FEROCIOUS Full Body Workout – Pyramid Timed Training | EPIC Heat – Day 34

Ferocious Full Body Workout is Day 34 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Heat program. This was a tough workout. And not one of her more enjoyable workouts either. This is a total body strength workout however there are only 7 exercises in this workout so there is no isolation work. They are all compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups and you spend 3 minutes on each of them. Oh the burn! I had to lift lighter on most of the exercises. It is astounding that Caroline uses 27.5 pound dumbbells for everything. She did burn out on the squat to press and had to take personal breaks. I did not have to take any breaks except during push ups–but again, I used 15 pound dumbbells for the squat to press not 27.5! And the 15s were making my shoulder burn.

The exercises in this workout are done reverse pyramid style: you will do an exercise for 20 seconds then for 40 seconds then for 60 seconds then back down to 40 seconds and finish doing it for 20 seconds. Between each interval, regardless of length, you get 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery, the next exercise is previewed in a small video in the upper right hand corner of the screen. 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.

Ferocious Full Body Workout is 38:26 minutes; 2:13 minute intro, no warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or bench/step and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 12.5kg/27.5 pound dumbbells. All of the exercises below are done reverse pyramid style (as described above).

1. Sumo 1.5 reps (hold DBs at shoulders, lower all the way to bottom of squat, raise halfway, lower all the way to bottom of squat, raise all the way) (one 50# DB)
2. Deep push ups, hands holding DBs
3. Bulgarian lunges (back leg is elevated w/ foot on chair or bench behind you, hold one DB at same side shoulder as front leg) (one 20# DB)
4. Repeat #3 on other side of body
5. Tricep dips (hands on chair behind you, legs extended straight in front of you)
6. RDL to row (do one deadrow then rather than straighten, continue lowering DBs, keeping back straight, into a full deadlift before rising) (25# DBs)
7. Squat to press (squat w/ DBs in front of shoulders and when you stand do an Arnold press) (15# DBs)

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