Today you will do eight exercises to help develop your body and increase your body-confidence. It’s a varied total body workout where each exercise has its own benefits. But it’s when they are performed with focus and precision, and done in exact combination, with the right amount of reps and sets that this workout becomes truly great for you.
My favourite people in this world are sassy. Being strong willed, confident, bold, lively, (kinda hard work at times) and charismatically passionate is how I define ‘sassy’. I’m not sure why but I have encountered a lot of seriously sassy people in my time, and I’m always drawn to them! Today is a tough workout, so I really need you to unleash your inner sass. So crank up the playlist and really attack each exercise with focus and confidence, and when things get tough and you don’t want to do those last few reps, just ask yourself WWBD*.
*What Would Beyonce Do
LETS GET STARTED!
Warm Up
Please follow the warm up by Mx-er Sophie, scanning for tight muscles, tight tendons and tight nerves. Basically, if something feels bit sore then stop and stretch it before continuing on with the warm up. I would also advise you do this in a warm environment, so on the off chance you are not actually in the Sahara desert, crank up the heating or start with extra layers. A warmer body always responds better to flexibility and mobility drills.
THE BE SASSY PLAYLIST
Hot Feet
Standard: 3 sets of 30 reps | 30s rbs (rest between sets)
Advanced: 2 sets of 100 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Improves cardiovascular system.
- Develops power and speed in lower body.
- Strengthens the core.
Beauty Benefits
- Reduces overall body fat.
- Tones glutes and abs.
Starting Position:
- Start in standing position. Stand tall and bend knees slightly, weight on balls of feet and arms at right angles (a.k.a sprint position).
Technique
- Jog in the spot, within a few seconds have knees as high as possible, while maintaining control over your body.
- Drive off the floor using balls of feet and swing arms like a sprinter to help with momentum.
- Keep your upper body upright at all times.
- Land softly.
- Please note that one rep equals one knee up.
Please do Methodology X exercises as shown and explained. However, if you want to modify the moves here are my recommendations
Easier: Slow down the movement to 50% of the normal speed, so your marching rather than running on the spot
Harder: Throughout each set, hold arms in air grabbing a towel with both hands, don’t let your elbows bend at all and If this is too easy hold a 10kg barbell.
REST 45 SECONDS
Pendulum Lunge
Standard: 2 sets of 30 reps (swap sides after first set) | 30s rbs
Advanced: 2 sets of 50 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Develops strength and endurance in your core and lower body.
- Improves coordination and balance.
Beauty Benefits
- Reduces overall body fat.
- Tones glutes, hamstrings and quads (without bulking).
Starting Position
- Start in a standing position with one foot on a glider. Push the ball of the foot in middle of the gliding disk.
Technique
- Slide back into a reverse lunge and sink that back knee towards the floor.
- Maintain an upright posture, then slide back and all the way through into a front lunge.
- Repeat. One rep is counted as a complete back-forward movement. Aim for fluidity and grace…and breathe.
Easier: Slow down the movement to 50% of the normal speed and reduce range of movement to 80% of your max.
Harder: Close your eyes! Make sure no one is around you as you’ll probably slide off somewhere. This makes the move more about balance, improving your kinaesthetic awareness and is a perfect way of practicing mindfulness.
REST 45 SECONDS
Sliding Press
Standard: 2 sets of 15 reps (swap sides after first set) | 30s rbs
Advanced: 2 sets of 30 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Develops strength in triceps, pecs and shoulders.
- Activates core and abs.
Beauty Benefits
- Tones back of your arms, shoulders and a little bit your abs.
Starting Position
- Start in a kneeling press-up position. Have legs at 45 degrees and hands (each on a glider) directly below your shoulders.
Technique
- Slide ONE disk away form you and allow body to lower. The other hand does not slide.
- Brace abs/core to maintain posture.
- Push yourself back up by sliding disk back in.
- Repeat. Only swap sides at the end of the set.
Easier: reduce ROM (range of movement). So only move 50% out to the side.
Harder: Have knees off the floor. This makes abs and arms work way harder. Try it – its crazy tough!
REST 45 SECONDS
Sao Paulo Glide
Standard: 2 sets of 20 reps (swap sides after first set) | 30 rbs
Advanced: 2 sets of 40 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Develops athletic grace.
- Strengthens core, wrists, shoulders and obliques.
- Improves coordination.
Beauty Benefits
- Lowers body fat.
- Tones and firms shoulders and obliques.
Starting Position
- Be on all fours with a flat back and knees above ankles.
- Have one foot on a glider, the other on the floor.
- Keep weight on the balls of your feet.
Technique
- Assuming glider is on left foot on first set, lift your right arm off the floor.
- Now, rotate hips and torso 90 degrees.
- Driving from hips, slide left leg out away from your body
- Pivot back and Return to start position and repeat.
- Only at the of end of each set should you swap legs over.
Easier: Do it a bit slower and without a glider.
Harder: Use two gliders and alternate sides every rep (p.s don’t bother trying the harder version unless you’re doing advanced sets/reps).
REST 45 SECONDS
Muay Thai Knee Strikes
Standard: 3 sets of 30 reps | 30s rbs (rest between sets)
Advanced: 2 sets of 80 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Develops your lower body power and cardiovascular health.
- Strengthens your core, ab and glutes.
- Improves coordination.
- Teaches real fighting skills- aim for thighs, groin or ribs in a self-defence situation.
Beauty Benefits
- Burns fat.
- Tones glutes.
Starting Position
- Stand upright with your left leg forward and hands up in a fighting stance.
Technique
- Jump up and swap your feet so the left foot is now backwards.
- Drive hips & knee up and forward into an imaginary target.
- As you do this, throw your upper body backwards while driving arms diagonally down in unison (this replicates grabbing an opponent’s head/neck in the martial art of Muay Thai)
- After striking, bring the foot back to starting position.
- Jump and repeat on the other side.
- Please note that one rep is one strike.
Easier: Step between strikes rather than jump.
Harder: Add in one deep body squat after every strike. This is hard, but great for building endurance.
REST 30 SECONDS
Gliding Ballet Drops
Standard: 3 sets of 30 reps | 30s rbs (rest between sets)
Advanced: 2 sets of 100 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Builds your cardiovascular health.
- Improves your muscular endurance in the lower body.
Beauty Benefits
- Burns fat
- Firms your inner thighs, the glute maximus and the glute medius (these two glute muscles give depth, firmness and shape to your derriere).
Starting Position
- Stand upright with your feet on gliders, but turned out slightly. Have hips, chest and face forward.
Technique
- Push your legs wide and drop your hips into a deep sumo/ballet squat position.
- Drive the feet in closer while squatting up to the start position.
- Focus on your inner thighs doing the main work.
- Breathe out as you stand up.
Easier: Do it without the gliders.
Harder: Have your hands reach up high above your head throughout the entire exercise. This makes it harder to balance, your shoulders will burn more and the core will work a bit harder to maintain form.
REST 45 SECONDS
Tiger jumps
Standard: 2 sets of 20 reps | 30s rbs
Advanced: 2 sets of 50 reps | 60 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Improves your coordination and athletic grace.
Beauty Benefits
- Maybe a bit of a fat burn, but not much else.
- This move is programmed in for the functional benefits.
Starting Position
- Stand upright with hands in the ‘tiger’ position.
- Inspired from Shaolin Kung Fu Tiger style fighting.
Technique
- Place your palms flat on the floor by your side.
- Jump sideways, landing one foot at time.
- Stand up into the starting ‘tiger’ position.
- Repeat by jumping back in the other direction.
Easier: Forget the tiger hands bit and take a 5 seconds rest between each rep.
Harder: Lift hips up higher, so it’s more like a cartwheel movement.
REST 45 SECONDS
Yoga Flow
Standard: 3 sets of 8 reps | 30s rbs (rest between sets)
Advanced: 3 sets of 10 reps | 10 rbs
Athletic Benefits
- Stretches out your back of legs, back and abs.
- Improves your core.
- Develops your movement grace.
- Mildly strengthens the core, abs, wrists and shoulders.
- Serves as a cool down for today’s workout.
Beauty Benefits
- Very mild toning of the abs and shoulders.
Starting Position
- Cobra position with your head back.
- Arms locked so your chest is off the floor and abs feel stretched out.
Technique
- Float hips up into a Pike position.
- Flow into (half) Child’s Pose by bending knees.
- Flow back into Pike position.
- Sink hips down into the Cobra starting position.
Easier: Loose the flow. Hold each position for 3 seconds.
Harder: When in the Child’s Pose position, jump back then jump in (so basically add a squat thrust into the mix) but maintain the fluid vibe of this move as it still needs to be a cool down style of drill.