IRON Series 30 Min Glutes & Hamstrings Workout – Hip Thrusts / RDL | 8

30 Min Glutes & Hamstrings Workout – Hip Thrusts / RDL is Day 8 in Caroline Girvan‘s Iron Series. Another excellent and tough lower body workout to fry your glutes and hamstrings. Those hip thrusts are killer! I do love the fact that Caroline gives us longer rests between exercises in her Iron Series. That gives me the opportunity to use a heavier dumbbell (for me) for the hip thrusts. I definitely feel the 5 pound difference during those hip and hamstring thrusts but the fact I get to rest for 30 seconds before repeating makes all the difference.

All of the exercises in this workout are done interval style: 60 seconds of work followed by 30 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.

The stretch at the end was interesting. You are in forward fold nearly the entire 3 minutes! Which is fine with me. I love a good forward fold. It feels good on your hamstrings and low back but that might be uncomfortable for some people so be warned. I used one of Heather Robertson‘s Daily 10 Workouts as a finisher: Day 25 Toned Thighs & Glutes. Even though all of the forward folds felt nice and stretched out my hamstrings, I needed something more so I also added on Anouline’s 5 Minute Lower Body Stretch. Overall, this morning was an excellent lower body workout.

30 Min Glutes & Hamstrings Workout – Hip Thrusts / RDL is 35:56 minutes; 2:10 minute intro, no warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or bench, a booty band and a fitness mat. Optional is a towel to protect your hips from the dumbbell. Caroline is using one 30kg/66 pound and 17.5kg/38.6 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. RDL (Romanian deadlift) (40# DBs)
2. Repeat #1
3. Banded hip thrusts – slow (place booty band around thighs, lean back against your bench or step, one heavy DB on hips, knees bent and open so there is tension on band, and feet on floor, raise and lower hips slowly) (one 45# DB)
4. Paused at top hip thrusts (same position as #3, pause briefly at top of hip raise before lowering) (one 45# DBs)
5. 1.5 rep hip thrusts (same position as #3, lift hips, lower halfway, lift hips, lower all the way) (one 45# DB)
6. Hamstring hip thrusts (same position as #1 but move feet further away and place weight in heels, raise and lower hips) (one 45# DB)
7. Repeat #6
8. Staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, back leg is in kickstand) (one 40# DB)
9. Repeat #8 on other side of body
10. Repeat #8 & 9 but for 1.5 reps (lower to bottom of deadlift, raise halfway, lower to bottom of deadlift, raise all the way) (one 40# DB)
11. Lunge to staggered RDL (one reverse lunge + one single leg deadlift) (one 25# DB)
12. Repeat #11 on other side of body
13. Repeat #11 & 12
14. Single leg hamstring lift combo (same position as #6, but no booty band or DB (body weight), lift one leg and keep it raised entire interval, raise and lower hips)
15. (no rest/recovery) Repeat #14 on other side of body
16. (no rest/recovery) Repeat #14 & 15

Finisher: (2:30 minutes, no rest/recoveries)

1. Weighted hamstring thrusts for 60 seconds (lean back against your bench or chair, one heavy DB on hips, feet on floor but further away from chair/bench than if you were doing a regular hip thrust, knees are slightly bent, raise and lower hips) (one 45# DB)
2. Hold isometrically at top of lift for 30 seconds (one 45# DB)
3. 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.