Barlates: Gentle Home Workouts/Combinations

Combinations is part of Linda @ Barlates Gentle Home Workouts Series. I am using Linda’s Gentle Home Workouts on my recovery days. Today I did this workout and finished my morning workout with an Essentrics Stretch. Having done a lot of Linda’s workouts, I think “gentle” in the instance of a Barlates workout means intermediate and assessable to beginner level. Linda creates some pretty advanced workouts. This is not advanced. It’s not easy, but it is 100% doable for an intermediate exerciser. Linda also gives modification suggestions for beginners. This is also low impact. In the break down below you will see the word “hop” but what Linda is actually doing is more of little heel lift boxer shuffles. The “combinations” from the title really aren’t any different from what Linda does in other workouts. She always puts several exercises together into combinations that will challenge you. These combos aren’t as challenging as what appears in her more advanced workouts, but they will still work you nicely. I really enjoyed this workout and felt nicely worked but not worn out at the end. And even though you are holding light hand weights through the first half, this is a light cardio + body weight conditioning workout. Oh, and one more thing–this is important if you have done Linda’s workouts and been put off by the zillion reps she tends to do. She does not rep you out in this workout. I never felt like she did too few reps of an exercise, but since I am very familiar with Linda’s workouts, I always expected to do the exercise much longer than it is performed. So that is probably another reason this is more gentle than her other workouts. I burned 200 calories and I was sweating, too. Especially when we got to the floor work.

There are several ways you can do Linda’s workouts. You can purchase the Gentle Home Workouts DVD like I did, you can do Combinations for free on YouTube and you can also purchase the download from Linda. There are 4 workouts in Linda’s Gentle Home Workouts Series. This workout, Walking, Cardio Sculpt and Barre.

Combinations is 38 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: light hand weights (Linda is using .5 kg or 1 pound). You are holding the hand weights from the very beginning, even using them during the warm up. However when you transition to floor work, Linda sets the hand weights aside and they are not used again.

1. Wide plie squat, hold one arm in guard, pulse in squat while punching other arm across body then out to the side then overhead with a side bend; squat slower and with each squat you will do a punch, alternate punching to the front with one arm then overhead with a side bend with the other arm
2. Still in wide plie squat, elbows are at waist, arms are in front of you with palms/DBs facing the ceiling, push knees out wider while also opening arms/DBs out to sides (keep elbows close to sides throughout)
3. Shift hop side to side with little punches to the front and sides
4. Repeat #1 on other side of body
5. Shift hop side to side while punching arms/DBs down and overhead
6. Low impact jacks
7. 2 low jacks on one side of the body + 2 knee raises on other leg; changes to one rep of each; changes to just low half jacks to one side done at a quicker pace
8. Hop shift side to side while doing upright rows but with arms at sides (you are rowing DBs up under armpits)
9. Repeat #7 on other side of body
10. Alternating side lunges but do them on a diagonal behind you, touching floor with opposite hand/DB
11. Remain on one side of body body, do one #10 lunge + one squat + one front kick; changes to squat + front kick only and done quicker
12. Hop shift side to side with speed bag arms
13. Repeat #11 on other side of body
14. Hop shift side to side, arms are extended overhead, do small circles with DBs
15. Get into knee plank on floor, hands are in a narrow position with one higher than the other, do one push up in this position, even hands out and bring knees in so you are on all 4s and raise one bent knee behind you, foot to ceiling
16. Sit one one hip, same side hand on floor under shoulder, both legs are bent, bend elbow until it taps the floor while also kicking out top leg, when you bend the leg again you push up on hand; remain on forearm and elbow while bending and straightening top leg quickly; keep top leg straight and sweep leg in front of you to behind you
17. Repeat #15 & 16 on other side of body
18. Get on all 4s, place one hand behind your head and extend the opposite leg straight behind you, bring knee under you and tap knee with opposite elbow then extend leg straight again while raising elbow up to side; add bringing knee to tap elbow (do the first move, extend leg straight then bring knee to same side elbow on the outside of body, bent arm remains raised during this new portion)
19. Repeat #18 on other side of body
20. In down dog, bring knee in under the body then raise it up to ceiling; add bringing foot in under chest, between hands into a deep kneeling lunge then raise both arms to ceiling, place hands on ground and raise leg to ceiling again; remain in deep lunge, place opposite hand on floor beside front foot and extend other arm to ceiling; shift bottom backward, straightening front leg to stretch hamstring and calf
21. Repeat #20 on other side of body
22. Double kneeling on floor with knees wide and heels together, bottom is hovering over heels, do alternating front punches; add raising and lowering hips as you continue to punch (Linda did not use her DBs for this but I did)
23. Still in kneeling position from #22 but glutes are now on heels, place hands on same side shoulder and alternate circling elbows forward; continue this move but raise bottom off heels so glutes are hovering over heels
24. Still in kneeling position from #22 but glutes are now on heels, keep one hand on same side shoulder, other arm is extended out straight to side and held stationary, bring elbow of other arm forward and back; remove hand from shoulder and push palm across body and bring hand back to shoulder (rowing motion)
25. Repeat #24 on other side of body
26. Sit cross legged, clasp hands and extend them overhead, then extend hands/arms to side while doing a side bend, return arms to straight overhead then repeat stretch on other side of body, move through this combination rather quickly, returning to reaching hands overhead between each side reach/side bend
27. Still sitting cross-leg, sweep arm across body toward other side while also rounding shoulder, alternate sides sweeping quickly; changes to continue sweeping arms across body but lower; changes to alternating side bends, bringing same side forearm to floor as you reach top arm over to other side of body

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