CGX: 60 Min ‘The Posterior’ Workout

This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page.

I love, love, love this workout! Posterior chain workouts are my favorite kind of workout anyway, and Caroline has created some great ones, but this one is her best yet, IMHO. I love her newer workouts that give you longer rests and shorter intervals. This one only gives shorter intervals for one exercise (barbell hip thrusts) but most of the rests are longer. I love it because it allows you to lift heavier and that is my goal now–strength. I do still enjoy metabolic workouts and they used to be my go-tos, but my tastes and goals have changed over the years and it appears a lot of Caroline’s newer workouts align with my current goals.

This is a full body workout. The focus is the back, rear delts, hamstrings and glutes, but other muscles assist and get worked, too (biceps and triceps and the rest of your lower body muscles). The counter part to this workout is The Anterior Workout, which I did yesterday. This workout contains a new hip thrust variation that I really like. It is near the end when the intervals are longer and you are using other modalities for resistance rather than weights. You are doing a hip thrust with your back against a bench and your feet elevated on something. I had my back against my weight bench and my feet on my step raised to full height (14 inches). The glute band is around your thighs and you push your thighs against the band the entire (long) interval so there is constant tension. A great burn to finish this workout. And surprise! Caroline gives a long (for her) stretch at the end! Excellent workout. It goes on my favorites list.

The exercises are done interval style; most of the exercises are done for 60 seconds of work followed by 45 seconds of recovery. If an interval or recovery time differs, it is noted in the breakdown below. There is an on screen timer counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a progress bar along the bottom of the screen, counting down the workout time as a percentage.

The Posterior Workout is 65:34 minutes (this time does not include the optional 4:41 minute warm up or 5:03 minute intro, also optional) with a 4:45 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, barbell, chair and bench, stability ball, heel wedge and a fitness mat. Caroline is using a barbell at 68kg/150 pounds. She is also using a 25kg/55 pound, 20kg/44 pound, 17.5kg/38.5 pound, 15kg/33 pound, 10kg/22 pound, and 4kg/8.8 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, knee of non-working leg rests on a bench or chair) (one 40# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times (Caroline increases the weight she is using) (one 42.5# DB)
4. Pullover (one 40# DB)
5. Repeat #4 two more times
6. Glute biased Bulgarian lunge (stationary lunge, back leg is elevated on step/bench behind you, toes of front foot are elevated in heel wedge, hold one DB in same side hand as back leg, torso hinges forward over front leg, Caroline is holding onto a chair back in front of her to go deeper into lunge) (one 25# DB)
7. Repeat #6 on other leg
8. Repeat #6 & 7 two more times (Caroline increases the weight she is using)
9. Hip thrusts for 45 seconds (lean back against your bench or step with barbell on hips, knees are bent and heels are in line with knees, raise and lower hips slowly) (barbell @ 116#)
10. 60 second rest
11. Repeat #9 & 10 two more times
12. x1 one arm row (single arm row, one knee and same side hand rest on bench) (one 45# DB)
13. Repeat #12 on other arm
14. Repeat #12 & 13 two more times (for the 3rd/final set, Caroline reduces the weight she is using) (one 40# DB for 3rd/final set)
15. Stability ball roll outs for 75 seconds (lay on back on mat, heels on stability ball, raise hips and keep them elevated, roll ball in toward glutes then back out)
16. 30 second rest
17. Rear delt row for 75 seconds (sit on bench or chair holding one DB in each hand, torso is hinged forward over thighs, DBs start near heels, row DBs w/ arms open out to sides and palms facing behind you, leading/raising with elbows, arms are bent and elbows are in line with shoulders) (10# DBs)
18. 30 second rest
19. Repeat #15-18
20. Repeat #15 & 16
21. Rear delt row partial reps for 60 seconds (same as #17 but only lift arms/DBs partway)
22. 45 second rest
23. Pause at bottom elevated hip thrust for 90 seconds (back rests on bench and feet rest on a chair or other elevated surface such as a step, a glute band is around thighs above knees, legs are open so there is constant tension, raise and lower hips pausing briefly at bottom)
24. 45 second rest
25. Repeat #23 & 24
26. Repeat #23 for 75 seconds

15 second rest

Finisher: Regular tempo banded hip thrust for 30 seconds (same as #23–back rests on bench and feet rest on chair/step, a glute band is around thighs above knees, legs are open so there is constant tension, raise and lower hips regular tempo–no pauses)