DEMANDING Glutes and Hamstrings Workout / Knee Friendly | EPIC III Day 13

Demanding Glutes and Hamstrings Workout / Knee Friendly is Day 13 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC III program. OMG. This workout was brutal. I begged for mercy several times! “Knee friendly” does not mean glute and hamstring friendly! It tortured my glutes and hamstrings! No mercy! This workout was recommended to me by a blog reader. It was already on my To Do list, but I decided to bump it up higher. In fact, I board a plane for vacation later today so this and Caroline’s upper body workout that I also did this morning might be my last real strength training for the next two weeks. So I wanted to make sure I did something good! And both workouts delivered. In fact, I am questioning the wisdom of my decision now. I fear DOMS is in my future and I do I really want DOMS when I stuck on a plane for hours???? Too late now!

This workout is made up of supersets. You will do two exercises, each for 50 seconds back to back (100 seconds of work) before you get a 20 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.

Demanding Glutes and Hamstrings Workout / Knee Friendly is 49:24 minutes; 2:21 minute intro, no warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a booty band/resistance loop, a yoga block, a chair or step and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 15kg/33.1 pound and 25kg/55.1 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Abduction (lay on mat, booty band around thighs just above knees, knees are bent and feet are on mat close to glutes, open knees so there is tension on the band, pulse knees outward against band)
2. Bridge to abduction (same position as #1, raise hips into bridge, open knees wider against band then lower hips back to mat)
3. 20 second rest
4. Repeat #1-3
5. Pause at top hip thrusts (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 hips and pause briefly at top of lift before lowering hips) (one 50# DB)
6. Same position as #5, raise hips to top of lift and hold isometrically entire interval
7. 20 second rest
8. Repeat #5-7
9. 1/2 rep hip thrusts (same position as #5, raise hips to top of hip thrust but only lower halfway) (one 50# DB)
10. Full range hip thrusts (one 5-# DB)
11. 20 second rest
12. Repeat #9-11 two more times
13. 1.5 rep body weight thrust (same position as #5, but no DB, lift hips to top of thrust, lower halfway, raise back to top of thrust then lower all the way)
14. Body weight full range
15. 20 second rest
16. RDL with pause at bottom (Romanian deadlift) (40# DBs)
17. 1.5 rep RDL (lower to bottom of deadlift, raise halfway, lower back to bottom of deadlift, raise all the way) (40# DBs)
18. 20 second rest
19. Repeat #16-18
20. Regular RDL (full range, no pauses) (40# DBs)
21. 1/2 rep RDL x1 dumbbell (hold one DB in both hands, lower to bottom of deadlift but only raise halfway) (one 40# DB)
22. 20 second rest
23. Repeat #20-22
24. Deadstop hamstring lift x1 DB (lay on back on mat, one DB resting on hips, one leg is extended on the mat, knee slightly bent, heel elevated on yoga block, other leg is raised, raise and lower hips–when you lower, lower glutes completely onto mat) (one 45# DB)
25. Body weight only (same position as #24 except no DB, raise and lower hips but do not lower glutes completely to mat)
26. 20 second rest
27. Repeat #24-26 on other side of body
28. Repeat #24-27
29. Deadstop elevated bridge (lay on back, one heavy DB on hips, one foot is elevated on chair with knee bent, other foot is raised, raise and lower hips–when you lower, lower glutes completely onto mat) (one 45# DB)
30. Body weight only (same position and move as #29, but no DB and done to a faster pace and do not lower glutes completely to mat)
31. 20 second rest
32. Repeat #29-31 on other leg

Finisher: (same intervals as rest of the workout: each exercise is done for 50 seconds, no rest between exercises)

1. Band body weight bridge deadstop (lay on back on mat with band around thighs just above knees, feet are elevated on chair and knees are open so there is tension on band, raise and lower hips, lowering glutes completely onto mat)
2. Push knees out and rep it out (same position as #1, push knees out wide against band, lift and lower hips but do not lower glutes completely onto mat)

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