30 Minute Lower & Cardio Pyramid Stack Workout II Step Into Your Power Day #18

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your lower and cardio pyramid stack workout. This is day 18 of your power challenge, but this is also a great workout that you can do at any time. I'm going to give you lots of different options to work to your fitness level. We'll be working the entire lower body, mixing in some heart pumping cardio in a pyramid stack format. We're going to be going up the pyramid in 30 second intervals and then back down. We'll start with weights for our first stack, then take it all body weight. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's get started with a little warm up. So go ahead and start moving your body. You can march it, you can jog it, you can roll through those shoulders. It is a lower body and cardio workout. So we'll open up the arms and the chest and the back and the shoulders. But we're mostly trying to warm up those legs, hips, glutes, and of course get your body ready to get the heart pumping. Training our hearts and our lungs, building that endurance, bur burning that fat, all of those things that we want to do. Let's open up the chest right here and let's do a little gentle knee pull. So warming up through the hips, through the legs here is how this is going to work. I'm gonna go ahead and start talking you through it so we can jump right in and keep this workout short. Let's get a few little hip rolls right through here. So pyramid stack. Maybe you've done one with me before. Let's roll them in. We're going up the pyramid in time and back down in 30 second intervals. Take it little side lunge right through here. So we have a 30 second interval of exercise A. Let's take it right here, squat it down and then hinge it. Followed by a 30 second breather. Then we have exercise A for 30 seconds, followed by B for 30 seconds, then a 30 second breather. Then we go C, B, A, D, C, B, A. And then we go back down and we start taking them away from exercise A. I know that sounds confusing. Let's hinge it right here. Pedal those feet. Your hands can be on the ground or up top if you can. From here, drop into that deep squat, little hips right through here, all the way. And then round it up, let's tap back to open up the hips from here. So I know it sounds confusing, confusing, but I promise you it's all going to be up on the screen. You're just stacking 30 seconds, and then every time we add a new exercise, you go down with the exercises we did before. So I promise it's gonna make sense once we get through it. And I'm gonna talk you through it. Our first stack is going to be using weights, so dumbbells or kettlebells. I'll be using dumbbells. You can use whatever is best for you. You can also keep it body weight. That is totally fine. We're going to be altern a little bit more like strength and one that feels a little bit more like cardio. Even though we'll keep weights the entire time, it's all going to be lower impact. Nothing high impact in that first round, but trust me, your heart rate will be up. Our second stack is going to be all body weight, so we will have a little more of our traditional cardio moves, but we're going to keep that lower body working as well. So hopefully that makes sense. Again, we're going to put it on the screen for you right here. It does move quickly. This is one of one of those workout formats that we love because it feels long in the moment, and then it is done before you know it. So you'll definitely have to leave me a comment, let me know at the end how you felt, but we're gonna get it done. All right, team, so go ahead and just tap side to side. I'm going to talk you through your very first round. So heavy dumbbells, if you got them heavy or medium, this first stack, they're going to be a few things where we're holding two. If you want to start with one and then pick up the second one, you can certainly do that because we're starting with a one and a half. Goblet squat hands are here. We're gonna go down. That half is like a little pulse. And then all the way up. So you're going full squat, halfway up, down, all the way up. We're gonna start with that goblet squat. Then we're gonna take it into a racked lunge. Go ahead and join me. One or two heavy dumbbells. One or body weight, if that's what's right for you today. Be where you are today. Here we go. 30 seconds. One and a half. Take it down and up. So if you really think halfway, full squat, halfway up, all the way down and up, it's helpful for me just to think that it's like a little pulse at the bottom, really connect with the core and the glutes right at the Top of that movement. Keep that chest open and proud. Sit back into the hips. Drive up through the heels. So many things to think about. Don't worry, we're gonna get lots of practice. 3, 2, 1. You can set that weight down, but watch me. Your next round, we're gonna do a racked alternating lunch. So you can have one dumbbell here. Alternate, alternate. It's going to get the heart rate up. Or you can have two dumbbells. I'm gonna try to may get the best of me, but I'll do the best I can. So I'm going to try to rack them both here, keep them up. I'm gonna alternate the lunge. Then we go right into 30 seconds of the 1 1/2 squat. Here we go. Zip up that core. Rack. Lunge, Here we go. Down and up. So by holding them up. Yes. We're sneaking in a little upper body, we're sneaking in a little core because you feel the difference, right? That core has to work hard to keep you stable. Even harder than if you have one. But of course, if you need to take it to one, that's an option too. You're still going to feel that heart rate. So this is more of your cardio based round. Five seconds. Four, three, two, one. Switch it. One and a half squat down and yes, you can. I'm gonna give you a few little variations as we go. Like our next round, we might take this to a plie squat. But we got a plie coming so we can keep it goblet and up. Right here. Take it down and up. Down and up two. Last one. And breathe. All right, team, so two dumbbells this time you breathe for 30 seconds. We're gonna take it to a kickstand deadlift, but we're gonna call it a drop. So watch me here. You've got that kickstand. You're gonna go hinge down, drop those weights. Press up out of that hinge. Hinge down, grab them and press up. Then we switch our legs. Hinge, let them drop, hinge it up. If that feels like too much for you, you just alternate your kickstand. Deadlift. Here we go in three, two, one. Hinge, bring it up. Sleddy. And up. Switch your legs, get set. Hinge and drop. Kickstand, hinge, hinge, drive up through the heel. We're not going to get very many because we're alternating, but we're gonna feel the back of those legs, right? Keep forgetting. Down and up. Take them, rack them. Here we go. You got alternating lunge if you need to drop one dumbbell, that's what I'm gonna do. Take it here and here again. It's not gonna feel like high impact cardio or fast cardio. We got that in round two. This is more about using our weights to keep that heart rate up. Using load. It takes more energy to lift something heavy and move it through space. That's why our heart rate gets up with weights. Right, Last one. Here we go with our squat. Take it down. Pulse and up. We are almost to the top of that pyramid. The next move coming up after a 30 second breather is our fourth move. Then we go back down. Then we start taking away. Like I said, this format feels long in the in the moment, but I promise you, it's over quickly. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Catch your breath. All right, team, so last move. Watch me. It's a doozy. You have two options. You can either just do a hinge and deadlift and then you do a curtsy. And a curtsy if you want to add a little power. And only if you're experienced and comfortable with this. Hinge, clean, curtsy and curtsy. So you can either just do the deadlift, keep them low, curtsy or hinge. Clean it up. Here we go. Hinge. Bring it up. Curtsy and curtsy. Here we go. Take it down. If you want clean power and cardio. Lots of legs, lower body. Right. Get set up. Totally fine to alternate on these two because we're gonna get a lot of them. Right, down and up. Last one. Yes, team. What do we got? Kickstand Right here. Take it down. Press up, pick them up. Drive up through that heel. Switch your legs. Your front leg is doing more of the work. Back leg is exactly that. A kickstand? Kind of like a cross between a hinge with a little lunge. But not as much, right? And up. Can we get one more press up through the heels? Yes. Alternate your regular lunge. Here we go. If you need a breather, set that weight down. You can do these last two moves with just body weight or take it to one like I'm doing. We are about to take it down the pyramid. It's gonna go quicker on the way down because you know what to expect. Ten seconds here and then it's our last squat. One and a half squat. Breathe. Three, two, one. Take it here. Here you go. Get low. Halfway up. Especially as we're tired, think about pulling those shoulders back. Think about keeping the chest open, dropping the hips low. This is it, team. This is our longest pyramid Yet. Then we start breaking it down. 10 seconds, right here before we breathe. We're gonna grab a quick sip of water in between, Then we take it to the top. Three, two, last one. Boom. Set that weight down. Quick sip. All right, team, now we go back to the top. Hinge and curtsy. Or hinge, clean and curtsy. Then kickstand, deadlift, kickstand, deadlift, drop. Then we got our racked lunge. Then we take that away, back up to the top. Grab those weights. Three, two, and one is all we need. Are you ready? 30 seconds. Here we go. Start with just the deadlift, and then curtsy it. Then if you feel like adding the power and you're comfortable with it, add that clean hinge. And then clean curtsy. Yes. You can take it here. Yes. Hand up. I know a little bit of arms. It's supposed to just be a lower body, but you can do it. Yes. Last one. Take it right here. Kickstand. Get set up. Drop it down. Press up. Grab them here again. If that feels like too much, you just hang on to those weights and you just alternate your curtsy. Take it here. And up. Yes, team. Ha. One more. Rack. Lunge. Here we go. Last one. Hold it right here. Lunge it all legs. I know this is it for this lunge, so make it good. Then we got two. Then we got one. Right. Core engage. Yes. 10 seconds, get low, drive up through that front heel. If you want to mix it up, you can take it forward, lunge. But you got three, two, one. Set it down. And breathe. Oh, I know. But the good news is two more, then one, then your first stack is done. And we got one more, and it's all body weight, so hang with me with these weights again. Do you feel that cardio? We have not done any jumping. It's coming, but we haven't done anything that we normally would call high intensity, except work our lower body with heavy weights. All right. Deadlift, curtsy, Add the clean if you want. Here we go. Take it down. And up. Curtsy right. And curtsy left. Yes, Team. And up. You can keep it just right there if that's where you are. You can add that clean if you want. And up. Control. There's that core. Right. Down. And up. Last one. Whoo. Kickstand. Drop it right here. Kickstand. Drop. And up. This is the last time for this move, so really make it good. Drive through that heel. And up. Drive it up. Yes. You can hinge it. And up. Yes. Team. Last one. Yes. Breathe. All right, this is it. Give your hands a little break. Shake them out right here. Last 30 seconds, then stack number one is done. Here, curtsy, curtsy, or here, curtsy, curtsy one time, then no more. With these exercises, catch your breath for about 10 more seconds. There we go. Push through, get through. 30 seconds. We got a long breather coming. Bend your knees to grab those weights. Hinge it clean is optional. Curtsy and curtsy. Here we go. Curtsy. Last 30 seconds. Take it here. You're gonna see, once we get to that second stack, why we put the weights first, right? We want to get it out of the way, then give our hands a break. Can you get one more all the way through? You got 10 seconds, whatever it is, for you. Yes. Breathe. Oh, Team, set those weights to the side. Grab a sip of water. Let's get some little hamstring curls to shake up those quads. I know. Whoo. And then let's stretch out those hamstrings right through here. All right, team, because it's a lower body workout, and I got my kettlebell out, we're gonna put a kettlebell swing in the middle of these stacks right here. 30 seconds. We just did a lot of that hinge pattern, so if that's not right for you, you can just keep it right here. With cardio mobility, if you want to add a swing or a deadlift, grab it here. So we're here, team. We're gonna take it right through here. Start with just that hinge again, just like we did. I know your body's like, what? And if you feel comfortable, you're gonna power it back. You're gonna swing it up, let it drop. So join me here. Kettlebell in the center. 30 seconds only. 3, 2, 1. Drive it up. Let it drop. Remember, with that swing, you're keeping it low. You're powering it with the back of your body. Posterior chain, glutes, hamstrings, core back. You are not lifting with the arms. They're getting the work. You're squeezing in the back, but don't lift with those arms. We got 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And relax. Pedal those feet. Grab a quick sip of water. Team, we are going into stack number two. No weights needed. This one's gonna feel a little bit more like your traditional cardio, but we're gonna get lower body as well. So shake it out. Get ready. We're starting with 30 seconds. Our first move is a jumping jack. Cross knee or low impact Cross knee. Here we go. Join me. Jack knee. Jack knee or power knee? Power knee. Up to You Jack knee, huh? Yes, I know. I'm feeling it, too. Out. In, out. In three, two, one. Breathe. Tap it out for 30. So this round is a little more cardio heavy. You're still going to feel those legs working, but no weights. So we can go a little higher impact if you want. You don't have to. You, do you? This is your workout. All that matters is that we get that lower body working and we get that heart rate up. All right, team, so we have a plie squat. We're going here. We're going to pivot into that side lunge, plie, pivot. Are we ready? Here we go. All legs, plie. Inner thighs, outer thighs, transverse, side plie, transverse. If the transverse feels weird to you, get plie, step, side lunge. Toes out, toes in. There we go. Right down inside into the hip. So inner thighs, outer thighs. Yes, you can. And breathe. Get ready for that jack. And those knees right here. Jack knee. Yes. Breathe. Up, in, up, in. There we go. Finish. 10 seconds, then you get a breather. Remember, you can always go low impact. Up and out. 5, 4, 3, 2. All right, team, so we are taking it to another cardio that I love. We call it a Heisman. We're really going to stick it in those outer thighs and glutes. 3, 2, 1. 3, 2, 1. Three, two. Get low. It's almost like a little half squat. Then power out of it side to side. You can just step it quick, quick, quick. Or you can jump it. 3, 2, 1, with your knees. Here we go. I know you're tired, and this one is a little trickier, right? Three, two, one. Three, two. So remember, step, step, stick. Step, step, stick. Shift your weight. Yes. Three, two. You don't have to go fast with this to get the cardio or to get the legs right. Yes. Three, two, and one. Oh, no. Here we go. Plie and pivot, right? My brain wanted to be done, but that's the beauty of a pyramid stack. Take it down and pivot. Side, lunge, plie, and here, hips, lower body burnout. We could have called this. Remember, we got those Jackson knees coming. Three, two, one. Here we go. Jack knee, Jack, pull them in. Step, knee, step, knee. 10 seconds, then we're at the top of the pyramid team. I told you it would go fast. I told you it would be challenging. But you are strong. You've got the endurance to do it good. Relax. You have got it in you. So don't let your brain talk you out of. If you need to hit pause. If you need a Little longer, breather. That is okay. But you are here. You showed up. I want you to hang with me just for a few more rounds, because you got this. This is the longest one. We're gonna do what I call a triple kick. So we're going up, up, kick through the hip, hip, hip, kick. Join me here. You can keep it low or high, whatever is best for you. Here we go. Hip, hip, higher. Kick it out. Hip, hip, kick. Doesn't have to be high. You don't have to do a kickboxing kick. We're just getting a little lift for the hip, right? Up, up, low impact. You got it. 3. Last one. Up, up. Kick right here. Here we go, Heisman. One, two. So I told you, we're going slow. Too fast. Slow to fast. This is your longest one. Then we start taking them away. We are so close to being done. Low impact is totally fine. One, two, stick it. One, two, three. Stick. One, two. Yes, you can. I know that little voice in your head says, I'm tired. I could quit now. And I've still done 23 minutes of this workout. Paa right here. That's true. But you could also finish because you only got about five more minutes. That is it, team. And you have so many options if you just want to keep the plie. To keep it simple, you can do that. If you want to go plie into a side lunge instead of that transverse for the hips, that's okay, too. Inner thighs, outer thighs. Yes. Glutes. Here we go. Last time with these jacks and knees. I know it's annoying because you got to keep those legs out to bring the knee across. Jack knee, huh? Breathe. Yes. Feels weird, but finish it out. Up. No more jacks after this. No more of this crazy move. 3, 2, 1. And breathe. Quick sip of water, guys. We are going down the pyramid. It's gonna take just a couple minutes. We have three rounds of 30, then breather. Two rounds, then one 30 second. That is it. Breathe into it. No weights. Team, you got this. We got our triple kick. So remember, think of it as a lift, lift, kick, lift, lift, kick. Here we go. Hip, hip, kick. Other side. If you need some balance, hold on to a wall, then switch it up. Up, kick. Kick it right here. Up, up. Yes, you can. 10 seconds. Balance. Yes. Getting that core working. Two. One more. Up, up. Here we go, Heisman. One, two, three. This is what I want you to think about on this one. Don't worry about halfway. Fast you go. I want you to think about covering the space. Whatever you Got stick it, stick it. One, two. Even if you're going low impact, really stick that landing. Low, low. Stick low. Low or high? Yes, team. Last time, plie, side, lunge, transverse. And here, plie, pivot. Yes, you can. Oh, my legs are tight. 15 seconds of this. Then all we got is two quick cardios, one slow, one fast, and pivot right here. Working our legs in all different directions. That's on purpose. And team, so we get lots of glutes and breathe. All right, we got 30 seconds, triple kick. 30 seconds, Heisman. Then 30 seconds, triple kick. That is it. Let's finish it strong. Are you with me? I think the answer is always yes. Whatever this looks like for you, just Finish it out. 30 seconds. 30 seconds of the movement. 30 second breather. 30 seconds of movement, starting with that triple kick. Here we go. Lift, lift, kick. If you feel like you're getting good with that rhythm, you can pick up that pace, but you don't have to. You can keep it slow. I want the hip and the obliques, right? Breathe. Kick it it. Yes. Boom. So close. Oh, I missed one. Here we go. Heisman, whatever you got with this for 30 seconds, whether that's slow, just little lateral movements, lateral steps. That is okay. If you can get those knees high, get them high. If you can stick it low, stick it low. We are so close, else. I know. I feel it, too. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. This is it, team. Let's do it. Are you with me? I think you are. Okay, let's get it done. All we need, triple kick for 30 seconds. I want you to take it at a level that's good. You for. For you. If you want to focus on just the lips, lifts for the hips and the obliques. If you really want to get that power with it, keep it controlled. Intentional movement. Heart rate up, legs working all the way through. Finish strong. Here we go. Triple kick. 30 seconds. Up, up, up. Breathe. Yes. Take. You get it? Feel like I'm just looking side to side. I know. Whatever you need to do to move for these last 10 seconds, even if you just want to go side to side with those kicks. 3, 2, 1. Tap it out, team. Hold. Oh, yes, you can. Yes, you did. All right, if you want, we're gonna get one last swing. It's a bonus move. You don't have to do it. If you want to cool it down, I know those legs are tired. If you want one last swing, grab that kettlebell or dumbbell or two dumbbells. Join me right here. Legs are tired. Heart rate is up. But let's finish it strong. Then we got a quick stretch and then we are done. Shoulders back, core engage. You can, you can keep it with the deadlift or swing in here. Three, two, power. Last thing. This is it again. If you're tapping it out, if you're already into the cool down, that is fine with me. You showed up, you worked hard. But if your body was thinking, you know what, I need one last swing, I hope she puts in one last swing. Or even if your body was thinking, I hope she doesn't put in one last swing, maybe you want to get it in anyway. You got five power. Three, two, one, swing and relax. Pedal those feet. Hang right here. Give yourself a second stretch through your back even if you weren't swinging. Take it here. I'm tasting my makeup. Let's take it out right here, team. Roll that back. I've already filmed another workout today and it's really hot here in la. We're having a heat wave. So I know that is accounting for the fact that I'm feeling extra tired, but I'd also like to think that was a really tough workout. Are you with me on this again? Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you. Did you like a pyramid stack? If it was your first time, if this is your first time doing an all lower body pyramid stack, how did that feel? It's is different, right? Did you like the one stack? Bring it up if you can. If not, just tilt it forward. One stack weighted, one stack body weight, One a little more strength focused, one a little more cardio, but all cardio and lower body. Let me know. Leave me a comment. And of course like this video and subscribe. Please subscribe. That helps me keep making these workouts here for you. So check out all the links in the description below. Would love to have you join us in the Body Fit Athletic club. Big stretch over right here. And of course don't forget to check out my website, bodyfitbyamy.com if you're looking for equipment, apparel or just to get on the email list for your free workout calendars, it is all right there. Grab some water, stretch those legs a little bit more. Let's be done for today. One big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your lower and cardio pyramid stack workout. Great job, everybody.