FUSED Glutes & Core Workout – Giant Circuits | EPIC Endgame Day 33

Fused Glutes & Core Workout – Giant Circuits is Day 33 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Endgame program.This has been a week of tough and intense workouts for me and this one is no different. Caroline burned my glutes and hamstrings out big time but I also felt it in my quads. And you see “core” in the title? That’s because you do a compound move that works your glutes and your core while in forearm plank. In fact, in the course of the workout you will be in elbow plank a total of 8 minutes. Each time you hold elbow plank for 2 solid minutes. It is brutal. And it doesn’t just work your core–it works your shoulders, too. In fact, that is where I was feeling it every time by the end of the 2 minutes. My shoulders! Another intense glute frying workout from Caroline. She is the very best at them. She gives you a solid stretch at the end, too, which I appreciate. I was especially pleased when she has you do a pigeon pose. I always like doing pigeons or reclining pigeons after intense glute work.

This workout is made up of giant sets, which is 4 exercises done back to back without any rest. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds. Between each giant set you get 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recovery. During the recovery Caroline previews the next giant set. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. This workout is done to music with plenty of visual cues as well as “dings” to keep you on track. Caroline gives a lot of good and important form pointers during the intro.

Fused Glutes & Core Workout – Giant Circuits is 48:14 minutes; 2:40 minute intro, no warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a booty band, a chair or bench and a fitness mat. Optional is a towel to protect your hips during hip thrusts. Caroline is using a 25kg/55 pounds dumbbell. The weights listed below are what I used.

Giant Set 1: (one 40# DB)

1. Hip thrusts 1/2 reps (lean back against your bench or step, knees bent and open so there is tension on band, feet on floor and one heavy DB on hips, keep legs open so there is constant tension on the band, raise hips but only lower halfway)
2. Hold isometrically at top of hip thrust
3. Hip thrusts, full reps
4. Hold isometrically at top of hip thrust

Giant Set 2: (one 50# DB)

1. Sumo deadlift 1/2 rep (with legs in sumo position, hinge torso forward deadlift style as you squat, lower to bottom of squat but only raise halfway)
2. Hold isometrically at bottom of sumo deadlift
3. Full range sumo deadlift
4. Body weight hold (no DB, hold isometrically at bottom of sump squat)

Giant Set 3:

1. Band only hip thrusts 1/2 reps (lean back against your bench or step, knees bent and open so there is tension on band, feet on floor, keep legs open so there is constant tension on the band, raise hips but only lower halfway)
2. Hold isometrically at top of hip thrust
3. Banded hip thrusts, full range
4. Hold isometrically at top of hip thrust

Giant Set 4:

1. Alternating glute contract (in forearm plank, alternate raising legs)
2. Forearm plank hold
3. Repeat #1 & 2

Giant Set 5:

1. x1 leg thrust 1/2 rep (lean back against your bench or step, knees bent, one foot is flat on floor and other leg is raised, raise hips but only lower halfway)
2. Hold isometrically at top of single leg hip thrust
3. x1 leg thrust, full range
4. Hold isometrically at top of single leg hip thrust
5. 30 second rest
6. Repeat #1-5 on other side of body

Giant Set 6:

1. x1 side glute contract (in forearm plank, raise and lower one leg)
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Contract hold (switch side) (still in forearm plank, raise leg from #1 and hold isometrically)
4. Repeat #3 on other leg

Repeat Giant Sets 1-6

Finisher: hip thrusts, 100 reps (one 40# DB) (lean back against your bench or step, knees bent and feet on floor and one heavy DB on hips, raise and lower hips)

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