ChaLean Extreme: Burn Intervals

As a huge fan of step, and all the creative movements that go along with that, I tend to find drill or interval type workouts pretty boring. Not so much the case here as Chalene flavors the cardio drills with a Turbo Kick-ish / sporty kind of flair. She alternates cardio drills with light weight / high rep endurance based strength exercises. As with all the other CLX workouts, Laylee shows modified / low impact variations for beginners. Chalene uses 5 lbs for all the exercisers but 5 lbs didn't feel like enough for larger muscle groups like back and legs. I think you need to use the appropriate weight for you for each exercise to truly positively affect your endurance. All in all I liked this one more than I thought I would...the 45 minutes really flew.

Burn Interval and Extreme Abs

I don’t own the whole CLX, and this is the only workout of the set I’ve tried. I really like it and felt challenged by it!

Chalene states clearly that this is an endurance workout, and she only uses 5lbs. for the weighted work. I certainly didn’t want to use more than 5lbs, and in a few instances I used less. There are some moves - like the bent over row - where 2 minutes with five pounds had my back aching. I finished it, but next time I think I’ll drop to 4lbs. I went down to 3lbs. for the tricep extensions.

The workout alternates between cardio/plyometric moves that get your heart rate up and active recovery low weight/high rep work. There’s only a few seconds rest in between moves. Chalene offers modifications up and down - adding bands or jumps to increase intensity, going low impact to decrease. I did all the intensity upward modifications (used band, added jumps) for the cardio moves, but I decreased the poundage on some of the weighted moves.

I love circuits, and I often do Cathe’s High Step Training Advanced and Boot Camp. Burn Intervals is not as challenging as HSTA, but I think it is (cardio wise) on par with Boot Camp–what Cathe accomplishes with higher weight, Chalene makes up for in longer cardio sprints and reduced rests (make sure you have bands and weights in place before you start!). I love the skaters with bands, jumping jacks with bands, and the sumo burpees. These get the heart-rate up.

I added Extreme abs at the end to get in an hour workout and to include ab work. This has a lot of Turbo Jam and Turbo Kick moves (punches up and down from crunch position, bicycles, planks), but again reduced rests between moves. It’s not killer, but the pace keeps the burn going.

This breakdown of Burn Intervals was posted on one of the vf threads, and I printed it out so I’d know what to expect. If you’re an intensity junkie, you can add one pound hand weights to the cardio and plyo moves. You need to have everything at hand, however, because there are only a few seconds between moves.

Burn Interval breakdown:46:15 minutes

Warm-up 4:19

Jump Rope drills 1:30

Bicep curls (varied angles and speeds) 2:20

Speed Skate with/without toning band around ankles 1:30

Overhead Shoulder Press 1:50

Kickboxing Drills 2:13

Lunges stationary/knee lift (no weights)1:30

Lunge Jump shot (lunges w/jump-no weights) 1:20

Bent over row 2:20

Plyometric Bowler's lunge 1:30

Bent over tricep extension R/L/overhead 2:30

Kickboxing drills with or without toning band 2:00

Lateral raises 2:00

Sumo Burpees 20 your own pace

Bicep curls (half way up, rotate out, lift) 2:30

Plyo reverse lunges alternating 1:30

Weighted standing crunches 2:15

Kickboxing drills 1:20

Squats

Jumping Jacks high knees w/ or w/ot toning band

Lower Body Blast(standing leg extensions forward, rear, side, squats)

cool down