FUEL Series 30 Min GLUTES & HAMSTRING CIRCUITS Workout | Day 18

30 Min Glutes & Hamstring Circuits Workout is Day 18 in Caroline Girvan‘s Fuel Series. I knew when previewing this workout that it would be brutal and it did not disappoint. OMG! This is a killer lower body workout. My glutes are fried! And it wasn’t just me–Caroline was kicking her own a$$. She took quite a few personal breaks in the midst of an interval. I even went conservative on my dumbbell choices and it still left me whimpering! I added a long much needed lower body stretch onto the end of this workout.

This workout is done interval style but the interval lengths and recoveries vary. Since there are no set interval lengths (and frequently no rest/recoveries between exercises), everything is in the breakdown below. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recovery. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. If there is no recovery, a video will appear near the end of an interval previewing 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. This workout is done to music with plenty of visual cues as well as “dings” to keep you on track.

30 Min Glutes & Hamstring Circuits Workout is 37:41 minutes; 2:57 minute intro, no warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, chair or bench, glute band and mat. Optional is a towel to protect your hips from the heavy dumbbell. Caroline is using one 30kg/66 pound dumbbell and one 15kg/33 pound dumbbell. I used my weight bench for the hip thrusts. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Explosive lift for 30 seconds (lean back against your bench or step, band is around thighs above knees, knees are bent and open so there is tension on band, one heavy DB rests on hips, feet are on floor with legs open so there is constant tension on the band, raise hips fast and with power (explosive) then lower hips slowly) (one 45# DB)
2. Smooth pulses for 30 seconds (same position as #1 but keep hips raised at top of lift and pulse hips upward slowly and with control) (one 45# DB)
3. Repeat #1
4. 20 second rest
5. Hip thrust for 60 seconds (hold every 10 seconds) (same position as #1, do hip thrusts for 10 seconds then hold at top of lift for 10 seconds, continue alternating lifting and holding–graphics and sounds on screen alert you when to change from lifting to holding) (one 45# DB)
6. 20 second rest
7. Hamstring explosive thrust for 30 seconds (booty band is around thighs above knees, lean back against your bench or chair, one heavy DB rests on hips, knees are bent and open so there is tension on band, heels are on floor but further away from chair than if you were doing a regular hip thrust, knees are slightly bent, raise hipp fast and with power (explosive) then lower hips slowly) (one 45# DB)
8. Smooth pulses for 30 seconds (same position as #7 keep hips raised at top of lift and pulse hips upward slowly and with control) (one 45# DB)
9. Repeat #7
10. 20 second rest
11. Hamstring thrust for 60 seconds (hold every 10 seconds) (same position as #7, do hamstring thrusts for 10 seconds then hold at top of lift for 10 seconds, continue alternating lifting and holding–graphics and sounds on screen alert you when to change from lifting to holding) (one 45# DB)
12. 30 second rest
13. RDLs for 60 seconds (Romanian deadlifts) (40# DBs)
14. 20 second rest
15. Forward leaning Bulgarian lunges for 30 seconds (stationary body weight lunges with back leg elevated on chair or step behind you, torso is hinged forward over front leg)
16. x1 slow lunge for 30 seconds (same position as #15, do one Bulgarian lunge taking entire interval to lower then raise back to start)
17. Repeat #15
18. 20 second rest
19. Forward leaning reverse lunges for 60 seconds (body weight reverse lunges, torso is hinged forward over front leg)
20. 20 second rest
21. Repeat #15-19 on other side of body
22. 30 second rest
23. Repeat #1-22

Finisher: (2 minutes; no rest/recoveries between exercises)

1. Partial sumo deadlift squats for 30 seconds (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, hold one heavy DB in both hands, torso is hinged forward deadlift style, lower to bottom of deadlift squat but only raise halfway) (one 50# DB)
2. Squat to plank for 60 seconds (start in deep squat, place hands on floor, jump feet out to plank, jump feet back in to hands and raise hands off floor so you are back in a deep squat)
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.