Review of 21 Day Fix Extreme Day 5: Cardio Fix Extreme

Day 5: Cardio Fix Extreme

I woke up with new sore muscles. It was pretty much the same moves the day before as I did on Plyo Fix Extreme, but Lower Fix Extreme still found new places to make me hurt. My abs were still sore from Pilates Fix Extreme too. I wasn't really looking forward to Cardio Fix Extreme and almost just stayed in bed, but I couldn't do that! 

This one had four rounds. There were two exercises in each round and a cardio interval. The exercises lasted a minute and the cardio round lasted 30 seconds. We used two sets of weights. There was about a 10 second rest between moves. 

Round 1: Low High Squat, High Plank Kicks, Running in Place

The first move was a Low High Squat. We had one of the light weights. We squatted down and brought the weight in front of us and to the right side. When we came up from the squat, we shuffled to the left and raised the weight up over our heads. We did this direction for the first half of the round and then went to the left with the weight and right with the shuffle for the second half of the round.

The High Plank Kicks were pretty hard for me. We stayed in a push up position and then we were supposed to kick our butts with our heels. They were kind of running in place like that, but I went much slower. Holding that position is hard enough for me, but to hold that position and move my feet fast like that just doesn't work well for me. 

Running in place is pretty self explanatory.

Round 2: Jack Press Jump, Rear Lunge with a Kick, High Knees

The Jack Press Jump was hard! We used light weights. We jumped up, spread our feet out wide and brought them back together before landing! While doing this, we did shoulder presses. This was torture. I had to skip several reps with the should presses. I didn't get my feet very far apart either. The modifier jumped out and then jumped back in. She touched down instead of staying in the air the whole time.

The Rear Lunges with a Kick weren't too bad. We went into a rear lunge and then came up and kicked with that same leg. These were much easier than the front lunges with a kick from Lower Fix Extreme. 

Pretty much everyone has heard of High Knees, but just in case someone hasn't......High Knees are pretty much like running in place, but instead of your feet going behind you, the go in front of you. You basically do knee lifts really fast while tapping your knees with your hands. My knees don't come up nearly as far as they should, but I'm okay with that.

Round 3: Narrow Squat to Sumo Squat with Curl, Fast Feet, Jumping Jacks

We used the heavy weights with the first move. We did a narrow squat and then stepped out to a sumo squat. As we did the sumo squat, we did a bicep curl. Then we stepped back to a narrow squat and stepped out to the opposite side for another sumo squat with a curl.

Oh the joys of Fast Feet. If you've never done it, you've probably seen it. It's in pretty much any move about football. So you kinda run in place but keep your feet low. They barely come up off the ground, but you move them crazy fast. Then when the leader of your group says the key word, you jump up and turn 90 degrees and then jump up and turn back forward. Our key word was jump. We started the jump going right and then we alternated. I've seen other people do it by saying which direction to jump to so it was about the cardio aspect as well as paying attention to the direction you were supposed to jump to. 

Jumping Jacks are really hard to do after doing fast feet! I was pretty happy that it was only 30 seconds, but it was a hard 30 seconds. My calves were killing me. I had to take breaks from the jumping and just step my foot out to the left and back and then the other foot to the right and back. I felt like such a pansy modifying down lower than the modifier in the workout, but it just hurt! I kept moving though.

Round 4: Clean Lunge Jumps, Shuffle Burpees, Twisted Skaters

Clean Lunge Jumps were a new one for me. You squat down and bring one weight down by your right knee. Then you pull it up and put your arm in a 90 degree angle with your hand up. While doing that, you come out of the squat and jump back into a lunge. I didn't do much jumping here. I just stepped back into the lunge. 

Shuffle Burpees were so much fun. NOT! We shuffled to the right and then dropped down into a burpee. Then we came up and jumped up. Then we shuffled to the left and did it all again.

Twisted Skaters are challenging, but they were in another workout. Skaters are hard without weights, but hey this was only 30 seconds! So you twist your upper body to the wall you just jumped towards and your have weights. When you land the hand near the wall you jumped to is up kinda like you did a row and the other hand is down low. So glad this fun move is in multiple workouts. There aren't enough moves out there that we had to repeat this fun one. 

The cool down was about 2 minutes and it was just normal stretching stuff.

My head wasn't completely in this workout. I was kinda looking forward to straight up cardio type stuff. I had already done a boat load of lunges and squats throughout the week. I'm not really sure what I thought would be in this workout, but pretty much leg day after leg day wasn't really what I was looking for. I got through it, but it wasn't all that fun for me.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the workout. Again with elevated heart rate. Hmmmmm. Still working on figuring that out. 

Want to learn more? Watch the video!

If you decide you want to try the program out, be sure to buy it from a coach so you get the free DVD that you can't get through other sources. If you don't have a coach, you can sign up with me.