This workout is part of Cathe Friedrich’s Lift, Move & Restore program. This program contains workouts for people who are fit but aging and want to take things down a notch but also want to age well. She notes that these workouts can also be used as recovery workouts for advanced exercisers.
Functional Barre Fusion contains two workouts. A 48:30 minute total body barre workout and a 15:45 minute upper body foam rolling workout. The first time I did this workout I did the main workout only and I found it to be another very enjoyable workout. It is no metabolic sweat fest and the intensity varied. Cathe works your entire body in this workout. It is set up in rounds. Each round contains one lower body exercise, one upper body exercise and one core exercise. But for several of the exercises you are working the upper and lower body, or the core and upper body or even total body. There are 5 of these rounds. The lower body is always a barre exercise and the core is always some kind of mat based exercise. Some of the exercises burned out whatever muscle groups Cathe was working and others worked the muscle groups well but I had no muscle burn. Cathe only uses 3 pound dumbbells for everything. This weight was appropriate for a few of the exercises, but (for me at least) I needed heavier dumbbells for most of the exercises. The time flew by and the workout seemed like it was over in no time. I really enjoyed this workout a lot. It is another perfect recovery workout.
When I did the upper body foam rolling bonus I combined with the Anytime Mobility Bonus and the lower body foam rolling bonus (both are included in this series). This is not a true foam rolling workout. You do some foam rolling in the beginning but it is not traditional foam rolling. You are literally rolling the muscles. Normally when foam rolling you would roll slowly and stop on trigger points so the pressure helps release muscle/fascia. This is just a quick roll out of upper body muscle groups. Then you move on to upper body strength training and core work using the foam roller. It’s not an advanced or difficult workout but some of the exercises are a bit challenging. This would be great to use as a warm up before an upper body workout. I also really like how I used it–combining it with the mobility bonus and the lower body foam rolling bonus (which is the same concept as this one–quick, active foam rolling followed by strength work).
Functional Barre Fusion is 48:33 minutes; 2:40 minute warm up and 5 minute stretch. Equipment: STS bar or Fit Tower or chair, light dumbbells, light tension firewalker loop, balance disc, mini yoga/pilates ball and fitness mat. Below I listed both the weights Cathe used and the weights I used. If only the weight is listed, I used the same weight as Cathe.
- Ball squeeze squat (stand behind bar/chair with yoga/pilates ball between knees and hands resting on barre in front of you, raise onto heels, lower into squat, raise out of squat then lower heels; raise onto toes, lower into squat and pulse 2x then raise out of squat but remain on toes; still on toes, lower into squat and hold isometrically while squeezing knees together on ball)
- Front raise scarecrow combo (straight arm front raise w/ palms facing down; raise arms in front of you to shoulder level, pull DBs back to the shoulders then rotate arms up so they are in goalpost, reverse this motion until arms are extended straight in front of you; add the front raise–so move starts w/DBs at thighs and ends at thighs) (3# DBs)
- Mini ball crunch (sit on mat w/ knees bent and feet on mat, place ball in small of back, with hands behind head do crunches)
- Leg abduction (place firewalker loop around ankles and balance disk in front of bar/chair, stand beside bar/chair w/ foot closest to bar on balance disk and one hand resting on bar/chair back, lift other leg out to side; draw circles with leg)
- Repeat #4 on other leg
- Lateral raise front raise combo (combo 1: start w/ arms/DBs at sides, lift arms into a straight arm side raise, when they are shoulder height, pull elbows into sides while also rotating wrists so palms face upward, push arms/DBs back out into a T then lower arms back to sides; combo 2: start w/ arms/DBs at sides, lift arms straight in front of you with palms facing each other, keeping elbows close to sides pull elbows back behind you while rotating wrists so palms face the ceiling, push DBs back in front of you and lower back beside thighs; alternate combo 1 w/ combo 2) (Cathe is using 3 DBs, I used 5# DBs)
- Hip bridge chest fly (lay on back on mat w/ knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, you are holding one DB in each hand w/ arms close to sides, lift hips into a bridge while also pushing DBs overhead, hold hips isometrically while doing one chest fly, lower DBs and hips back to start; changes to holding at top of bridge isometrically while doing chest flys) (Cathe is using 3# DBs, I used 15# DBs)
- Straight leg lift (place firewalker loop around ankles and balance disk in front of bar/chair, stand beside bar/chair w/ foot closest to bar on balance disk and one hand resting on bar/chair back, lift other leg in front of you and lift and lower leg; changes to lifting it, lowering it halfway, lifting it all the way then lowering it all the way)
- Repeat #8 on other leg
- Sumo criss cross combo (step one leg out into sumo or wide plie squat while also extending arms/DBs out to sides w/ palms facing ceiling, step feet back together while also bringing straight arms in front of you and doing small “criss cross” movements w/the DBs, alternate sides when stepping out) (3# DBs)
- Mini ball V ups (lay on one hip and same side elbow, ball is between ankles, raise top arm to ceiling, raise straight legs to ceiling and tap feet with hand)
- Repeat #11 on other side of body
- Hamstring press (place firewalker loop around ankles and balance disk in front of bar/chair, stand beside bar/chair w/ foot closest to bar on balance disk and one hand resting on bar/chair back, lift and lower other leg up straight behind you; lift leg up behind you on an angle and pulse it upward)
- Repeat #13 on other leg
- Shoulder pumps (place loop around wrists, with arms in front of thighs pulse arms out against band 8x, raise to shoulder level and pulse 8x, raise arms overhead and pulse 8x, lower to shoulder level and again pulse 8x, lower to thighs again and pulse 8x; raise arms overhead and back in front of thighs while pulsing the entire time)
- Hip bridge pullover (lay on back on mat w/ knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, you are holding one DB in each hand and ball is between knees, lift hips into bridge and hold isometrically, extend arms straight to ceiling; add 2 single arm pullovers (once each arm) + one double arm pullover) (Cathe is using 3# DBs, I used 10# DBs)
- Forward leaning ball squeeze (stand behind bar/chair, hold one DB in one hand, ball is behind knee of opposite leg (in knee pit), other hand rests on bar/chair back, do a single leg squat–torso is hinged forward and DB is reaching to floor; same position but lower deeper into single leg squat and pulse lower) (Cathe uses one 3# DB, I used one 15# DB)
- Repeat #17 on other leg
- Back fly curl press combo (combo 1=hold one DB in each hand, hinge forward and do 3 bent over rear delt flys then return upright; combo 2=hammer curl into an overhead press, do 2 overhead tricep extensions/French presses then lower DBs back to shoulders and finish the hammer curl; alternate combo 1 w/ combo 2) (Cathe is using 3# DBs, I used 5# DBs–I will used heavier DBs next time)
- L position crunch (lay back on mat, one leg is extended with heel resting on ball, other leg is extended to ceiling w/ knee slightly bent, hands are behind head, crunch upper body while also rolling ball in with foot)
- Repeat #20 on other leg
Upper Body Foam Rolling Bonus is 15:44 minutes w/ a 30 second stretch. Equipment: foam roller and fitness mat. If a move description focuses on one side of the body, you will repeat it on the other side of the body.
- Chest (lay vertically on foam roller so it is under head, along spine and glutes, extend arms overhead then open them out to sides in a T w/ backs of hands resting on mat; shift side to side massaging spine)
- Back/triceps (sit on mat w/ foam roller behind you vertically, lean back so mid-back is on foam roller, legs are bent, raise hips and roll spine along foam roller; lay on side with one hip on mat and foam roller under arm, bottom arm is extended overhead, using lower body, roll foam roller all along lats from armpit to bottom of ribs; push foam roller up so it is now under tricep of bottom extended arm, use other arm to roll foam roller along tricep)
- Shoulders (double kneeling on mat w/ foam roller on mat beside you, place back of hand of arm furtherest away from foam roller on roller, roll hand/forearm along foam roller doing a thread the needle variation)
- Child’s pose (double kneeling on mat with foam roller in front of you, place palms on foam roller, roll foam roller forward while hinging forward into child’s pose, rolling foam roller in and out; add rounding spine when rolling foam roller in)
- Plank (straight arm plank with hands on foam roller and feet on floor)
- Push ups (hands on foam roller, knees or toes on floor)
- Oblique twist (sit on mat w/ legs extended and knees slightly bent, hold foam roller in front of you with a hand on each end, twist foam roller to side tapping end to mat while also raising same side leg, alternate sides)
- Repeat #5 w/ hands closer together (tricep push ups)
- Dips (sit on foam roller with hands on foam roller beside hips, lift hips off foam roller and shift them forward slightly, do tricep dips)
- Extend and tap crunches (lay on back with legs raised and knees bent, hold one end of foam roller in each hand and place foam roller on shins, extend arms/foam roller overhead while lowering bent knees until toes tap mat)
- Jack knife exchange (lay on back with one end of foam roller in each hand, lift legs (opened wide) and place foam roller between feet, lower legs/foam roller until they are a few inches off mat while also extending arms overhead, raise legs/foam roller back to ceiling and take foam roller in hands again, lower legs a few inches off mat while also extending arms/foam roller overhead)
Premixes:
- Main Program + Bonus – 63:03 minutes
- Timesaver #1 – Rounds 1-4 – 38:10 minutes
- Timesaver #2 – Rounds 2-5 – 42:12 minutes
- Timesaver #3 – Rounds 1-3 – 30:16 minutes
- Timesaver #4 – All Lower Body – 24:12 minutes
- Timesaver #5 – Lower Body & Core – 37:23 minutes
- Upper Body Foam Rolling Workout – 23:00 minutes
- Scrambled – 47:55 minutes
