B Strong Greatest HIITs 2017: Battle Rope Butterflies + Bench Up & Over Burpee Drill

DAY 11! Give this drill a go to increase strength and power in your shoulders and improve stability in your shoulders, knees & ankles. This EMOM Battle Rope drill doesn't exactly spike your heart rate in the way Days 1 & 6 do, purely because it's bigger, more power-focused movements that are difficult to speed up, [if you got baby rear-delts like me ;-)], but it's a great finisher when you want to burn out your shoulders and keep your heart rate up too!

Here's what it is: an EMOM. "Every Minute On the Minute" you have a task to complete. Once you complete that task, you rest the remaining seconds in the minute. So, the harder you work & the faster you get it done, the more rest time you've earned yourself ;-)

Here are your tasks: ODD minutes = 30 Battle Rope Butterflies. EVEN minutes = 10 Cross Over Step Up & Overs to Burpees. Perform for 8-12 minutes; 4-6 rounds per movement.

FORM:
[Battle Rope Butterflies]
- Pinch your shoulder blades together and externally rotate your shoulders as you quickly pull your arms open to the side.
- Once arms are completely open, relax and let hands fall back toward each other, but don't forcefully whip your hands toward each other, [if they hit it won't feel good!].
- Keep your shoulders pulled down away from your ears and your lats engaged through the entire set.
[Bench Step Up & Over + Burpee]
- If bench is on your right side, step your left foot across and onto the bench and vice versa.
- Fully extend your leg once you step onto the bench and before you step down off the bench.
- Drive through the heel of your foot that you step onto the bench as you stand up.

How many reps did it take for you to start feeling the butterflies?! They sneak up on you don't they? ;-) Tell me on IG/TW/FB @cassiebstrong!

B Strong,

Cassie B.

B Strong Greatest HIITs 2017: [At Home] Core & Cardio Drill

Try this equipment-free Core & Cardio drill as a total body finisher, or save it for a day when you can't get to the gym!

Here's the drill:
20sec/movement x 3 movements = 1min/round.
No rest between rounds.
A. Mountain Climbers
B. Plank Switch Lunges
C. Power Jacks

FORM:
[Mountain Climbers]
- Shoulders stacked over hands.
- Press all 5 fingers of each hand into floor to avoid overloading wrists.
- Keep hips at shoulder height.
- Pull knees forward toward the space between your elbows.
- Keep that belly pulled tight!
[Plank Switch Lunges]
**Note: You DO NOT have to jump if this is new to you: alternate stepping each foot forward & back instead if this is new/too advanced.**
- The foot that comes forward should land flat, (heel is on the floor!), and ideally should land directly beside your hand.
- Keep your lower belly super tight and avoid letting your lower back arch as you land.
[Power Jacks]
- When you jump your feet apart, your knees bend to a squat when you land.
- When you jump your feet together, your knees bend to a squat when you land.
- When you land from either jump, your knees should be stacked over your ankles as you land - avoid letting your knees collapse inward.
- Land soft from your jumps!

What burned the most by the time you finished?! Tell me on IG/TW/FB @cassiebstrong!

B Strong,

Cassie B.

B Limber: Hip & Shoulder Joint Mobility

Another hard workout should = another deep stretch. Showing your muscles some TLC when you're training hard is often the difference between developing results & developing injuries. I, for one, will take results over injury any day ;-)

The stretches in this video focus on loosening up the muscles that tend to create tension in 2 common problem joints: shoulders and hips. Slow, constant movement, like I'm doing in the beginning of the video, is a perfect, dynamic movement for a pre-workout warm-up.  Holding these stretches will be more affective when your muscles are warm, post-workout.

You'll notice I also progress the dynamic movement as I get warmer by reaching 1 arm back to my opposite foot as I do the downward dog. This increases the stretch at the same time as it works your stability in the shoulder girdle of your supporting arm and really gets the blood pumping to warm that body. [**Safety note: be sure you're not on a surface where your hand can slip out from underneath you! No head dives into the floor please ;-)**]

FORM:
[Downward Dog]
- Lift your hips toward the ceiling and keep your arms and legs straight as you press your chest back toward your toes. Make a triangle shape with your body.
- Drive your heels toward the floor to stretch your calves.
- Lift your tailbone toward the ceiling to stretch your hamstrings.
- Press your chest back to open up your shoulders.
- Press all 5 fingers of each hand into the floor so your wrists aren't overloaded.
- When you return to plank, stack your shoulders over your wrists and keep your hips at shoulder height.
[Deep Forward Lunge]
- The foot that steps forward should land flat, (don't just tap your toe).
- Your aim is for that foot to land directly beside your hand.
- Let your hips sink low to stretch your hip flexors, but squeeze your lower belly tight so avoid straining your lower back.

Which of these 2 stretches was harder for you? The downward dog or the deep lunge?! Tell me on IG/TW/FB @cassiebstrong!

B Strong,

Cassie B.

B Strong Greatest HIITs 2017: Dynamax Ball Slams + Squat Drill

Workouts where you get to be noisy and act destructive are the BEST kind of workouts ;-) This one works your body head to toe AND gets your heart rate up - the perfect combo for building strength and burning fat!!

Here's the drill:
1 "clock" slam rep (= 4 slams: side, ctr, other side, ctr)
1 overhead squat
That's 1 rep.
Perform for 45-90seconds of work, followed by 15-30seconds of rest.
Complete 3-5 rounds OR add to a circuit you're doing 3-5 rounds of.

FORM:
[Slams]
- Slams to the side: Pivot the foot you're turning away from and stick your hips back slightly away from the side you're slamming on.
- Slams in the ctr: Keep your feet flat.
- Every kind of slam: initiate by pulling your shoulders down to lock in your lats and pulling your belly tight to support your lower back, then bend your knees slightly as you slam that ball like you're trying to shatter it!
- Bring the ball all the way up overhead after each slam.
[Overhead Squat]
- Keep arms as close to straight as possible, but avoid locking your elbows.
- Engage your lats, (pull shoulders away from ears), and suck your lower belly in so tight that you squeeze your bladder. Uh oh... ;-)
- Hinge your hips back and hold the ball just in your upper peripheral vision, (above your eyebrows), as you squat, trying to get your booty lower than your knees.
- At the bottom of your squat, squeeze your glutes super tight, then press your pinky toes and your heels into the floor as you stand back up out of the squat.

This one tends to be underrated... On a scale of 1-10 how hard do you think it's going to be?? Try it, then rate on a scale of 1-10 how hard it actually was. Tell me what both of your ratings were on IG/TW/FB @cassiebstrong!

B Strong,

Cassie B.

B Strong Greatest HIITs 2017: Landmine Legs & Shoulders Drill

DAY 8!

Improve your leg, shoulder and core strength and stability with alternating 1-Arm Thrusters to a Reverse Lunge with an Overhead Hold, then spike your heart rate with Quick Feet moving front to back over the bar. In short, this drill will build strength, improve stability and burn fat.

Here's the drill:
2 movements
45sec work; 15sec rest
A. Landmine Alternating 1-Arm Thrusters to a Reverse Lunge with an Overhead Hold
B. Quick Feet front to back over the bar
Alternate between A & B, (with 15sec rest after each exercise), for 3-5 rounds; that's 6-10 minutes of work.

If the bar is too heavy, you can totally do this exercise with a dumbbell in each hand instead! If the bar is too light, throw a plate on there to up the weight and the challenge. NOTE: With Thrusters, your legs do the majority of the work, so make sure it's heavy enough that you couldn't do an isolated shoulder press with it more than 3-4 times. This will ensure that you need to drive through your legs with serious power to get that weight up there.

FORM:
[Landmine Thruster + Reverse Lunge]
- When you squat, both hands are holding the bar, spine is straight, and core is super tight.
- The bar grows longer the lower you get, make sure you start with your feet slightly behind you when you're standing so that you don't fall over backward when you get to the bottom of your squat ;-)
- As you thrust upward and out of your squat, think about pushing the floor down away from the bar. Keep your heels on the floor and actively push them down.
- As you thrust upward, let go of the bar with one hand and drive it up over the shoulder of the hand you're holding with.
- Pull your shoulder down away from your ear as you press the weight upward, (lock in your lats!).
- Keep lats and core locked in place while you stabilize the weight overhead as you step your leg back to a reverse lunge, (the hand holding the weight up is the leg that steps back).
- As you lunge, be sure you load up your front heel with your body weight, then drive downward through that heel as you stand up.
- Alternate sides with each rep.
[Quick Feet]
- Keep your knees bent to improve your agility.
- Watch yourself! Don't step on that bar!! You could take a nasty spill or roll your ankle.
- Pump your arms and move as fast as you can!

Try this as a finisher to a total body workout and tell me how many rounds you get through on IG/TW/FB @cassiebstrong!

B Strong,

Cassie B.