High Intensity Metabolic Circuit with Resistance Bands is the 7th workout in the URX-MT fitness program. This is the second URX-MT workout led by Gregg Cook. Gregg did the first workout in the URX-MT program (Metabolic Intervals and Circuits) and I didn’t care for his workout when I did it. However, I do like this one. This is the only workout in the entire URX-MT program that uses resistance tubing. They are specific resistance tubes Urban Rebounder sold and they are no longer available for purchase. But I have already done Barlates: Bounce Total Body/Bands (which I love), so I just used resistance bands in that fashion. I tied two bands to 2 of the rebounder legs then I just choked up on the bands as necessary to increase resistance. This workout did suffer from the same problem as Gregg’s other URX-MT workout–he has you doing full burpees with hands on the rebounder for the push up and feet on the floor. That isn’t a big deal but the tuck jump on the floor is. Rebounding is supposed to be a low impact workout. Tuck jumps on the floor are not low impact. But oh well. I love everything else about this workout so if I don’t want to tuck jump on the floor I will modify. Thus morning I did jump at the top of the burpee but I seriously feel like a ton of bricks after jumping on a rebounder. Rebounding makes you feel so light and springy then I am slamming into the floor. It’s weird.
This workout alternates cardio circuits with strength circuits. The strength circuits use resistance tubing, the sandbag weights and body weight. I got a pretty good total body cardio + strength workout. As frequently happens, the back is the muscle group that was neglected. There are some rear delt flys but those are mostly shoulder and there are some single leg deadlifts that do hit your lower back. Anyway, over all this was a really fun and great workout. I think I am going to return to Gregg’s first workout in this series at some point (Metabolic Intervals and Circuits). That was literally the very first rebounder workout I ever did and I did it on my first rebounder (a 40 inch spring bound rebounder) which is very different from the rebounder I upgraded to (a 49 inch Bellicon which uses bungees). I have noticed a big difference since I started using the Bellicon, plus, having done a lot more rebounder workouts, my perspective might have changed. When I do return to Gregg’s first workout, I will update that review.
URX-MT stands for Urban Rebounding Extreme Metabolic Training. I bought the entire series as a program. The program is made up of 13 workouts but you can buy each workout individually on the Urban Rebounder site, so that is how I will be reviewing them. The program apparently originally came with more than just the rebounder and the workouts. It also came with sandbag hand weights that you can no longer purchase. I think all of the workouts in the program use the sandbags. They range from 1-3 pounds. In addition, it apparently also came with the specially made resistance tubes that are used in this workout. This is the only workout that uses them. You can no longer purchase the resistance tubes. As already mentioned in this review I used resistance bands tied to the legs of my rebounder as a substitute and it worked very well. I did not purchase an Urban Rebounder. My rebounder is a different brand. I also did not buy the DVD program from the Urban Rebounder website. I found it much cheaper on Ebay.
High Intensity Metabolic Circuit with Resistance Bands is 50 minutes; 30 second intro, no warm up and 1 minute stretch. Equipment: rebounder, sandbag weights and resistance tubing. Since I only own one pound sandbag hand weights I also used 3 pound dumbbells (I held them with my sandbags to equal 4 pounds) for some of the exercises.
- Hop on rebounder while punching both arms in front of you and angled up toward ceiling
- Prisoner squats (with hands behind your head, elbows out to sides, hop 2x then jump forward into a deep squat)
- Fast heel digs to the front with jump rope arms
- Repeat #1-3
- Double hop side to side w/ jump rope arms
- Double jacks with arms in goal post, arms open and close in time with the double jacks; changes to single count jacks (single count the arms, too)
- Hop with legs close together while punching arms overhead and pulling arms down
- Cross jacks (both arms and legs cross)
- Repeat #4-8
- Grab the handles of resistance bands and stand on top of rebounder, push handles overhead, keep arms extended overhead while squatting
- Stand in split stance on top of rebounder, still holding a handle in each hand, keeping arms slightly bent and extended out to sides in a T, alternate bringing arms up and across body (he calls the move the “fly swatter”–it is a chest fly variation); increase pace
- (release handles and pick up sandbags) Jump squats; add directional changes with each jump
- Hold sandbags together in front of you, with small hops, rotate arms/sandbags side to side; increase pace of arm movement
- (set sandbags aside and pick up handles of resistance bands) Balance on one leg on top of the rebounder, bands are crossed behind you, lift one arm out straight to side then lower it slowly
- Repeat #11-14 (when repeating #14 do it on other side of body)
- Repeat #9
- Stand behind rebounder, do a full burpee with hands on the rebounder and feet on floor (push up at bottom and tuck jump at top)
- Grab resistance band handles, stand on rebounder, legs wide, tubes are crossed between legs, hinge forward and do rear delt flys
- Bands are no longer crossed, hold both handles together over one shoulder, stand on edge of rebounder and do a single leg squat, tapping outside leg wide on the floor (outside leg is kept straight) then tap leg on edge of rebounder at top of squat
- Repeat #19 on other side of body
- (release handles and pick up sandbags) Stand on rebounder holding both sandbags together in front of you, chop sandbag hip to hip, circling the sandbags overhead when changing sides
- Still standing on the rebounder, put all your weight on one leg, hinge forward at hips in a single leg deadlift, raising other leg straight behind you while extending one arm/sandbag straight in front of you and the other straight behind you
- Repeat #17-21
- Repeat #21 on other side of body
- Repeat #9
- Cross cross bands over back, a handle in each hand, feet are on floor, hands are on rebounder, do push ups in this position; add lifting one leg behind you with each push up, alternate legs
- (rotate rebounder so the side with the bands attached is at the front) Hold both handles together in both hands, chop bands across body from hip to over opposite shoulder, alternate sides
- (release handles and pick up sandbags) Hop on rebounder, raising and lowering sandbags in front of you; hop on one leg for 30 seconds while continuing to raise and lower sandbags; hop on other leg for 30 seconds
- Stand on rebounder, holding sandbags together in one hand, chopping sandbags from overhead down to opposite hip (do all reps on one side); repeat chop on other side of body
- Still standing on the rebounder, put all your weight on one leg, hinge forward at hips in a single leg deadlift, raising other leg straight behind you while opening arms out to side in a rear delt fly
- Repeat #26-29
- Repeat #9 holding sandbags
- Lay on one hip on rebounder, holding sandbags in top hand, do V ups (raise both straight legs and bring top arm/sandbags to meet feet)
- (set sandbags aside) Lay on back on rebounder, hands gripping rebounder behind your head, legs are raised straight to the ceiling, do reverse crunches in this position; changes to pulses at top of reverse crunch
- Get on knees on rebounder, one hand is on the floor, other hand is holding one sandbag, raise one leg straight behind you (same leg as hand that is on floor), raise and lower arm/sandbag up to side while holding leg out isometrically
- Repeat #35 on other side of body
- Lay back on rebounder holding one sandbag in each hand, extend legs straight/raised off ground, do sprinter crunches (crunch torso up while bringing one knee into chest and crossing opposite elbow to knee, alternate sides)
