It has been a very long time since Caroline Girvan has uploaded a workout on YouTube but this is her latest. It is also posted on her CGX app so I will give basic information for both in this review. If you are like me and primarily used dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells–some kind of weighted resistance–for your strength workouts then this is a great workout to really mix things up. I felt like the first half of the workout was easier (for me at least) than Caroline’s weighted workouts. I still felt like my muscles were getting worked well, especially the upper body sets, but not as well as when I use resistance. Then you go to the floor for the sweeps and delt flys, the hamstring roll outs, the diver and cobra push ups and the finisher, which was a core complex–and I was dying. Lots of crying. Though this is technically a bodyweight workout, you are using lots of props/equipment. So it isn’t a good travel workout. Caroline does a nice job working your entire body. It is hard to work certain muscle groups bodyweight style–at least without doing some form of a pull up for the back and biceps, and she didn’t do any shoulder focused work but the chest and triceps get worked very well. And with push ups and tricep dips lots of other muscle groups assist, so you are hitting everything in some fashion.
Caroline’s YouTube intro is nearly 5 minutes. In it she shares that her YouTube channel has reached (and has now exceeded) 3 million subscribers! The main purpose of the intro was to give people information about her CGX app. It is great info, so if you are interested in trying out her app I suggest listening to the intro. That portion is about 3 minutes. The remainder of the intro she previews the upcoming workout.
The techniques used in this workout are also a taste of what you will find in her CGX app. She has a 2 week, 10 workout Cluster Series that plays out like this workout (except using dumbbells/barbell). You do a straight set followed by short 15-20 second sets with short recoveries. A warning though. Caroline is giving you longer recoveries in this workout. In her CGX Cluster Series the majority of the recoveries during a cluster set are 10 seconds. And the finisher is an example of what you will get in one of her recent programs Intent. Intent contains 50 workouts that are all muscle splits–so no total body workouts. And they all have a finisher just like this one–a 4 minute complex. They are not all abdominal/core finishers but they are all complexes. In Intent (and this workout) the complex contains 2 exercises. You repeat the 2 exercises, alternating them with no rest between them until the 4 minutes is up. I plan to start Intent in August.
This workout is done interval style. The interval and recovery times vary so they are noted below in the breakdown. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a progress bar at the bottom of the screen, counting down the workout time as a percentage.
1 Hour Bodyweight Full Body Workout | Calisthenic Clusters is 69:47 minutes; 4:54 minute intro, no warm up and 3:25 minute stretch. Equipment: bench or chair, glute/booty band, stability ball, yoga block, heel wedges and fitness mat. Optional: push up bars/handles. If you are doing this workout on her CGX app, the workout time is 64:52 minutes (this time does not include the optional 4:41 minute warm up or the 1:40 minute intro, also optional) and 3:25 minute stretch.
- Bulgarian lunge for 75 seconds (stationary lunge, back leg is elevated on chair/bench behind you)
- 20 second rest
- 3/4 rep for 20 seconds (same leg as #1, lower to bottom of lunge but only raise 3/4 of the way so there is constant tension in the working leg)
- Repeat #2 & 3 two more times
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #1-5 on other leg
- Deadstop push ups for 75 seconds (at bottom of push up entire body rests on floor, lift hands briefly before pushing back up to plank keeping body straight from head to heels)
- 20 second rest
- Regular push ups for 20 seconds (Caroline is using push up bar/handles, I used DBs)
- Repeat #8 & 9 two more times
- 30 second rest
- Heel elevated squats for 75 seconds (heels are elevated on heel wedges)
- 10 second rest
- ‘Time at bottom’ for 20 seconds (same as #12 but pause briefly at bottom of squat, you also do spend any time at the top of the squat–as soon as you raise out of squat you immediately drop back down)
- Repeat #13 & 14 three more times
- 30 second rest
- Forward tilt Bulgarian lunge for 75 seconds (same as #1 except heel wedge is under front foot and torso hinges forward over front leg)
- 20 second rest
- 3/4 rep for 20 seconds (same leg as #17, lower to bottom of lunge but only raise 3/4 of the way so there is constant tension in the working leg)
- Repeat #18 & 19 two more times
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #17-21 on other leg
- Dips for 75 seconds (slow eccentric & pause) (tricep dips with hands on chair/bench behind you, lower slowly and pause at bottom of dip, press back up at normal pace)
- 20 second rest
- Regular pace tricep dips for 20 seconds
- Repeat #24 & 25 two more times
- Banded hip thrust for 75 seconds (glute band is around thighs above knees, lean back against chair/bench, knees are bent at 90 degrees and feet are on floor, slowly raise and lower hips/glutes while also opening legs so there is constant tension on the band)
- 10 second rest
- Repeat #27 & 28 three more times
- 30 second rest
- x1 leg hip thrust for 75 seconds (remove band, back is still against chair/bench, raise one leg and do single leg hip thrusts)
- 20 second rest
- 1/2 reps for 20 seconds (same as #31, lift to top of hip thrust but only lower halfway)
- Repeat #32 & 33 two more times
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #31-35 on other leg
- Sweep (shortened partial) for 75 seconds (lay on stomach face down on mat, with arms close to sides, lift arms and lower partway so there is constant tension)
- 10 second rest
- Short partial rear fly for 20 seconds (still on stomach face down on mat, extend arms to sides in a T w/ palms facing behind you, lift arms but only lower partway so there is constant tension)
- (no rest) Repeat #37 for 20 seconds
- (no rest) Repeat #39 & 40 two more times
- (no rest) Repeat #39
- 20 second rest
- Hamstring ball roll out for 75 seconds (lay on back on mat with both heels on ball, raise hips/glutes and and keep them raised while rolling ball out then back in using your heels)
- 10 second rest
- Full range hamstring roll out for 20 seconds (same as #44)
- (no rest) Hold for 10 seconds (roll ball in halfway keeping hips elevated, hold isometrically)
- (no rest) Repeat #46 & 47 two more times
- (no rest) Repeat #47
- 30 second rest
- Paused closer stance lunge for 75 seconds (stationary lunge with legs closer together than normal, front foot is elevated on yoga block)
- 20 second rest
- 3/4 rep for 20 seconds (same leg as #51, lower to bottom of lunge but only raise 3/4 of the way so there is constant tension in the working leg)
- Repeat #52 & 53 two more times
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #51-55
- Diver push ups for 75 seconds (dive bomber push ups)
- 20 second rest
- Cobra push ups for 15 seconds (lay on mat with hands on mat under shoulders, keeping arms close to sides do push ups cobra-style keeping hips on mat)
- Repeat #58 & 59 two more times
30 second rest
Finisher: (4 minutes w/ no rest/recoveries)
- Tuck to extend, 20 reps (lay on back w/ head/shoulders elevated, extend legs out straight in line with hips and elevated a few inches off mat then pull knees into chest and lift hips into a reverse crunch)
- Alternating toe reach, 20 reps (lay on back with both legs extended straight to ceiling, do upper body crunches reaching one hand to opposite foot, alternate sides)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
