Intense Strength Supersets // Full Body Unilateral Workout

Intense Strength Supersets // Full Body Unilateral Workout is an awesome total body strength workout from Heather Robertson. Heather has tons of awesome and effective workouts but this is another one of her superior workouts–the best of the best. I love how she employed unilateral training in this workout. In several of the exercises it causes a bit of instability which recruits your core muscles to help you stabilize. This is also a cardio + strength workout and even the cardio exercises double as strength work to finish burning out the muscles you’ve just worked. I loved this workout. It worked me hard! It was very metabolic, too. I burned 353 calories and spent a total of 12 minutes in my peak heart rate zone. Another major winner from Heather!

This workout contains 4 circuits. Each circuit contains 2 strength exercises (hence the “superset” in the title) and one cardio exercise. Every exercises focuses on one side of the body, including the cardio exercises. The exercises are all 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 your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Heather previews the next exercise.

Intense Strength Supersets // Full Body Unilateral Workout is 46:45 minutes; 2:40 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather notes below the video that she is using 10 and 20 pound dumbbells; however it looked like she used a wider range of dumbbells (possibly also a 5 and a 15 pound dumbbell). The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Lunge & drive (hold one DB in both hands goblet style, reverse lunge and at top of lunge, raise knee) (one 25# DB)
2. Kneeling press (in kneeling lunge, do a single arm Arnold press) (one 16.5# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Cross jack (holding one DB in one hand, stand with legs wide, hinge forward reaching DB to opposite foot, as you straighten, jack legs while doing one single arm overhead press) (one 10# DB)
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

Circuit 2:

1. Curtsy & kick (hold one DB in both hands goblet style, do one curtsy/cross-back lunge and at top of lunge, lift leg out straight to side) (one 25# DB)
2. Kickstand row (single arm/leg deadrow, in split stance w/ back leg in kickstand, holding one DB in same side hand as front leg, hinge forward into a single leg deadlift, hold at bottom of deadlift and do one single arm row) (one 30# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Side lunge hop (no DB, side lunge and as you raise out of side lunge, raise knee and hop)
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Stand up & press (start in high kneeling on mat holding one DB in one hand behind head, step forward into kneeling lunge with one foot (same side that is holding DB), step the other foot forward and stand, when standing raise DB overhead, lower DB back behind head (single arm overhead tricep extension) and step one foot back into kneeling lunge then step other foot back so you are back in starting position of high kneeling) (one 10# DB)
2. Bridge fly (lay on back with both knees bent, one foot is on floor close to glutes and the other leg is raised, you are holding one DB in one hand (same side as foot that is on floor), raise hips and hold single leg bridge isometrically while doing a single arm chest fly) (one 16.5# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Shuffle jab (boxer shuffle to side while doing a single arm weighted side punch) (one 5# DB)
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

Circuit 4:

1. Toe touch (lay on mat with legs extended straight, one arm is holding one DB and it is extended overhead on mat, keeping arm straight, lift DB while also lifting opposite (straight) leg, tap DB to foot then lower back to start) (one 10# DB)
2. Squat, curl & press (holding one DB in one hand, step out and lower into squat, hold squat while doing a single arm hammer curl, when DB is at shoulder, stand stepping feet together and doing a single arm overhead press) (one 16.5# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Pop lunge (no DB, hop back into reverse lunge then hop feet together)
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

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