Super Shred // Strength & Cardio Workout (Dumbbells Only)

Super Shred // Strength & Cardio Workout is another excellent cardio + strength circuit workout from Heather Robertson. She mixed things up in this workout and it really kicked up the intensity. First I want to say that I loved this workout. It was intense and it worked me well. But it wasn’t a total body strength workout. Which is okay because this is a short workout. At only 40 minutes I was able to add on a finisher workout that hit the muscle groups that are neglected in this workout, so I did end up getting a total body strength workout. The only muscle group that is entirely neglected is chest. This is fine with me because I do so many of Heather’s other workouts and she includes push ups in the majority of her workouts. My chest seems to get more work than any other muscle group when I am doing a lot of Heather’s workouts. The other muscle group isn’t exactly neglected: biceps. You only hit the biceps during one exercise and because it is a compound exercise that works the biceps, shoulders and the triceps, you are limited by your weakest muscle group. For me that is my triceps. The exercise is in Superset 4, the Curl & press. You do a bicep curl into an overhead press into an overhead tricep extension. I was limited to 13 pound dumbbells due to the overhead tricep extension whereas I could have lifted 15 or 16.5 pound dumbbells for bicep and shoulders. However, as I said, I fixed these issues by doing an excellent finisher, another workout by Heather: Full Body Strength // At Home Workout. Between the two workouts I got a super intense and very thorough 67 minute workout. Every muscle was group was hit, I burned 500 calories and I was drained by the end of the finisher. Due to the length of the cardio bursts in this workout, sometimes there was some serious burnout! For instance, weighted shadow boxing. I used 5 pound dumbbells and I had to pause twice during the 60 second interval to let my arms thaw! Excellent workout this morning!

This is a cardio + strength superset workout. There are 6 supersets. You do each superset twice then do a one minute cardio burst. The superset strength exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down the intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Heather previews the next exercise. This is another workout that has an intro where Heather does a short commercial for Epidemic Sound, the company that provides the music for her workouts. The music in this workout was really good.

Super Shred // Strength & Cardio Workout is 41:36 minutes; 1:10 intro, 3:30 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 5, 10, 15 and 25 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Superset 1:

1. Bent over double arm row (palms are facing behind you at bottom of row, as you pull DBs upward, rotate DBs so palms face each other while keeping arms close to sides) (30# DBs)
2. Push press (squat w/ DBs at shoulders, stand and so an overhead press) (16.5# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Weighted jacks for 60 seconds (jumping jack legs, arms do an overhead press in time with legs) (5# DBs)

Superset 2:

1. Full body crunch (holding one DB in both hands, extend DB overhead in a pullover while extending legs straight, pull knees into chest while doing an upper body crunch, bringing DB to shins) (one 20# DB)
2. Russian Twist (one 10# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Mountain climbers for 60 seconds

Superset 3:

1. Deadlift (35# DBs)
2. Hip thruster (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, place heavy DB(s) on hips, raise and lower hips into bridge) (one 40# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Squat jump & jack for 60 seconds (alternate one squat jump with one jumping jack)

30 second rest

Superset 4:

1. Curl & press (bicep curl into an overhead press into a double arm overhead tricep extension (French press), reverse motion back to start) (13# DBs)
2. Fly combo (one bent over rear delt fly + one standing straight arm lateral raise) (8# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Shadow box for 60 seconds (alternating weighted front punches) (5# DBs)

Superset 5:

1. Toe touch (lay on back, legs are extended straight to ceiling, hold one DB in both hands, do upper body crunches reaching DB to feet) (one 15# DB)
2. Reverse crunch (lay on back, still holding one DB in both hands extended to ceiling, lift hips pushing legs up to ceiling then lower straight legs until they are a few inches off the floor, arms hold DB isometrically throughout interval) (one 15# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Burpee jacks for 60 seconds (one plank jack + one jumping jack (no push up))

Superset 6:

1. Alternating reverse lunges (16.5# DBs)
2. Goblet squat (one 40# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Pop squat for 60 seconds (squat jacks, reaching one hand to floor when in squat)

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