Body Revolution - Phase 3, Workout 9

Woot woot! You’ve got FOUR WEEKS LEFT!! :D Oh man, now we’re onto the last phase and things are really starting to heat up. I love weeks 9 and 10, maybe even more than 7 and 8! 

Like always, Jillian has you doing a quick warmup. You have speed rope, high front kicks, half squat with a round kick, jumping jacks, and then mountain climbers. Plank in the warmup? That’s when you know you’re getting stronger! 

Cricuit One has you doing something called pushup jacks. So in pushup position, you jump the feet out as you go down for your pushup, and then bring them back in as you go back up. Yeah, the girl is crazy. Then in plank, she has you doing plank flies on each side. Next is a really deep squat, where you go up on your tip toes as you go down. Your cardio is jumping jacks in squat, and then you repeat all that on the other side. 

Circuit two is something evil called dive bombers, which I had never heard of. It reminds me of creeping under a fence in a way, or diving down into a pushup from downward dog, and then into cobra, back into downward dog, when you go down again. Then you do sphinx pushups, which is as mean as it sounds. Then down dog series, where you bring your knee in to the left, center, and front. The you do frog into squats, which is kind of like a burpee. It reminds me more of bear into squat. Your cardio is side burpees and then you repeat all that again. 

Circuit three has a walk out into plank from standing all on one leg. Then you’re down in a chair pose, and then you’re doing boat pose into hollow man. Then you’re doing hip thrusts with your resistance band. You cardio is in plank and it’s plank moguls and then you repeat on the other side. 

Circuit 4 has some classic Jillian moves. You do a squat with a V Fly which I remember doing all the way back with the 30 Day Shred, and I still hate them :D. Then you do a curtsey lunge with a lateral raise. She has you get back down into crab and you do tricep dips and then into side plank for an oblique crunch. Your cardio is another classic Jillian move: Rock and Roll squats! I can do these, but they scare the crap out of me, so I usually modify. It sucks because I actually really love them, but I can see it ending badly. I feel like I need a pool of deep water near when I roll back up to standing! hah. And then you repeat circuit 4 on the other side. 

You’ve earned your cool down. Phew. 

Body Rev - Phase 2 Cardio

Phase 2 Cardio. 

The Phase 2 cardio workout takes you through all four weeks of Phase 2. So on your cardio days, you will do this workout, and you’ll do it a total of eight time during Phase 2. All other workouts you do four times.

So the cardio workout is pretty simple. There are 14 different moves that you do for approximately 30 seconds, and you repeat it three times. Get ready to sweat. Since it’s a cardio workout, you don’t need to warm up. The moves are jump rope, butt kicks, high knees, alternating knee thrusts, jumping jacks, fast feet, skaters, skiers, plié hops, cross jacks, half squat uppercuts, towel runs, hooks, and…boom! Thought you might escape those burpees, but they are ba-aaack! 

So, like I said, you do each of these moves for approximately 30 seconds each, and then you move on to the next one and repeat this circuit three times. The Cardio 1 workout is my favorite cardio from Body Rev, but this one is my second favorite (and then Cardio 3 is somewhere down in hell!). I did like having some uppercuts and hooks in there, and I'm all about those skaters, jump rope, and fast feet. There is one amusing moment during towel runs and Jillian is joking about how bad the workout sucks, and then she’s like, “Who’s the crazy person who came up with that? Hurts So Good, oh my endorphins!” I KNOW! John Cougar Mellancamp, and I love that song! Small towns unite! I always love when there are moments in a workout that I remember and look forward to getting to when it comes to doing them over again. 

Cardio 2 is definitely a step up from Cardio 1. I’m someone who likes cardio more than the strength training/HIIT training. 

Body Revolution - Phase 2, Workout 8!

Body Revolution - Phase 2, Workout 8!

All righty! On to workout 8. I really enjoyed workout 8. I liked the moves and I felt like we’ve really stepped it up to a better workout. You start this one with a brief warmup, like always. This one has side crunches (elbows to knees), cobra pose, and surfer getups on both sides to help get you warm and ready to work.  

Circuit 1 has you in a squat with a medium row, lat pulls while in bridge position, upright rows with your resistance band, and then a deadlift with hammer curls. You repeat that on each side after you have a one minute cardio interval that is butt kicks with hammer curls. 

Circuit 2 is pendulum lunges with a reverse bicep curl (so palms are facing forward) and pelvic thrusts with your resistance band. Those are the only two moves but you repeat them several times throughout this circuit (each side, totaling the up and down four times I think) and your cardio is jump rope with weights. 

Circuit 3 is evil. Live backwards is EVIL. Or is it love backwards? When you do this workout, that’ll make sense. It’s a Natalie moment. ;). You have been warned. You get in crescent pose, and bust out some lateral raises. As if your shoulders aren’t already on fire, she has you in Warrior 3, with your hands out holding the weights. You get to do it on the other side right away, and then you get to do rockstar jumps, and then you get to light another match for your shoulders. ;) 

Circuit 4 is a weighted good morning, a side lunge into a crossover lunge holding weights on both sides one one leg (you’ll repeat on the other both times), and then bicycle crunches with your band. Your cardio is suicide runs. 

So I really like workout 7 and 8. I really felt like I was finally starting to be challenged! I liked the previous six weeks, but I can’t help but wonder if I should have done the less intense workouts for a shorter amount of time, because at times it felt a little too beginnerish. Then other times I felt like I was really being challenged. That’s the beauty of Body Rev though!