CALISTHENICS UPPER BODY & CORE WORKOUT – Bodyweight Only | Day Two

Calisthenics Upper Body & Core Workout is a brutal body weight strength workout from Caroline Girvan. This workout definitely did not fly by! I was modifying some of the exercises by the end of the workout–my upper body was fried! This is an excellent upper body workout. Perfect for travel but again, not enjoyable. I will definitely use it when I am traveling but I am not sure I will return to it otherwise–even though it worked my upper body spectacularly. There is no focused core work. However you are working your core throughout with all of the plank work. And there is a lot of plank based moves. I definitely needed the 30 second rests Caroline gives us between each superset. I also needed a longer stretch at the end than what Caroline gives us so I added on Daniela Suarez’s upper body stretch.

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.

Calisthenics Upper Body & Core Workout is 43:29 minutes; 1:30 minute intro, no warm up and 2 minute stretch. Equipment: yoga block, chair and fitness mat.

1. Decline push ups (feet on chair, hands on floor)
2. Tricep dips (hands on chair behind you, legs extended straight w/ heels on floor)
3. 30 second rest
4. Repeat #1-3
5. Uneven push up to side plank (in plank with one hand on yoga block and other hand on mat/floor, do one push up then rotate into side plank raising mat/floor hand to ceiling)
6. Side plank lift (in straight arm side plank with bottom hand on yoga block and top arm reaching for ceiling, raise and lower hips)
7. 30 second rest
8. Repeat #5-7 on other side of body
9. Plank saw (in elbow/forearm plank, push body forward and back with feet)
10. Plank walk in (in elbow/forearm plank, walk feet in towards elbows until you are in dolphin pose then walk feet back to elbow plank)
11. 30 second rest
12. Repeat #9-11
13. Pike walk in (with feet on chair and hands on floor, start in plank then walk hands back toward chair until torso is under hips)
14. Alternating side planks (with feet on chair and hands on floor, start in plank then rotate into side plank reaching top arm to ceiling, alternate sides)
15. 30 second rest
16. Repeat #13-15
17. Scapular push up (in straight arm plank, do scapular retractions, lowering chest while keeping arms straight and bringing shoulder blades together then rounding spine)
18. Rear delt raise (palms facing feet) (lay on stomach, arms are extended to sides in a T with palms facing behind you, raise and lower arms)
19. 30 second rest
20. Repeat #17-19
21. Wide push ups
22. Reverse snow angel (lay on stomach, keep arms raised off mat/floor, sweep both arms in front of you, out to sides and back to hips, then reverse, returning arms to start)
23. 30 second rest
24. Repeat #21-23
25. X1 slow dip (one tricep dip, take the entire 45 second interval to lower and raise)
26. X1 slow push up (one push up, take entire 45 second interval to lower and raise)
27. 30 second rest
28. Repeat #25-27
29. Pike push ups
30. Dive bomber push ups
31. 30 second rest
32. Repeat #29-31
33. Diamond push ups (hands are together under chest with thumb and first fingers forming a diamond)
34. Cobra diamond push ups (hands together under chest with thumb and first fingers forming a diamond, push up into cobra)
35. 30 second rest
36. Repeat #33-35

Finisher: (each exercise is done for 30 seconds, no rests/recoveries)

1. Palms facing Y raise (lay on stomach with arms extended in front of you in a Y formation with palms facing each other, raise and lower arms)
2. Palms down Y raise (repeat #37 w/ palms facing floor)
3. Palms down rear fly (still laying on stomach, arms extended to sides in a T with palms facing floor, raise and lower arms)
4. Palms up rear fly (repeat #3 but with palms facing in front of you)
5. Palms away rear fly (repeat #3/4 with palms facing behind you)
6. Palms up sweep (still laying on stomach, arms are at sides with palms facing ceiling, raise and lower arms)

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