GLOW UP CHALLENGE // DAY 2: Cardio & Abs Workout

Cardio & Abs Workout is part of Heather Robertson‘s week long Glow Up Challenge, which is 7 days of workouts plus a nutrition guide and other suggestions for a holistic approach to get your “glow” on. I am not doing the program but I do plan to eventually do all of the workouts. For more information on her Glow Up program (and other programs–all FREE), visit her website.

I was a little leery of this workout but I still wanted to try it. I am not a huge fan of long mat based core workouts and this 47 minute workout is split pretty evenly between core work and cardio. But I tried it anyway and I am so glad I did! This was a great workout! This workout is made up of 2 circuits. Each contains 12 exercises. The first 6 exercises are core exercises and the last 6 exercises are cardio exercises. Each circuit is done twice. The exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Even though there were 2 circuits of 12 exercises, it felt more like 4 circuits of 6 exercise (2 core circuits and 2 cardio circuits). Right when I was getting sick of the core work we get some cardio. That is what I liked about this workout–the variety. I burned 300 calories and the graph on my FitBit shows the up and down flow of my heart rate. It elevated into my peak heart rate zone during the cardio then dropped down to my fat burning zone during the core work. I will say I would have liked it better if the core circuits were shorter. I think 4 core exercises alternated with 4-6 cardio exercises would have been more enjoyable. For me at least. But still, I did enjoy the way this workout is structured and I got a great cardio and core workout.

Cardio & Abs Workout is 46:58 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 2:15 minute stretch. Equipment: fitness mat. There is a timer in the lower right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. Heather previews the next exercise during the recovery. This is not a low impact workout.

Circuit 1:

1. Cross toe touch (lay on back with legs extended straight to ceiling, hands are behind head, crunch upper body while reaching one arm to opposite toe (legs remain raised throughout), alternate arms)
2. Reverse & twist (still on back, arms are on mat at sides, raise legs to ceiling doing a reverse crunch while also twisting hips to one side, lower legs, bending knees and tapping toes to mat, repeat on other side)
3. Side to side tuck (sit on bottom, hands on mat behind hips, torso is leaned back and legs are elevated off mat, extend legs while lowering torso then pull knees in while raising torso slightly and tilting hips to one side, push legs back out while straightening body, alternate sides when pulling knees in and tilting hips to one side)
4. Bicycle kick (lay on back, one knee is bent with foot on mat and both hands are behind head, pull other knee in to chest while crunching upper body and bringing opposite elbow to knee, extend leg straight then raise leg to ceiling while reaching for foot with opposite hand, alternate between these two moves)
5. Repeat #4 on other side of body
6. Bicycle crunch
7. High knees & butt kicks (4 high knee runs + 4 butt kick runs)
8. Pop squats (squat jacks, one hand taps floor when in squat)
9. Straight up jacks (jumping jack legs, arms are straight with hands stacked, raise and lower arms in front of you as you jack legs)
10. Shuffle & hop (two lateral shuffles in partial squat + one jump reaching arms overhead)
11. Scissor squats (4 scissor runs then jump out into squat)
12. Spot sprint (high sprint in place)
13. Repeat #1-12

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Bridge & drive (in side elbow plank with top arm reaching to ceiling, lower hip and when you raise hip, pull knee in to chest while lowering arm to touch knee)
2. Repeat # 1 on other side of body
3. Prayer twister (lay on back, knees bent and feet on mat, arms are straight, raised to ceiling with palms together, crunch up, twisting body to one side, opposite hand reaches past knee, alternate sides each time you crunch)
4. Flamingo crunch (lay on mat, hands on mat beside hips, raise one leg to ceiling other leg is bent with ankle across opposite thigh, do a reverse crunch with legs in this position then lower legs until they are a few inches off the mat)
5. Repeat #4 with leg positions swapped
6. Elbow plank hold
7. Ghost rope (simulate jumping rope)
8. Side lunge hops (alternating side lunges with a hop/shuffle when changing sides)
9. Half burpee (plank burpee, no push up)
10. Squat & punch (one shallow squat + one cross punch, alternate sides when punching)
11. Mountain climbers
12. Squat jump jacks (one jumping jack + one squat jump)
13. Repeat #1-12

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