Beast Cardio

I’m not sure what I was expecting with Body Beast cardio but I was intrigued as I popped in the DVD. This actually turned out to be a very effective 30 minute cardio workout. In typical beast style though….you use weights! For any of you Ice Age fans, you know Scrat the squirrel type of creature? Well the classic look he has in his eye when the acorn evades him yet again was present in my eyes this morning. The reason for this? SQUATS…..loads of them! My legs are still annihilated after Tuesdays workout so my face was a picture when I realised squat lifts, jump squats and dumbbell sumo squats were on the cards. Nevertheless I soldiered on and enjoyed the workout. It has a bit of a plyo feel to it and certainly gets your heart racing. There’s a good mix of explosive and holding moves using compound exercises so all kinds of muscle fibres are activated throughout the workout. At least the weights you use are light this time around

This cardio workout gives you a good idea how body builders focus on burning fat  by using intervals, without compromising and losing their muscle mass.  The workout runs you through one-minute bursts of cardio moves, followed by a light weight compound move which pumps, burns and fatigues your whole body. All in all a nice change from the heavy lifting.

Beast Abs:

This one was set out a bit more like Ab Ripper X from P90X. Guess what the difference is though? Yep….again you use some weights! Not all exercises require weights but you do some lateral plank balances and Russian twists with dumbbells. This one only lasts 10 minutes but it’s quite enough when combined with Beast cardio as that also contains a fair amount of core work. There’s also a few classic crunch and plank moves.

I should mention that I am doing the huge beast plan rather than the lean beast plan. You get to choose whether to do total body & abs or cardio & abs. Obviously this time around I went for the cardio option.

I feel good after both workouts but boy do I need rest day tomorrow. It’s great that it’s fallen on a Saturday too. Note to muscles….please heal and please heal quickly! I have chest and triceps for the second time this week on Sunday, gulp! I’m about to go and attach myself to an intravenous drip containing branch chain amino acids to aid the healing process!