Cathe Live Review: Total Body Barbell Burn (#116)
Total Body Barbell Burn is another excellent and tough total body strength workout. I loved this routine, it has lots of variety and really burns out the muscles well.
The workout consists of a mix of exercises for upper and lower body. All of the exercises are high rep with varying rep patterns and tempos. Also you often repeat the sets, one more time, just to make sure you completely fatigued the muscles before moving onto something else. The rest breaks are pretty short and you move quite quickly from one thing to the next so the work compounds. Therefore, towards the end, when my muscles were already exhausted, I was struggling and yet we still had triceps left to work… I also found that the first set of shoulder exercises really fried my muscles and at that point I wasn’t even sure we had finished the warm-up! Cathe just moves straight into using 2.5 pound plates (I used 5 pound dumbbells) and I was really wondering if I was going to even get through that first giant set.
Cathe and class used a barbell, at various weight increments, along with holding the individual plates for different exercises. As I don’t like using the barbell, I used dumbbells and a 35 pound kettlebell (for plie squats only but you could use dumbbells here too) and had no issues. Cathe kept her weights a little more moderate and I did the same, as there are so many reps, and this worked well for me. I found that for me the upper body was hit a little more strongly than the lower body but both were worked well. I might increase my weights a little more, on lower body, next time and that would probably even things out. All of the muscle groups are hit multiple times and this really is an excellent total body workout.
The routine ends with a short core section of the floor, using the barbell plates. I used dumbbells here again. This section really worked my core well and also included a little more work for the upper body too. The sit-up and overhead press move I was really feeling, using 10 pounds, as my shoulders were already well and truly fried.
Overall, this is a high rep, intense, total body strength workout that will fry every muscle groups effectively.
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The Workout
Total Body Barbell Burn is a pure strength total body workout that ends with a short core section.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Total Body Barbell Burn is 57 minutes long and originally aired on 1st September 2016 (#116). The workout starts with a 3:30 minute warm-up, before moving straight into the first exercise for shoulders using 2.5 pound plates. The step with three risers, on each side, is set up horizontally in front of you at the start of the workout.
Bent arm lateral raises / lateral raise into scarecrows – two 2.5# plates (I used 5# DBs) – 8x singles, 4x 3 pulses, 8 sets (scarecrow) & 8x singles
Straight arm lateral raises – two 2.5# plates (I used 5# DBs) – 8 reps & 32x high end pulses
Straight arm circles - two 2.5# plates (I used 5# DBs)– 6 reps, 7 reps & 6 reps
Squats - 25# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) – 8x singles, 4x 3 pulses, 8x singles, 2x 7 pulses, 4x 3.5’s, 4x 2/2 & 8x singles
Calf raises – two 5# plates (I used two 12# DBs) – 32x feet forward, 40x toes in & 32x toes out
Plie squats - 25# BB (I used 35# kettlebell) – 8x singles, 2x 7 pulses, 4x singles, 1x 7 pulses, 4x 3.5’s, 8x singles & 1x 15 pulses
Bicep curls - 25# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) – 8 reps & 4 sets (up & hold ½ way, up 2 counts & down 6 counts)
Isolation curls (up & hold ½ way, up 2 counts & down 6 counts) - 25# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) – 4 sets
Change barbell to 20 pounds
Reverse curls - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 9 reps
Alternating rear lunges & overhead press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 8 reps
Reverse curls - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 3 reps
Alternating rear lunges & overhead press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 8 reps
Straight arm front raise / 1 single leg deadlift & 1 front raise / upright row - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 3x front, 3 sets (D/L & ft), 4x row & 4 sets (D/L other leg & ft)
Upright rows - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 16 reps
Clean and press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 8 reps
Overhead press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 12 reps
Clean and press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 4 reps
Overhead press - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 12 reps
Change barbell to 40 pounds
Narrow stance deadlifts - 40# BB (I used two 20# Dbs) – 12 reps (3/1 count)
Wide stance deadlifts - 40# BB (I used two 20# Dbs) – 13 reps (2/2 count)
Standard stance deadlifts - 40# BB (I used two 20# Dbs) – 14 reps (3/1 & 2/2 counts)
Change barbell to 30 pounds
Squat & overhead press - one 10# plate (I used two 10# Dbs) – 15 reps
Squats & overhead press - 30# BB (I used two 12# Dbs) – 4 sets of 2 reps (3x overhead press)
Pullovers - 30# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) & step – 6x 4/4 & 8x singles
Chest press - 30# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) & step– 16x singles, 4x 3.5’s & 8x singles
Incline push-ups (hands on step) – step – 2 sets of 8 reps
Pullovers - 30# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) & step – 4x 4/4 count
Chest press - 30# BB (I used two 15# Dbs) & step– 8x singles & 2x 3.5’s
Incline push-ups on knees (hands on step) – step – 10 reps & 6 reps
Static lunges - 25# BB (I used two 12# Dbs) – 4 sets of 8 reps on each side
Crossback lunges – two 5# plates (I used one 15# Db)– 2x 7 pulses, 4x 3 pulses (each side) & 8x singles
Change barbell to 25 pounds
Alternating back lunges - 25# BB (I used two 12# Dbs) – 12 reps & 8x 3.5’s
Narrow grip bench press / lying overhead tricep extensions - 25# BB (I used two 12# Dbs) & step – 16x bench, 6x tricep, 8x bench, 4x tricep & 4 sets (2x bench & 1x tricep)
Tricep dips (1 leg extended) – step – 4 sets of 16 reps
Quick stretch at 48:30 minutes
Core on mat at 49 minutes
Sit-up & 2 punches – two 2.5# plates (I used two 5# Dbs) & mat – 8 reps
Sit-up & twist – two 2.5# plates (I used one 10# Db) & mat – 10 reps
Sit-up & 1 arm overhead press - one 5# plate (I used one 10# Db) & mat – 12 reps each side
Russian twists - one 5# plate (I used one 10# Dbs) & mat – 32 reps
Pullover crunches - one 5# plate (I used one 10# Db) & mat – 3 sets of 4 reps
Elbow plank hold / elbow plank march – mat
The workout ends with a 2 minute cool down and stretch.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Total Body Barbell Challenge
(#227) – HERE.
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