The EPIC Endgame Finale – Strength and Cardio Workout | Day 50

Strength & Cardio is Day 50 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Endgame and it is also the finale. Since it is the final workout in the Endgame program, the intro is a lot longer than normal and that is because Caroline is doing a recap of not only the entire EPIC Endgame program but also all of the EPIC programs before finally talking about this workout. She also touches on your mindset as an exerciser; to remember you are not competing against anyone but yourself. You versus You. Which is good to remember. I will never be able to lift weights as heavy as Caroline or look like Caroline but that doesn’t change the fact that working out with her has made me stronger and fitter than I was before I did her workouts.

This is an awesome and intense cardio + strength workout. Caroline works your entire body–I don’t think she misses a muscle group. Even your calves get some work! It is also almost a no repeat workout. But there is a staple: Sumo deadlift squats; that exercise is done a total of 5 times in the course of the workout. It is always part of a superset and the second exercise in the superset is always different. No other exercise is repeated though you will do different variations of some exercises. There are lots of burpee variations! The finisher is a nightmare–100 chest to floor burpees. It took Caroline a long time to get through the finisher–but it took me even longer. I had to pause it once! At the very end, after Caroline does her 100th burpee, confetti explodes all over the set and she looks so happy. Seriously–laughing, smiling. She is so cute! The stretch is only 1:30 minutes! You definitely need to tack on something longer after such an intense and thorough workout.

This workout is made up of supersets. You will do two exercises, each for 45 seconds back to back (1:30 minutes of work) before you get a 30 second recovery. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery, Caroline previews the next superset. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. Any exercise that has impact, Caroline shows a low impact alternative.

This is the final EPIC Endgame workout for me, too. I did not do all of the workouts in the program but I did a majority of them. I did 36 of the 50 workouts. I just wasn’t interested in the other 14. I might return to them and do them one day but I doubt it. I still have a huge to do list of Caroline’s workouts I want to try from her other EPIC programs plus other stand alone workouts she has put out. On top of that, she keeps creating new awesome looking workouts! So it is unlikely I will ever do the other 14 Endgame workouts.

Strength & Cardio is 50:06 minutes; 5:50 minute intro; no warm up and 1:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, yoga block and fitness mat. Caroline is using 9kg/19.8 pound dumbbells and one 25 kg/55 pound dumbbell. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Sumo deadlift squat (with legs in sumo position, hinge torso forward deadlift style as you squat) (one 50# DB)
2. Sumo jump squats
3. 30 second rest
4. Squat then press (squat w/ DBs at shoulders and when you stand, do an Arnold press) (16.5# DBs)
5. Squat to press (same as #4 but there is no pause, start doing overhead press as soon as you are at top of squat) (16.5# DBs)
6. 30 second rest
7. Maker (start in plank, do one renegade row each arm, jump feet into DBs so you are in squat, do a double arm bicep curl, stand w/ DBs at shoulders, do one overhead press, squat and place DBs on the floor, jump feet back to plank and do one push up) (16.5# DBs)
8. Hands to floor sprawl (plank burpee–place hands on floor, jump feet out to plank, just feet back into hands and stand)
9. 30 second rest
10. Heel elevated squats x2 dumbbells (heels are elevated on yoga block, DBs are held at shoulders) (25# DBs)
11. Body weight 1/2 reps (heels are still elevated on yoga block, lower to bottom of squat but only raise halfway)
12. 30 second rest
13. Repeat #1
14. Squat walk (lower into squat, walk forward and backward, never raising out of squat)
15. 30 second rest
16. Push press (overhead shoulder press using lower body to push DBs overhead with power/explosiveness, lower DBs slowly) (16.5# DBs)
17. Clean to press (swing DBs to shoulders bicep curl style then do an overhead press) (16.5# DBs)
18. 30 second rest
19. Static/stationary lunge (DBs are on shoulders) (18# DBs)
20. Jumping lunge (no DBs, continue doing stationary/static lunges but do them fast with a little hop at the bottom of the lunge)
21. 30 second rest
22. Repeat #19-21 on other side of body
23. Repeat #1
24. Body weight RDL to sumo (with legs wide and toes turned out, do one sumo squat then hinge torso forward, straightening legs and touching fingers to floor)
25. 30 second rest
26. RDL to high squat (alternate one deadlift with one squat) (25# DBs)
27. Squat burpee (start in squat, place hands on floor and jump feet back to plank, jump feet back to hands and raise hands off floor so you are back in squat)
28. 30 second rest
29. Supine row (double arm bent over row w/ palms facing in front of you) (25# DBs)
30. Renegade row (alternate arms) (25# DBs)
31. 30 second rest
32. Partial lateral raise (only raise DBs halfway) (9# DBs)
33. Jumping jacks
34. 30 second rest
35. Repeat #1
36. Body weight half reps (lower to bottom of sumo squat but only raise halfway)
37. 30 second rest
38. RDL lunge (alternate one single leg deadlift with one reverse lunge) (one 20# DB)
39. Body weight lunge to balance RDL (alternate one reverse lunge with single leg deadlift, lifting back leg behind you and touching fingers to floor)
40. 30 second rest
41. Repeat #38-40 on other side of body
42. Tricep push ups
43. Cobra push ups
44. 30 second rest
45. Repeat #1
46. Sumo hold with calf raise (hold isometrically at bottom of sumo squat, raise and lower heels)
47. 30 second rest

Finisher: 100 chest to floor burpees (full burpees, lowering body to floor at bottom of burpee and jumping at top of burpee)

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