28.

Welcome to Active Recap, where I talk/share/review the workout vids I did for the last four days. Please refer to this post to know a bit more about Active Recap and my workout format and sched.

DAY A

Circuit 1: MADFIT 20 Min Full Body Workout (At Home & Equipment Free)

After a few days of not working out (the red tide gave me a visit, ya know), it sure felt good to do a full body workout firsthand in the morning. This workout routine is a mix of low impact and plyos, a great combination if you ask me! The plyos in this workout aren't a lot but I'm glad they're there to spike up the heart rate and add challenge to the routine. Plus, I missed doing jumps! I know this is a full body workout but it's still apt for glute day because there were a lot of lower body exercises that surely fired that area up. This routine was such a nice way to open up the day and got my body warmed up and ready for the next glute-focused. Also, no repeats in this workout so feel free to do this twice through for a 40-minute full body workout.

Circuit 2: JESSICASMITHTV 11 Body Weight Only Butt Exercises for Strong Glutes + a Healthy Back

A glute-focused routine because it's glute day 1! No plyos, just good ole toning exercises to fire the glutes even more. This routine definitely got my glutes burning, especially the chair series! There were exercises here where I used a resistance band just to up the intensity so feel free to use them as well! Not only did this burn my glutes, I also felt it in my quads and hammies. The narrow squat series was such a great ender because man, I felt my legs shake! This routine runs a little past 14 minutes so I did this twice through since it has no repeats and I gotta burn the glutes more haha!

Workout duration: around 51 minutes, with 1 minute rest in between circuits; quick warm up included, cool down not included.

DAY B

Circuit 1: QINETIC LIVE The Booty Blast Lasting 20 Minutes

This routine is the "active" circuit for today. Again, it's a glute-focused routine but still works the quads and hammies, although it is mostly glute work. It has two parts: it starts off with standing exercises that are variations of squats and the second part is more on mat exercises. The standing exercises have a bit of cardio in them, both plyo and low impact. I swear if you love squats, you'll enjoy the first part a lot. The mat exercises are more on toning and I guarantee you, it burns. But hey, this was such a nice workout to do to get your heart pumping and lower body burning! Not bad!

Circuit 2: ALO YOGA Go After the Glutes with Briohny Smyth’s Booty Tone Up Yoga Flow

I know, I know: yoga on day two?? Who am I?? Well, don't fret because this routine personally felt more of a workout than a yoga flow. This one's legit! I went into it thinking it won't be challenging but I was sooo wrong. This yoga routine to me is more like a proper workout routine with yoga stretches and poses sprinkled throughout. Ms. Briohny Smyth did it again which is why she's one of my faves. This routine may be low impact but it will test your glute, hammies, quad, and core strengths. Super thankful for the stretches because damn, I felt like I needed to release tension in everything after doing each move. Most of the exercises are squat variations but I personally felt the burn more on the non-squat exercises. So glad I did this for glute day!

Workout duration: around 53 minutes, with 1 minute rest in between circuits; warm up not included.

DAY C

Circuit 1: PAMELA REIF 10 Min Full Body Workout // No Equipment

New circuit, new full body workout! Here's one Pam Reif workout that I thought would kill me but turned out to be really doable- twice. It's no secret that most of Pamela's workouts are killer and more on the indermediate/advanced side but there are a few workouts like this that are a little less intense. I deemed this particular workout easily doable because it's not very plyo-heavy, although it will still get your heart rate up. Most of the moves in this routine are low impact that consists of planks variations, push ups, and squats while the plyos mostly jumps/skips. This was such a nice routine to do before the more upper body focused routine because this gets your muscles warmed up (especially the arms and core  after all the push up and planks!) while not being too aggressive with the cardio. This is a short routine but trust me, you'll want to do another round of it- I sure did!

Circuit 2: FITNESS BLENDER Functional Upper Body Strength Workout - Dynamic Irregular Strength Training

Arm day! Doing this after the full body workout was great because you really have to have warmed up muscles to do this. This routine targets the upper body, namely the arms (biceps & triceps), shoulders, and a bit of chest. In this workout, you do the exercises one arm at a time, making it a bit more intense and isolated. Though the exercises look easy, I really recommend using heavy weights in some of the exercises to challenge yourself and up the intensity. I did drop weights throughout but I definitely challenged myself by reaching for heavier weights more than the lighter ones. The exercises are done thrice and I know it may feel repetitive but trust me, each exercises goes by quickly. Honestly, I thought it was tabata! Really enjoyed this routine and it got my biceps and shoulders sore!

Workout duration: around 59 minutes, with 1 minute rest in between circuits; warm up and cool down included.

DAY D

Circuit 1: WORKOUT HOTEL Lean Arms, Chest & Back Workout: Get Tank Top Ready!

I hope you're ready to burn the arms a little but more because man, this routine will get your arms feeling like jelly in a snap! In comparison to the Fitness Blender upper body routine, this one feels less chill and more in your face- at least that's how to felt to me. The exercises bleed into the other so the fact that it has no rests in between while using medium to heavy weights just guarantees that absolute arm, shoulder, and a bit of core burn. Like wow, I was sweating the hell out and I wasn't even halfway yet! 20 minutes goes by so quickly SOOO....I did this twice. Honestly, it surprised me that I was still able to get through the second round, given how shaky my arms already were haha! I totally recommend doing drop weights, especially when your posture starts getting wonky.  

Circuit 2: YOGA WITH ADRIENE Yoga For Upper Body Strength

As if the previous circuit wasn't enough, we have a burnout circuit! Don't worry though, because this is much more relaxed and has rests in between the exercises. The arm exercises here are mostly push-ups/half push-ups, so even if I was technically doing push-ups, to me it felt like I was just practicing my chaturanga- which I badly need to do and master! So yes, this was such a nice way to wrap up this day, plus I got some nice stretches too!

Workout duration: around 52 minutes; short warm up and cool down included.

MY TOP WORKOUT/S IN THIS QUAD:

My faves are: ALO YOGA Go After the Glutes with Briohny Smyth’s Booty Tone Up Yoga Flow (this was one such a lovely routine. Freaking loved every second of it!) and PAMELA REIF 10 Min Full Body Workout // No Equipment (enjoyed the full body burn, plus anything plank-related are always a joy to do!).