1000 REP Lower Body Challenge – Leg & Glutes Workout | Pure Endure Day 1

I approached this workout with some trepidation. 1000 reps sounds kind of like a nightmare. However, as Caroline explains in the intro, the reps are broken up into manageable amounts. The workout is made up of 10 basic lower body exercises. You do 100 reps of each exercise, but within those 100 reps you do different variations of the exercise for 25 or 50 reps. In addition, not all of the exercises use dumbbells. There are a lot of body weight variations.

With that said, it was still brutal. The fact you do not use dumbbells for everything is what made it doable for me. But my legs and glutes were still burning. In fact, Caroline burns your glutes out from the very beginning with 200 weighted hip thrusts. Like the title says, this is definitely an endurance workout. I was working very hard and my lower body is still feeling the effects. This is a great challenge though. Not something I want to do frequently, but definitely a workout to return to every so often to really challenge your endurance. By the time you get to the halfway point, Caroline starts burning out. You always get the full amount of reps of every exercise, but she has to stop and take mini breaks to thaw her muscles out. I was always grateful for Caroline’s mini breaks–I took them with her!

Since this is not an interval workout, there is no timer. However, you do get recoveries between exercises and Caroline previews your next exercise during the recovery. This workout is set to great music, no talking. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.

1000 Rep Lower Body Challenge is 49:08 minutes; 2 minute intro, no warm up and 3:45 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or step/bench, a resistance loop/booty band, a yoga block and a fitness mat. Optional: a towel to protect your hips and a chair or wall for balance. Caroline is using 12.5kg/27.5 pound dumbbells and one 25kg/55 pound dumbbell. The dumbbell weights listed below are what I used. I used my square high step at 18 inches for the Bulgarian lunges, the step topper (4 inches) for elevated squats and my weight bench for hip thrusts.

1. Hip thrust with band, 50 reps (place booty band 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 47.5# DB)
2. Remove booty band and do 50 more reps of #1
3. Staggered hip thrusts, 25 reps (get in same position as #2 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) (one 47.5# DB)
4. Repeat #3 with leg positions swapped
5. Repeat #3 & 4
6. Heel elevated squats with 2 DBs, 25 reps (DBs are at shoulders and heels are elevated on yoga block) (27.5# DBs)
7. Repeat #6 for 25 reps with 1 DB held in both hands at chest (one 30# DB)
8. Repeat #1 for 25 reps with no DBs (body weight)
9. Half rep heel elevated squats, 25 reps (heels still elevated on yoga block, no DBs, lower to bottom of squat but only raise halfway)
10. Bulgarian lunge, 25 reps (back leg is elevated in chair, no DBs)
11. Repeat #10 on other leg
12. Repeat #10 & 11
13. Staggered RDL, 25 reps (single leg deadlift) (one 30# DB)
14. Repeat #13 on other side of body
15. Repeat #13 & 14
16. Foot elevated lunge, 50 reps (stationary/static lunge with front foot on yoga block, no DBs)
17. Repeat #16 on other side of body
18. Single leg calf lift, 25 reps (one DB is on shoulder of working leg, all of your weight is on working leg, other foot is raised (hold onto something to assist with balance), raise and lower heel of working leg) (one 30# DB)
19. Repeat #18 on other leg
20. Repeat #18 & 19
21. Cossack squat step out, 25 reps (no DBs, side lunges but the straight leg is rotated so heel is on floor and toe is raised to ceiling when you are in lunge)
22. Lateral lunge, 25 reps (no DBs, stationary/static side lunges)
23. Repeat #21 & 22 on other leg
24. Rear step lunges, 25 reps (no DBs, front foot is elevated on yoga block, reverse lunges)
25. Repeat #24 on other leg
26. Repeat #24 & 25
27. Squats w/ 2 DBs, 25 reps (27.5# DBs)
28. Body weight squats, 25 reps
29. Half rep body weight squats, 25 reps (lower to bottom of squat but only raise halfway)
30. Pulse at bottom of squat, 25 reps (body weight)

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