recommendations before I make my purchases. I have also read that KCM is going to add her dvd content to her streaming channel, so eventually that might be the way to go for me. Off to re-read your reviews 😀

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  4. Many thanks for your reviews, I would say that I enjoy them, my husband would say that I study them 😀 – in an attempt to figure out which workout to try next . My question for you today is if you could keep ONLY 5 Kelly Coffey Meyer videos (since I think you have most of them) which videos would you keep and why? Thanks in advance.

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    1. Hello Yvonne! That is a tough question! Only 5? I do own all of her DVDs so that is really hard! I love my KCM workouts! I made a list of my favorite KCM workouts and the ones I use the most and I came up with a lot more than 5! But if I could only keep 5 that gets rid of anything pure cardio. The reason for that is because a lot of my favorite KCM workouts contain both cardio and strength so I can get my cardio there. Plus, many of her workouts are metabolic so you are getting your cardio while also doing your strength work. That still left me with more than 5 DVDs on my list (10 actually). So I had to find a way cut the list in half. The #1 KCM workout I cannot part with is Muscle Up. This is the workout that can build your strength more than any of her others. This workout challenged me when I was at my fittest as well as when I was going through chemo—it was all dependent on the weights I used. Next would be Strength & Stamina—excellent total body strength workouts that are very metabolic. 3rd would be Cardio Pump. It is versatile, it has cardio and strength training that you can do separately or together (premix). #4 Build & Burn—this one has everything–cardio, strength, metabolic—it’s fast paced, fun and effective. And now I am at #5—the hardest choice since I have 6 DVDs left to choose from and I only get to choose one. This was very hard, but I decided it would have to be Your Best Body. It is the most versatile of 6 workouts left to choose from. It has cardio, strength and core work. Plus, something that is missing from many of KCM’s workouts—a long stretch, so you get flexibility, too. Plus some really great premixes.

      If I only had those 5 DVDs to work with then I could stay in great shape–while still having fun.

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      1. Wow, I just reviewed my personal ‘wish list’ of KCM dvds that I created after initially reading your reviews and your top 5 KCM dvds are essentially my top 5 list! I also had Plateau Buster and Lean Body Circuits on the ‘maybe’ list for consideration. And thanks again for your order of priority as it definitely helps, especially if I only pick up a couple. Thanks again.

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      2. Both of those are excellent workouts. Plateau Buster was one of my first KCM workouts and for some reason I did not return to it very often. Then during cancer treatment I decided to revisit it and was so impressed with it. It became a regular fixture in my rotation for a while after that. Lean Body Circuits is a lot like one of my favorite KCM workouts: Circuit Burn. The difference is Lean Body Circuits does not repeat any exercises. But I found Circuit Burn more fun plus it has an excellent 6 minute ab burn out that I always added on to the end of the workout. But they are both excellent workouts. And I will throw another one out there for you to consider. Body Design. There is a lot I love about that DVD but the best part is the 17 minute Upper Body Strength segment. I have used that as an add on to so many workouts. It is one of the best short upper body strength workouts out there. The other short segments are great too–but the price of the DVD is worth the Upper Body Strength segment alone.

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      3. Hello again. First, thank you for all of your reviews and your advice – both personal (as in your previous response to me) and blog wise. As in I checked out the DVD section in my library, and to my utter surprise, they not only had fitness dvds, but I managed to find KCM’s Muscle Up and Plateau Buster! And I loved them both – and yes, your detailed reviews were dead on! So, I broke down and ordered the KCM dvds that were on both your and my top 5 list, as well as Body Design and Plateau Buster!

        Reviewing your previous response to me, I noted your comments about the difficulty you had narrowing your list down and I am curious as to what favourites you left off the list😀. If possible I would appreciate it if you could share that list, including cardio as well as weightlifting, – just in case I run across any sales in the future, like on Black Friday/Cyber Monday maybe 😎. Many thanks.

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      4. You’re welcome! I am glad I was so helpful! Here are the other 5 that were on the list of my favorite KCM workouts: Athletic Conditioning Volume 2, Slim Sculpting, Trim Down, Circuit Burn and Weights. And as I mentioned in an earlier reply, Body Design is also great, especially if you like short add ons to extend a workout for whatever reason. For instance, maybe you are doing one of KCMs 30 minute strength workouts and you want to add on some cardio–with Body Design you could add on a 12 minute cardio segment. Or maybe you are doing one of KCM’s 30 minute strength or cardio + strength workouts and you want to add a little more strength work onto the end, again, it has 2 excellent 15 strength segments to extend your workout and give you a little more. There are more ways that that to use it–it has great premixes and some yoga, too. So that’s actually 6 but Body Design is just really useful if you like short add ons. As for her pure cardio, I love her Amped Up Cardio and her Cardio Quick Fix.

        And finally, I have 2 more KCM favorites if you are looking for something different to really mix things up. The first one you have to have a barbell for–LIFT. It has two excellent workouts on it. An Olympic lifting workout that you need a barbell for and an excellent metabolic strength workout that uses dumbbells. I used to use this DVD all the time. I would do both workout back to back and it would work me hard–cardio and strength even though there are no “cardio” moves. I found it an intense workout. The other is TLC which has one boxing workout and one bodyweight conditioning workout but it is not normal bodyweight work. It is pretty unique. I love that workout by itself and it has some great premixes as well.

        I’m probably throwing too much at you now! But Kelly has some awesome workouts that can give you a lot of variety.

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      5. Thanks for the quick response and additional recommendations – Amazon has already delivered half of my dvds, with the others due in a couple of days. These should keep me busy for the short term, and I will keep my eyes open for sales etc. Right now my plan is to use the weight training KCM dvds to balance out my cardio and yoga/stretching.

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