30 Minute Cardio Pyramid Stack Workout

Foreign. Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your cardio pyramid stack workout. This is day two of your holiday hit challenge. We are gonna hit it hard with some heart pumping cardio that will also sculpt and tone and burn those muscles. We're working in our pyramid stack format. So we're stacking our exercises 30 seconds at a time. Going up and down, going back down. It's going to move quickly, but we're going to have a great time doing it. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's start with a little march. You're just marching or jogging, whatever feels good for you. And let's roll those shoulders to the back. We're going to start just by getting the muscles warm with this dynamic warm up, some movement prep for the exercises that we're going to do. And we will keep it pretty short. So of course, if you need of a warm up or a cool down, get it on your own. You can check out my extended warm up and extended cool down videos. They are in the description. Let's go one at a time. So cardio pyramid stack. The goal is cardio getting the heart rate up, but it's gonna stay up just by the nature of this workout. Let's take those arms out nice and wide, big stretch, open up that chest, open up those legs, and then just sit side to side as we roll our shoulders, elbows and wr here. So as always, I will give you lots of different options. As I always say, I want you to be where you are today. Reach it up, reach it down. Work to your level. Challenge yourself in a way that works for you, that you can be proud of yourself, you can know you pushed yourself, but you're going to want to keep going, right? So be where you are today. Remember that if you showed up today, you are successful. That is all that matters and especially in a cardio workout. But really, in any workout, the goal is to keep moving. So keep moving. Don't worry about what it looks like. Don't worry about feeling coordinated or not. As long as you're safe and you're moving. Those are my two rules. I want you to hinge it forward, right down the front of your legs. And of course, even having said that, if you need more of a breather or a break, take it on your own hip. Pause, whatever you need to do. If you're able, we're gonna walk it out to that inchworm. If you want to stay standing, you just keep reach and walk it back. This inchworm Is just such a great warm up through the back of the legs, all the way up through the spine. And of course we get our cores fired up and ready to go as well. Let's hold this one here. If you need to bend your knees, be on your knees, press up to down, dog back to center. So cardio stack. Maybe you've done this format with me before. Let's walk it back. We are stacking our exercises starting with exercises size one. Just tap those hips back for 30 seconds. Then we will rest 30 seconds. Then we will add exercise two for 30 seconds followed by exercise one for 30 seconds followed by rest for 30 seconds. We will take that up to four exercises with that. Hold it here. If you can drop that hand down, reach that hand up, drop that knee. So that's what it looks like. You're stacking the 30 seconds and then you'll keep with what you've done. 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1. 4, 3, 2, 1. Switch your sides. Other side right here. If you're able, take it down, drop that knee. Then we will go the opposite. So we'll start taking the exercises off. So once we go 4, 3, 2, 1. We'll go 4, 3, 2, 4, 3 and just 4. Step it in, Round it up. Tap and reach across. I know that may have sounded confusing, but don't worry, I am going to talk you through it. It is quite a bit of repetition. But if you did the pyramid stack with weights, you know, it goes really quickly. A lot of you said you had a love hate relationship with this type of workout because it does feel like repetition, but it does move really quickly. Let's take those hamstrings up. All we've got are two circuits of four moves that we're taking in that pyramid format. All right, four moves is all we got. That's all you gotta learn. We'll have a longer break of about a minute in between the two where you can get water, you can keep moving. And with all of those moves I will give you options. Low impact. Some of them are going to be low impact by design. So we're not high impact, stack, stack, stack, right. Some of them you will have options. And all of it you take at your own pace, at your own level. Right? Big stretch right through here. So be where you are today. Work to your level. If you need more of a breather, especially when we get to those stacking Multiple sets of 30 seconds, please. Get it. Step, touch. All right, team, so I'm gonna talk you through it. We got four exercises we're gonna stack them up, stack them down. Take a little break, do four more. Stack them up, stack them down. Your very first exercise, low impact, design by design. You're gonna squat it low. Bring that knee up and across. Squat it low, knee up and across. If the knee gets. If the squat gets to be too much for you, just do the knees. Here we go. 30 seconds down and knee. You can tap it just like this or cross it elbow to knee. You're gonna see this one a lot in this first circuit. They all end up being the same amount of time, but there's something about that first get sicker of quicker. Right. If you wanna add that jump, you can, but I still want you to get low in the squat again. Another option is just the knees right here. 5, 4, 3, 2. Breathe. Tap out for 30. You got 30 seconds to breathe. When you get to that 30 second breather, no matter where we are, I want you to really take the real rest. You can keep tapping or jogging, but don't push it because we're building it. We're working on that endurance. Your second exercise, we've got a three hop punch. One, two, three. One, two, three. If you've done the Heisman with me before, you're here. If you want to add three punches, you can, but it's step. One, two, three, punch. One, two, three, punch. Guard is up. Here we go. One, two, punch. One, two, three, hop, punch. Low impact, of course, is just a sweet step, whatever pace is good for you. One, two, three, punch. One, two, three, punch. Or huh? Yes. Think of that Heisman where on that three you really stick the landing, drive the hip down, drive that knee up. You can add three punches if you want. Remember, 30 seconds down. Squat, knee. Here we go. So we're going right into this. So that's what it looks like. Once you finish the new exercise, you repeat the ones you've done before. Again, you do not have to go fast or high impact on every exercise. There's a reason this squat in me is not high impact. You can make it that way if that's where you are today. Or you can take it just your knee cross again. So many options. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 30 seconds to breathe, right? So if at any point in those 30 second breathers you want to grab water, Grab it. We got exercise number three coming up. So we've got a step, touch, slide. So step, touch, step, touch, slide. One, two, slide. So moving laterally. Step, touch, step, touch. Your slide can be a hop or your slide can be a step Core engage. Here we go. Step, touch, step, touch. Slide, hop, hop, slide. It can be a little hop step, if that's what you want, or just step, touch, step, touch, slide. Working in a little bit of agility, a little bit of footwork with all of these, right? Because agility is so important for our health, we get those balance moves, that quick first footwork, so we can react, right? So we want it. If this just looks like a step touch for you, that's okay, too. Here we go. Three, hop punch. One, two, one, two. Step it with one punch or three punches. Hop it with three punches. Remember, with cardio, we're trying to get different planes of motion, different movements from with our body, but at the end of the day, we just want to get that heart pumping. We want to get the muscles working. So again, don't worry too much about the coordination. 3, 2, 1. Yes. Last 30. Here we go. Squat. And now. Now you're seeing why this works, right? Because we're stacking them, we're taking out our rest ratio, right? We're switching it up every time. That's on purpose. Again, if you need to take more of a breather, take a breather, but you got to come into in 10 seconds, and. And then we're at the top of the pyramid with exercise four. Breathe. Three, two, one. Relax. 30 seconds to breathe. All right, guys, this last one, you can keep it standing or you can keep it down. If you want to keep it standing, you're reaching down with a hinge. You're squatting down low. Reach and squat. If you're able to take it down, we're gonna inchworm it out. Pop it up, turn it around. Inchworm it out. Pop it up, turn it around. Let's get it done. In five, four, three, two. Inchworm, Pop up. Here we go. Or hinge, squat. Inchworm it out. Pop, pop. Inchworm it out. Yes, team, keep it going. Remember, you can be here and here. This is exercise four. So after this, we're going down. Three, two, one. Then we start taking them away. Finish it out. Five seconds. Yes? Breathe. Take it here. One, two, slide. Step, touch, step, touch, slide. This is going to be your longest interval. And then we take it back down. Breathe if you need to, take it low impact if you need to. So it's essentially step, touch, step, touch. Wider, step, touch. Right? A little higher. Hop, hop, slide. Hop, hop, slide. One more. Three hop punch for 30. One, two, three. One, two. After this, we got that squat and knee cross for the very last time. So whatever you got right Here, breathe. It's your longest interval when we get to the top and we go 4, 3, 2, 1. That's the longest we go. And you're almost done with it. Last 30 seconds. Squat and knee. Here we go. And breathe. And breathe. Yes. Hand up. Good. You can jump it if you want. Remember, you got that 30 second breather coming. And then we start from the top. We start taking them away. Down and up. Low to high or just your knees. 3, 2, 1. Catch your breath. Grab a sip. All right, now we're gonna start from the top. Inchworm. Pop it up. Or hinge sweat. And then we'll go back down. 4, 3, 2, 4, 3 and 4. Let's get it done, team. Catch your breath. Core engage. Give yourself 10 more seconds to really settle that breath. Be where you are. Stay with me. Yes, you can. Inchworm. Pop up, walk it out. It does not have to be fast. Pop it up, turn it around. You can also just walk it out, walk it in, turn it around. You don't have to jump it even if you're going down. Anything goes. Or hinge, squat, hinge, squat, whatever you got. We got 10 seconds. Think of that Inchworm, just like your warm up. And breathe. Step, touch, step, touch, slide. Here we go. Step, touch, step, touch, slide. Low impact. It's just two step touches, one wider step touch. Hop, hop. For high impact. Hop, hop, slide. Hop, hop, slide. A lot of lateral motion in these middle two moves, right? So we can really get that hip action. One more hop hop. Three hop punch. Last time. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. One, two, last time with this move. So give it all you got. Yes. Don't forget about that core staying engaged. I know you're tired. Zip everything up. Make sure you're breathing. Five seconds. Hop, hop, hop, punch. Yes. Breathe. Thirty seconds to breathe. No more. Three hop punch. Ever and ever. All done for the day. All right, we got four and two. No, four and three. Inchworm. Pop up. One, two, slide. Step, touch, step, touch, slide. And then we'll do the Inchworm. Pop up one last time. It's gonna go so quickly. We'll get a 30 second breather in between that. Core engaged. Zip it up. Shoulders back. Inchworm. Think about that upper body mobility. Here we go. Walk it out. Notice we could have made this a burpee, but I didn't want to one because it's a tough format to be doing a whole bunch of burpees. You know, I don't like to put them in more than once. Right. But also because I would rather you focus on the mobility work, which is just as important as that heart pumping. Cardio, right? Breathe, Walk it out, take it up. Yes. One more. Good. Get ready. Step, touch, step, touch. Big slide. Touch, touch, slide. Step, touch, step, touch, slide. Pump those arms. Keep it going. Pump, pump, slide. Yes, team. Five, four, three, two, one. Catch your breath. We are at the end of this round. One more set of 30 seconds, and it's that Inchworm, pop up if you want to modify. Hinge it, squat it, Hinge, squat, whatever you got. Mobility, cardio, finish it out. Then we get a longer breather. Then we get one more round of four, but it's gonna go just as quickly, right? Here we go. 3, 2, 1. Inchworm, pop up, walk it out. Pop it up, turn it. Can you get a little quicker if you want? Team, I know I just mentioned not making this a burpee on purpose, but since we get a longer break, if you want, feel free. Take it to that burpee, right? Burpee, pop up. It's up to you. You certainly don't have to. But if you want that extra challenge or just keep walking out or hinge. And here you got five, four, three, two, breathe. First circuit down. Look at the clock, guys. You got a minute to breathe. I want everybody to grab water whether you think you need it or not. Look at that. We are halfway through this workout. I know that felt long, but also, didn't it go by fast? Keep tapping those feet if you can. We're gonna do it all again, guys. Four new moves, all right? Our very first one. You. You keep breathing. Watch me. We're gonna go side lunge, same leg, step back to reverse lunge. Side lunge, same leg, step back to reverse lunge. If you want, you can just do side lunge to side lunge. If you want to take the reverse out of it if it feels like too much for your brain, or you can just think it as taps rather than lunges. Totally up to you, with or without a little jump, low or high. But let's get it done. Your first 30 starts. Now, side lunge, knee reverse. You don't have to bring that knee up, but you can side knee, reverse again. I designed this as this first one because we get a little tired of it to be low impact, but it's up to you if you want to take it here, breathe. Take it here. Yes. Here. One more. Yes. Breathe. 30 seconds to breathe. Exercise two, we got our typical skater tap, tap, but we're gonna add a big reach. Big reach. So big circle of the arms. Again, mobility. Try to get low in the hip if you can. If your legs aren't feeling that leg workout after those lunges, you just get a tap. Step it or jump, it doesn't matter. Stay with me. We got our skater Rainbow. And then we got our side lunge, reverse in three, two, one. Skater Rainbow. Amber. You want more of that cardio? Really hop it side to side. You're still getting those big arms. If you want mobility, it's all mobility. It's all cardio, right? But again, take it as slow as you need to, as quickly as you can with good form, whatever you got. We got five seconds. Skater Rainbow. And then side lunge, reverse lunge. Three, two, one. Take it here. We're down. Up, breathe, down. If you want to add a little hop, side hop, reverse hop. I know it's a lot for your brain, so again, you can just take it side lunge if you want. Up to you. Yes. Last one. Breathe. 30 seconds to breathe. All right, guys, we're already at exercise 3. How fast is this going? A little bit of boxing again, but don't stress about it. We got four uppercuts. Four, three, two, one, two jacks. Two jacks. If you want, you can take it slow and then low impact jack. You can take it fast, uppers, high impact jack, or any combination in between. Exercise three, four, uppers, two jacks. Here we go. Four, three, two, one, Jack jack. Really think. Get low, up and under on those punches and then power up on those jacks. Even if you're here, you're still getting power, power. Upper, upper, upper. Nothing wrong with this. No shame in the modification. Two more. Yes. Rainbow skater. Rainbow skater. Ah, so relaxing, right? Just a rainbow. It's meditation. It's mobility. You can take it up if you want. Breathe. Big arms. You can tap, you can get low, you can get quick. It's up to you. 5, 4, 3, 2, side lunge. Tap it in reverse. Other side. Side, reverse. Yes. Here and back here. Get it, team. Breathe. Hup. Yes. Last one. All right, team, 30 seconds to breathe. All right, here's what we got. Exercise four. This is the longest interval you're gonna do. Four, three, two, one. With those exercises, you can keep it up. You can do a Superman and a plie squat. Superman, plie squat. Or all the way down. Superman, pop it up, take it all the way down. Join me here. Either way. Here we go. Superman, from the ground or up top. Pop it up or plie squat. So you're lowering down, you're pushing up. Pop it up. Another option, team, is that quadruped. You can just do a push up and a bird dog. That works too, if you want that extra upper body, which is what we're trying to get. If you want to keep it standing, big Superman, plie, squat. Standing. Superman or floor. Pop it up. Last one. Yes. Here we go. Upper, upper, upper. Two jacks. Yes. If you need to start low impact because it's tough to get up off the ground. I know. Remember, this is your longest interval, which you're almost halfway through it. And then we take it back down. Jacks, Jacks. What do you got? Stay with me. Yes. One more. We got your rainbow skater. Here we go. Yes. After this, we get that side in reverse for the very last time. So stick with me. Yes. Yes, you can. Even if you're just moving slowly, even if you're going to take a breather and jump back in with the side lunge, you can. Don't let your brain talk you out of it because you are strong. You've got the stamina, you've got the endurance. If it's hard, it's because you're working hard. Here we go. Side lunge, reverse. Side lunge, reverse. Yes. Team, this is. This is the last time you're doing this move. So if you want to jazz it up, jazz it up. Yes. 10 seconds. Here we go. 5, 4, 3, 2. Breathe. Water if you need it. 30 second break. All right, team, we're back to the top. 4, 3, 2, 4, 3, 4. That's all we need to be done with this workout. We're starting. Down or up? Superman, wide plie, squat. Superman, wide plie, squat. Or from your knees, knee, push up, Bird dog, or all the way down. But you got 30 seconds. Here we go. Superman lift. Pop it up. Here we go. Pop it back. Superman, lift. I want you to really think about your core and your upper as you're going down. Don't cheat it. We don't want just this. Really squeeze it up. Use your arms and upper. Pop it up. Stay low. Heels down. Yes. 10 seconds. You can do it. What do you got? 5, 4, 3, 2. Bring it up. Uppers and jack. Here we go. 4, 3, 2, 2. Jacks or slow. Upper, upper. This works too. I don't care. You're moving, you're here. That's all I care about. Yes. Get it done. 4, 3, 2, 2. Jacks. Yes. Precise and intentional with those. Those movements, especially as we're getting tired. I know it's tempting to just be here, but really make it intentional. Rainbow Skater, this is your last one. Can you get a little bigger here to here? Yes, you can. Can you get a little lower into the hips? Really stick it into those hips. Outer thighs, inner thighs, arms. Mobility. Last time you're seeing this move. Then we are done with it. Forever and ever today. 3, 2, 1. 30 seconds to breathe. Look at that, team. We got Superman pop up, uppers and Jack. Superman pop up. It can be whatever you want. It can look however you want. But we're gonna finish it out. We have one minute of exercise. 30 second rest. 30 seconds of exercise. Done. No bonus move. I'm gonna tell you right now, so don't even get that in your head. All right, let's get it done. Standing knees or all the way down. I want intentional. Strong. Here we go. Up, up, breathe. Up, up. Core engage slow on your way down. Big squeeze. Use your core as you're coming up. So especially as you're coming out of that push up. Try not to just push with your upper. Really use your core knees if you need to. Five, four, three, two, one. Uppers and jacks last time. Four, three, two, one. 4, 3, 2, 1. Yes, team. How many people are feeling their arms and their core after that? Right. That's why we put that in. I wanted the last move of each circuit to get more upper body and core and to have the option to take it down. I know not everybody loves cardio on the floor. Breathe. 30 seconds to breathe. I know, I don't either, but sometimes it's good to put it in there. All right, team, catch your breath. This is it. Last 30 seconds. Everything in your tank. Let's step on the gas. Whether that's slow or fast, whether that's standing or knees or floor, I don't care. But give it all for the last 30 because then we are cooling it down and stretching. And we are done. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. Can you get a little quicker? Yes, you can. Halfway there. 15 seconds to go. Stay with me because you are so close to being done. Last one. Five, four, three, two. Bring it up. Tap it out. Yes, team. Oh, man, you did it. I am so proud of you. That format is not easy. I really debated about trying cardio with this format because it is challenging, right? But you did it again. I don't care what it looks like. I don't care if you took breaks. I don't care if you did low impact or high. If you were moving. If you showed up, you were successful. Keep that in your brain. Do not let your brain tell you any differently. If your body feels tired, it's because you worked hard. You earned it. Little hamstring, stretch hips to the back. Pull the toe towards you. Make sure that you like this video that you subscribe. Let me know in the comments what you thought. Do you like this format? Would you like to see more with other formats, other types of equipment? Right now we have this with weights, kettlebell and dumbbell, but I'd love to do it with dumbbells. With kettlebells, maybe TRX all of it. Let me know. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Did you love and hate it? It's the sign of a good workout, right? Stretch if you forward roll those shoulders, of course. Like the video, subscribe to the channel so I can keep making these videos for you and make sure that you are signed up for my newsletter and you're doing the Holiday Hit Challenge with us. Or if you're seeing this after the fact, join us. You want to take it to the next level? Join us over in the BodyFit Athletic Club. That's where you get all the extras, but at the very least make sure that you're on the email list. You get the weekly calendar, the monthly calendar, and you get lots of tips and tricks from me from Vivian, our Body Fit dietitian. We can help you a lot more personally in your journey. Over in the Athletic Club we have live events, we have Q&As. We have so many fun things happening over there. So that is the place to be if you can. But otherwise just keep showing up for these workouts. I am here for you. Shake it out. Get more of a stretch if you can on your own. Roll those shoulders back. One big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your cardio. Pyramid stack workouts. Great job everybody. Foreign.