45 Minute Unilateral Calisthenics Full Body Workout – Bodyweight is another intense body weight strength workout from Caroline Girvan that really sneaks up on you. I was really interested in this workout because of the unilateral aspect, done body weight style. I really enjoy unilateral workouts using dumbbells. This was very intense. Caroline starts you out with 10 minutes of mat based core work. No fun. But then you start hitting the rest of the body and it gets really intense. Your core is not neglected even after that first 10 minutes because there is a lot of plank work. Push ups and plank variations is how Caroline burns out your upper body. And she finds all sorts of ways to burn out your lower body. The intervals are long and the rests are short. It got pretty intense. I’m not sure if it is actually “total body” but my entire body did feel well worked when it was over, so I think it counts as a total body workout! I needed a longer stretch so I used Daniela Suarez’s 5 minute full body stretch. This is a great stretch to add onto the end of any total body workout.
45 Minute Unilateral Calisthenics Full Body Workout – Bodyweight is 48:18 minutes; 1:17 minute intro, no warm up and 2 minute stretch. Equipment: chair, yoga block and a fitness mat. All of the exercises in this workout are done interval style: 50 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. 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 exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.
- Hollow to same knee tuck (lay on mat, extend arms overhead and legs straight in line with hips and elevated a few inches off the floor (this is hollow), pull one knee into chest and lower hands/arms beside hips then return to hollow)
- Repeat #1 but pull other knee into chest
- Hover same leg lower (lay on mat, with hands behind head, shoulders elevated and legs straight in line with hips and elevated a few inches off the floor, raise one leg to ceiling then return it to start)
- Repeat #3 raising and lowering other leg
- Rainbow crunch (clockwise) (lay on back, knees bent and feet on mat, hands are behind head, you will crunch upper body by circling it–raise to one side, circle to middle then to other side before returning to start–circle clockwise direction)
- Repeat #5 but circle anti-clockwise/counter clockwise
- Single side toe reach (lay on back with one leg bent and foot on mat, other leg is extended straight in line with hips, crunch upper body while also lifting straight leg to ceiling, reach for foot with opposite hand)
- Repeat #7 on other side of body
- Opposite hand reach V sit (lay on mat with legs extended, raise upper body while also raising one leg and reaching for foot with opposite hand)
- Repeat #9 on other side of body
- Quad focus Bulgarian lunge (stand with chair close behind you, back leg is on chair, lower body into stationary lunge until back knee is close to ground)
- Repeat #12 on other side of body
- Forward lean Bulgarian lunge (stand further away from chair, back leg is on chair, torso is hinged forward over front thigh, do stationary/static lunges in this position)
- Repeat #13 on other side of body
- Uneven push up to push up (one push up with one hand on yoga block and other hand on the floor + one push up with both hands on the floor)
- Repeat #15 with other hand on yoga block
- Straight arm hover to side plank (get into forearm plank and extend one arm to side airplane style, from this starting position, rotate body into forearm side plank, reaching top arm to ceiling then return to start)
- Repeat #17 on other side of body
- Elevated kneel to squat (start in kneeling lunge, front foot is elevated on yoga block and back knee is on mat, raise out of lunge, bringing back leg forward and end in squat, step foot back to kneeling lunge)
- Lunge hold (static lunge hold, front foot is elevated on yoga block, lower to bottom of lunge and hold entire interval)
- Repeat #19 & 20 on other side of body
- Single leg dog to kick thru (start in 3 leg down dog, lower leg and bend knees so you are in bear pose (on hands and toes, with knees bent and elevated a few inches off the floor), kick leg under body, rotating torso and raising opposite hand off floor)
- Repeat #22 on other side of body
- Side plank to push up (start in plank with one hand on yoga block and one on floor, do one push up then rotate body into side plank, bottom hand remains on yoga block, other arm reaches to ceiling)
- Repeat #24 on other side of body
- Plank to 90 degree toe tap (in elbow plank, extend one leg out to side as far as you are able then return to start)
- Repeat #26 on other side of body
- Elevated curtsy to lunge (alternate one curtsy/cross-back lunge with one regular lunge, front leg is elevated on yoga block)
- Repeat #28 on other side of body
- Quad extension wall sit hold (hold wall squat isometrically with one leg extended in front of you)
- Repeat #30 on other side of body
- Staggered push up (push ups with one hand placed in front of you and other hand close to side under shoulder)
- Repeat #32 with hand positions swapped
- Elevated staggered squat to lunge (alternate one single leg squat with one reverse lunge, front foot is elevated on yoga block)
- Repeat #34 on other side of body
- Deadstop lunge to hamstring curl (front foot is elevated on yoga block, in kneeling lunge, raise back foot off mat in hamstring curl, lower foot back to mat and raise into lunge)
- Repeat #36 on other side of body
- One arm plank ladder (in straight arm plank, lower one elbow to mat then raise it back to straight arm plank)
- Repeat #38 on other arm
- One arm cobra push up (lay on mat with one hand on mat under shoulder and other hand behind back, push up into cobra)
- Repeat #40 with arm positions swapped
Finisher: (continue 50/10 intervals)
- Wall sit march (hold wall squat and alternate lifting/kicking legs in front of you)
- Plank ladder (alternate straight arm plank with forearm plank, alternate lead arms)
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
You must be psychic because this morning I was thinking to myself that I should revisit body weight workouts to supplement the H2.0’s that I plan to do for the next couple of weeks … I think I did this one before but even so it would certainly fit the bill. Ugh, but I really dislike 10s rests. It’s just not enough, esp for Caroline’s workouts!
Today I did one of Heather’s newest leg workouts (https://youtu.be/hJOYAb8oOc8). I totally enjoyed this one! Everything is done for 3 sets in a 30/30 format so there’s plenty of rest to allow you to lift heavy if you want. I used 30lb for everything. I followed that with Caroline’s Christmas Hard Upper Body. Even with lighter than normal weights I was still burning out on the shoulder supersets! I finished things off with a 10 min ab segment from Alexis Ren.
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I actually swapped out my rebounder workouts for bodyweight workouts due to bronchitis. Even though I am doing better I decided to stick with the change–mostly for the same reason, to supplement Heather’s workouts. The majority of her workouts that I have left to do are total body workouts. Using Caroline’s body weight workouts will make me feel better about my strength work. I’m doing rebounder doubles all this week though to make sure I am prepared for next week when I return to long rebounder workouts in the mornings.
Yes, I agree, those 10 seconds of rest feel like nothing. I saw Heather’s new workout and have it on my To Do list. It does look like a good one!
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