Slow ‘N Intense Hamstrings & Glute Workout is Day 23 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC III program. This was a tough one! All of Caroline’s glute/hamstring workouts are serious bun burners but this workout left my entire lower body weak. Caroline was struggling in many parts of this workout, too. So many hip thrusts. I felt this workout everywhere in my lower body. It may be glute and hamstring focused by nearly an hour later my calves and quads are feeling this workout, too. Surprisingly thorough for an isolation workout. In addition, Caroline stretches out your lower body nicely. This is another great workout from Caroline!
The exercises are done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. There is a staple exercises that is done differently and that will be noted in the break down below. Rather than the 15 second recovery, you continue working, doing half reps for 15 seconds. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.
Slow ‘N Intense Hamstrings & Glute Workout is 48:11 minutes; 2 minute intro, no warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a booty band/resistance loop, a chair or bench and a fitness mat. Optional is a towel to protect your hips during hip thrusts. Caroline is using one 25kg/55 pound dumbbell. The weights listed below are what I used. I used my weight bench for the hip thrusts.
- Hip thrusts/slow eccentric (band only) (booty band is around thighs, lean back against your bench or chair, knees bent and open so there is tension on band, and feet on floor, lower hips slowly and raise hips at normal pace)
- Hip thrusts with pause at top (band only) (Repeat #1 but lift hips at normal speed, pause briefly at top of lift before lowering)
- Hip thrusts/slow lifting (band only) (repeat #1 but lower hips at a normal pace and lift slowly)
- Repeat #1-3 but this time with a heavy DB on hips (one 40# DB)
- Hip thrusts 1/2 reps (raise hips to top of thrust but only lower halfway) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #4 & 5
- Single leg hip thrust full range (no DB or band) (same position as other hip thrusts, one leg raised, raise and lower hips)
- (no recovery) Single leg hip thrust 1/2 reps for 15 seconds
- (no recovery) Repeat #7
- Repeat 7-9 on other side of body
- Dumbbell sumo squat slow eccentric (lower slowly to bottom of squat but raise normal speed) (one 50# DB)
- Dumbbell sumo squat pause at bottom (pause briefly at bottom of squat) (one 50# DB)
- Dumbbell sumo 1/2 reps (lower to bottom of squat but only raise halfway) (one 50# DB)
- Repeat #11-13 with no DB
- Repeat #7-10
- RDL slow eccentric (deadlift–lower slowly but raise regular speed) (one 50# DB)
- RDL pause at bottom (one 50# DB)
- RDL 1/2 reps (lower to bottom of deadlift but only raise halfway) (one 50# DB)
- Hamstring thrust slow eccentric (booty band is 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 heels on floor but further away from chair than if you were doing a regular hip thrust, knees are slightly bent, lower hips slowly and raise hips at normal pace) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #19 but lift hips at normal speed, pause briefly at top of lift before lowering (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #19 but raise hips to top of thrust and only lower halfway (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #7-10
- FWD leaning lunge to RDL stretch (no DBs/start in a lunge with torso hinged forward over front leg, lean forward into single leg deadlift, reaching hands to floor while also lifting back leg, lower back into lunge)
- Repeat #23 on other side of body
- Repeat #23 & 24
Finisher: (for all exercises band is around thighs above knees, legs are wide enough that there is tension on the band) (each exercise is done for 30 seconds, no rests/recoveries)
- Banded squats
- Lateral walk
- 1/2 rep squats (lower to bottom of squat but only lift halfway)
- Repeat #1
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
