Awakened Glutes & Hamstrings Workout / Glute Band | EPIC Heat – Day 11

Awakened GLutes & Hamstrings Workout is Day 11 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Heat program. Another brutal lower body workout. I was struggling to get through several parts of this workout. I did it though. I pushed through. My glutes were fried by the end of this workout! I have today off (4 day weekend for me), so I did one of Caroline’s shorter workouts first: 20 Min Dumbbell Leg Workout | Step Ups, Lunges, Squats. So my lower body was already very warmed up when I came to this workout. Between the two workouts I got an incredible lower body workout this morning with a strong glute/hamstring focus.

This workout is done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. However, at the beginning of the workout and at various other places in the workout, you will do 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of an isometric hold or pulsing. I will note when that happens in the breakdown below. Any time you see an exercise done for only 20 seconds, that means you get no recovery, that 20 second exercise replaces your recovery. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.

Awakened GLutes & Hamstrings Workout is 39:35 minutes; 1:50 minute intro, no warm up and 3:20 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Optional: booty band, chair or bench and a towel to protect your hips. Caroline is using 15kg/33 pound dumbbells and one 25kg/55 pound dumbbell. The weights listed below are what I used. I used my weight bench for the hip thrusts.

1. Abduction (lay on back on mat, knees bent and feet on floor, booty band is around thighs just above knees, open and close thighs)
2. Hold abduction for 20 seconds
3. Pulse abduction
4. Abduction for 20 seconds
5. Raise and lower hips in bridge
6. Hold isometrically at top of bridge for 20 seconds
7. Repeat #5
8. Bridge pulses for 20 seconds (hold at top of bridge and pulse abduction)
9. Upright abduction (sit up with hands on mat behind you, knees still bent and feet still on floor, open and close thighs in this position)
10. Pulsing upright abduction for 20 seconds
11. Repeat #10
12. Your first 20 second rest; you get a 20 second rest after the rest of the exercise unless otherwise noted
13. Hip thrusts (booty band is still around thighs, lean back against your bench or chair, one heavy DB on hips, knees bent and open so there is tension on band, and feet on floor, raise and lower hips) (one 40# DB)
14. Repeat #12 two more times
15. Hold at top of thrust for 20 seconds
16. Repeat #12 two more times
17. (remove booty band) Staggered hip thrust thrust (hip thrusts except only one foot is flat on the ground, the other foot is out further with toe raised and heel on floor so that most of the weight is on the flat foot)
18. Hold at top of staggered thrust for 20 seconds
19. Staggered hip thrusts
20. Repeat #16-18 on other side of body
21. Body weight single leg hip thrust (same position as other hip thrusts, no DB, one leg raised, hold briefly at top of thrust)
22. Hold #20 isometrically at top of thrust for 20 seconds
23. Repeat #21 (full range body weight single leg hip thrusts)
24. Repeat #20-22 on other side of body
25. 1.5 rep sumo squat (lower all the way into squat, raise halfway, lower all the way back into squat then raise all the way) (one 50# DB)
26. 1/2 rep sumo squats (the video and words on the screen say you are repeating #25 but when the exercise is actually done, it is 1/2 reps)
27. Sumo squat hold (you hold for approx 10 seconds, a beep signals when to stand–you lower back into sumo hold immediately) (one 50# DB)
28. 1.5 rep RDL (deadlift with one pulse at bottom of deadlift) (30# DBs)
29. Repeat #27
30. Staggered RDL (single leg deadlift) (one 30# DB)
31. Pulse at bottom of staggered RDL for 20 seconds (one 30# DB)
32. Repeat #29
33. Repeat #29-31 on other side of body
34. Sumo squat to RDL (stand with legs wide, holding DB by bar between legs, alternate one squat with one wide leg deadlift) (one 50# DB)
35. Repeat #33

Finisher: (put booty band round thighs above knees; no DBs) (3 minutes)

1. Lateral side step (step in and out with one leg) (40 seconds)
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Diagonal tap back (20 seconds)
4. Repeat #3 on other leg
5. Half squats (lower into squat but only raise halfway) (20 seconds)
6. Squat hold abduction (hold at bottom of squat and push knees out) (20 seconds)
7. Full squats (20 seconds)

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