GIRVANATED Glutes Workout – Giant Sets, Hip Thrusts | EPIC Heat – Day 41

Girvanated Glutes Workout – Giant Sets, Hip Thrusts is Day 41 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Heat program. OMG–this was another brutal glute focused workout. During the intro Caroline says her goal during this workout is to work herself to failure, so she is basically encouraging you to push yourself and to not be discouraged if you have to stop and thaw your glutes out. And I had to stop at some point during every giant set (except the first giant set and the finisher) to let my glutes thaw out. BTW–Caroline did, too, so she achieved her goal. This workout burned! The 30 second rests never seemed like enough! But, as usual, Caroline worked my glutes so well that that they are still singing.

This workout is made up of giant sets, which is 4 exercises done back to back without any rest. Each exercise is done for 45 seconds. Between each giant set you get 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recovery. During the recovery Caroline previews the next giant set. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. This workout is done to music with plenty of visual cues as well as “dings” to keep you on track. Caroline gives a lot of excellent and important form pointers in the intro to help you get the most out of this workout.

The finisher in this workout is also a giant set but each exercise is only done for 30 seconds. However, Caroline apparently didn’t change her timer. At the beginning of each exercise it resets to 45 seconds, but don’t worry, it stops at 15 seconds and resets again to 45 seconds. So you really are only doing each exercise for 30 seconds.

Girvanated Glutes Workout is 37:46 minutes; 3 minute intro, no warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a booty band/resistance loop, a chair or bench and a fitness mat. Optional is a towel to protect your hips during hip thrusts. Caroline is using one 25kg/55 pound dumbbell. I used one 40 and one 50 pound dumbbell. I also used my weight bench for the hip thrusts.

Giant Set 1: (booty band is around thighs/above knees)

1. Lateral band walk (lower into squat and side step 5 steps to each side)
2. Alternating side step (lower into squat and step one foot out to side then back in, alternate legs)
3. Full range squats
4. Forward and back squat walk (lower into squat and walk 8 steps forward and back)

Giant Set 2: (one 40# DB)

1. Hip thrusts full range (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)
2. Hip thrusts 1/2 reps (only lower half way–more like a pulse at top of thrust)
3. Hold isometrically at top of hip thrust
4. Repeat #1

Giant Set 3: (one 50# DB)

1. Sumo squats 1.5 reps (lower all the way into squat, raise halfway, lower all the way back into squat then raise all the way)
2. 1/2 rep sumo squats (only raise halfway)
3. Full range sumo squats
4. Body weight 1/2 rep sumo squats
5. 30 second rest
6. Repeat #1-4

Repeat Giant Set 2

Giant Set 4: (one 50# DB)

1. Sumo deadlift squat 1.5 rep (hinge torso forward deadlift style while legs are in sumo squat position, lower all the way into sumo deadlift, raise halfway, lower all the way back into sumo deadlift then raise all the way)
2. Sumo deadlift 1/2 rep (lower all the way but only raise halfway)
3. Full range sumo deadlifts
4. Body weight 1/2 rep sumo deadlifts
5. 30 second rest
6. Repeat #1-4

Repeat Giant Set 2

Finisher: (each exercise is done for 30 seconds) (one 50# DB)

1. 1/2 rep sumo squat w/ DB
2. Body weight 1/2 rep sumo squats
3. Sumo squats 1.5 reps w/ DB
4. Body weight sumo squats 1.5 reps

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