New Year Workout Challenge Day 1: 25-Minute Legs & Back Workout (Athlete 25)

You're going to feel strong, stable and unstoppable after this 25 minute legs and back workout. This is day one of my Athlete 25 program. Get the full program when you click the link in the description below. Or better yet, hit that join button and become part of my YouTube membership community where you can train with me side by side. Welcome to day one of Athlete 25, my athletic training program designed to help you train like an athlete at home in 25 minutes a day. And I thought, who better to do this program with me than my husband Tim, who is a professional athlete and has been training like an athlete with me in our basement for over a decade. I'm so excited to have Tim here. What do you think? You excited?

I am excited, yeah. You know, as an athlete, I feel like this kind of, you know, just versatility and mixing things up is going to be awesome. So I'm excited to do it.

Yeah. We're going to get a lot packed into this 25 minute workout and all you're going to need are dumbbells. Today I have anywhere from 25 to 30 pound weights and, and you can see we have a pull up bar on set. There will be an option to do pull ups. This is legs and back, guys. We're training the two largest muscle groups in your body. We're going to hit legs and back and I'd be a miss if I didn't do it with pull ups. If pull ups aren't available to you, I will show you a modification, so don't worry about that. We're doing giant sets today, so you have two giant sets, five exercises per set. Okay? Three strength exercises and then we go into a power and core burnout. You're going to do your burnout right in the middle of the workout. Take, get that heart rate high. And then you're going to go back to three strength exercises. It's tri set style. You do each exercise three times through for maximum muscle building. And we're going to jump right in. Are you ready?

Let's go.

He's ready. I'm ready. Grab your weights, set them aside. We're going to get started with the warmup. So big. Inhale, reach up tall. Exhale. Hands come down behind the head. Good morning. So you're just pushing the hips back. Stand tall. It's a good morning. Hips go back, stand tall. Lengthen through the hamstrings. Engage the core knees. Nice flat back two by four from head to tailbone. Push those hips back. Initiate with a hitch hip hinge. Stand tall. I like to think about pushing the ground away to stand me up. You have two more right here. Hinge and stand. You've got one more. Hinge and stand. From here, you're going to give me a calf raise heels lift a tib raise, toeslift. Warming up the ankles, the calf from the ground up, the feet up. You'll have the option to get explosive today and leave the ground if you want to. You'll have the option to keep it low impact. All right, this, we are starting this, this program off with giant sets. I love training giant sets. The warm ups are shortened, the cooldowns are shortened. We got 25 minutes. We are going to pack it in. I will link a longer warm up and cool down in the description below. One more right here. Tib raise, calf raise. Step back. Lunges. Step back. Right. Stand tall. Step back left. Stand tall. Just driving through that front foot. Driving through that front foot. There you go. One. Step back lunge. Dropping the back knee to the ground. Drive up through that front foot. Nice. Warming up the legs. All functional moves you're going to see today. Give me four. Right into high knees in three, two, and one. Drive it up. High knees. Get those knees up. Get those knees up. Get Those knees up. 8, 7, 6. You got it. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hit the mat. Hands hit the mat. Step back. High plank. Find a nice plank position. Shoulders stacked over wrists. Your option is always to drop your plank down to your knees. Once you find a nice, stable plank, you're gonna row. So elbow to hip. Elbow to hip. Elbow to hip. Elbow to hip. You're going to be doing this today with a dumbbell if you choose. All right, row and row. Nice work. Gaze in front of you. Nice. Nice, stable, in line core. No saggy hips, no butts in the air. Give me three, two, one. Step. Right foot outside right hand. Easy twist. Gaze follows fingertips. Nice stretch here. From here, you're going to plant the hands and slowly shift the weight back to the back leg. Toes up, opening up those inner thighs. Walk your hands back forward. Step back. High plank. Switch sides. Left foot outside left hand. Easy twist. Gaze follows fingertips. Nice. Walk it back into that lateral or Cossack lunge. Toes can go up towards the ceiling, opening up those inner thighs and hips. Do it again. Here we go. Step back. Right side twist. Nice work. Walk those hands back. Toes up. There you go. Transfer that weight. Bring it back forward. Do it again. Other side. Left foot outside left hand. Easy twist. Rotate and then walk it back. Nice work. All right, from here you're gonna step back, find that high plank. Push hips up and back down. Dog. Pedal out the heels, pedal out the calves. Hips go high knees. Hover off the mat. Hips go high knees, hover off the mat. Warming up the quads. The knees. Preparing for that beast. Old row. Hips, high knees, hover. Two more hips, high knees, hover. Last one. Hips, high knees, hover knees. Hit the mat. Cat, cow. Drop the belly. Lift the chin. Reverse it. Tuck the chin. Roll that spine up towards the ceiling. Nice flat back. Tuck the toes. Get yourself up to a standing position. However you choose to get there. Right lateral pushes. Take a giant step. Right, push left. You're just gonna go, hit, hit, hit, hit. We're gonna train in all planes today. You're gonna move like an athlete. Life is three dimensional, so we're gonna train that way. Side to side, up and down. You're gonna hit it all. Give me four, three, two, one. That's your warm up. You good? Let's go warm. Grab some water if you need it. We're gonna jump in to Circuit One. Giant sets. Two giant sets. You have five moves per set. Okay. You're gonna do three strength moves followed by power and core, building it right into your workout. You're doing your strength moves for 40 seconds on. 15 seconds of rest. All right? 40 seconds on. Oh, we wait. We got a buy in. I forgot. This program comes with a buy in. And it comes with a worksheet so you can track your weights and you can track your reps, baby. Right here. You can download this PDF worksheet when you click the link in the description below before you grab your weights. We got to buy in. It's athlete 25. That means you're doing 25 reps of a move before you start every workout. And we are starting with power. It's legs and back. We're going to start with legs is the ground to reach option. Touch the ground. Reach high with a calf raise. Reach high with a calf raise or explode. Jump. Ground to jump. Ground to jump. Pick your level. Calf raise or jump, you're doing 25 of them. Calf raise or jump. You're doing 25. Ground to jump and touch. Ready?

Ready?

This is your buy in. We go in three, two. Let's go. Touch the ground. Explode. Touch, explode. You've got 25 total. That's three. That's four. Count your reps. Five. Come on. You're pushing 25. We are starting with power, Power and explosivity. Did you know power is the first thing to go as we age. After 30, you start losing those fast twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for speed and explosiveness. This is how you train like an athlete, longer, how you bring it as you age. Nice work. That's it. Are we in the final? 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Woo. Yes. You already feel accomplished. Whether you finish the workout or not, you feel accomplished. All right, now that you've done the buy in, now you're getting into circuit one. 40 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Three strength moves three times. Triceps. Three strength moves three times. Grab your heavies, grandma. 25s starting on deadlifts. Nice neutral stance. Feet are parallel. Crush some oranges in your armpits. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge. Stand tall. That's your first move. The deadlift classic deadlift. 40 seconds starts in three, two. Let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge. Stand tall. 40 seconds on hinge, hinge. We're going to alternate a lower body move paired with a back exercise. Legs and back. So you got two leg exercises, one back exercise in this first giant set. Nice work. 15 second transition between moves. Crush oranges. Initiate with a hip hinge. Soft bend in the knees. Push the floor away. That is your deadlift lot to think about. You're working the back of the legs, the hamstrings, glutes and hips. From here we're going to stay on the back side of the body and we're going into pull ups. Tim's going to jump into that pull up bar. Okay, I'm going to show you your modification. You are here for three, two and one. Now we're all resting for 15 seconds. Rest for 15. Tim's going to jump on that pull up bar and he's going to crank out 10 reps. When we do pull ups together, it's usually 10. Switch. 10 switch. So he's going to do 10 and I'm going to do 10. You're on in 3, 2, 1. If pull ups are not available to you, you have an overhead pullover right here. Inhale down, exhale, pull. You're working the lats, the same muscle group. Okay. Okay. That is your modification is a dumbbell pullover or you can always put some bands on here and do assisted pull ups with the band. I'm jumping on. I got about 20 seconds to get 10 pull ups. Let's go.

Now I get my quick break. Yep, that's what I need. Come on now.

Almost there.

Yeah.

Four, three. Getting hard. Two and one.

Nice.

All right, you're resting. You're going into a foot lunge. Right foot forward, left foot back. Right foot forward. Left foot back. Foot lunge. You're going to hold this stance. Feet don't move. Right foot forward, left foot back. 40 seconds starts in three, two. Let's go. Drop the back knee to the ground. Stand tall. Inhale down. Exhale. Push the ground away. So this is a split lunge. Feet are not moving. Feet are steady and stable. Maybe you can go heavier in the split lunge than you would for a step back lunge or a walking lunge. Okay. Nice strong strength move right here. Driving through that front heel. 20 down, 20 to go. You got it. These are your three moves in circuit one. You're back to the top with deadlifts after this. Here we go. 10 more seconds in the split lunge. It feels, should feel heavy. That is a good, good sign. Five, four, three, two. One more. Because you can. There it is. Nice. Set the weights down. Roll it out. Grab some water. Back to the top. Deadlift. Deadlift. Breathe it in. You got five seconds. Deadlift. Grab your weight in. Three, two. Let's go. Hinge at the hips. Stand tall. Now deadlifts while focused on the hamstrings. Glutes and hips are just as much of a back exercise. Your lats are turned on to hold those weights close to your body. Your mid and lower back are guiding the weights down the top. The shins. Or you can take the weights to the side. More suitcase style. If you feel this in your back, take the weights to the side. Closer the dumbbells are to the muscle group that's working. Less strain you're going to feel in your low back. 10 seconds. Dropping the weights. Tim hits that pull up bar again. We're going to do 10 and 10. Nice. 4, 3, 2 and 1. If pull ups again are not available to you, you're on your backside dumbbell pullover resting for 15. Breathe it out. He's going to start. Superstar. We're going to do 10 and 10 and switch. I fell in love with pull ups when I started training with Tim. And I fell in love with pills because I'm a mom and I love efficiency. Did you know that you are working 15 muscles at the same time you do a pull up. Fifteen muscles at the same time when you do a pull up. Talk about efficiency.

Even round two feels a little different than round one.

It does. Come on, Lindsay. That's eight. Two more. Come on, Lindsay. I'm going to switch my grip. Come on. 9, 10. Pull ups never get easier. So you get stronger. All right, grab your weight. Split lunge. Left foot forward, right foot back. Split lunge in three and two. Let's go. I genuinely wrote this program how Tim and I train. I think legs and back are two of our favorite muscle groups to work together and to start the week with. 9 times out of 10 when we're catching a workout together, it's legs and back. I do feel like we've hit a new stride. Our Youngest is now 3. Haven't changed a diaper in months. We're finally back to working out together and getting up in the morning and reading our bibles together. A lot more than we used to be. Used to be a lot of conquer and divide, divide and conquer. And now we get to be back on a team and it's pretty fun. You're here for four, three, two, and recover. Nice, guys. That's the second round. One more time through. One more time through those three moves. Yeah, you know the saying. Even Tim knows the thing. Third set.

It's the best set.

I think the best set. Science tells us for maximum muscle gains happen. Third set. Deadlifts. Grab your weights. Deadlifts. Grab your weights. Here we go. Last time on these three moves and then you're gonna go into a power and core circuit. You're there in three, two. Here we go. 40 seconds of deadlift. 40 seconds of deadlifts. This is your chance to catch your breath. Nice work. As you exhale, push that ground away. To stand you tall. Exhale, push. Come on, one rep at a time. You got this. Nice work. Push that ground away. Strong back, strong glutes, strong hamstrings. I've been getting Tim to do more deadlifts.

I need to do way more.

They are Tim's weakest muscle group are.

His hammies, without a doubt.

So he's gonna love this program. 10 seconds, guys. 10 seconds. You drop those weights. Last chance to get on that pull up bar. In 3, 2, 1. Set those weights down. Last chance to get on that pull up bar or give me that dumbbell pullover on the ground. Working the lats, trying to get 10 reps in one more time if you can. You got it. That 40 second timer starts in three and two. Let's go. Pullovers. Did you know that only 20% of the population can do an honest tested pull up? And that's men. When you talk about women, it actually goes down to 10 to 12%. Be part of the 10 to 12 that can get an unassisted pull up. Yes. Join us, guys. I love me Some pull ups. Yes, Tim. See, it's hard to do pull ups when your brakes are short, isn't it?

Yeah.

Crushing.

Crushing above the head.

And do five this way, five the other way.

Test. You test the forearm grip, too?

Yeah. Five. Come on. Sick. Come on. Seven. Three more. I'm gonna get three more. So then we're gonna go into alternating setback lunges. I'm gonna switch my grip and get three more. Give you a longer break. Here we go. Three, two. Oh, it's so hard. Come on, Lindsay. Look at that.

Workout for you, too, with those legs coming up. Nice job.

Hey, actually, funny fact, I'm going to tell you on the next thing. Okay, Grab your weights. Alternating setback lunges for 40 seconds. Alternate setbacks in three, two. Let's go. You said that's a good ab workout. Actually, they did a study where they put, like, pads on people and they tested which muscle group was working the hardest when you did a pull up. And actually, it was proven that your abs are almost working as hard as your lats. So a pull up is almost as much of an ab exercise as it is a lat exercise, which I thought was pretty cool.

That's great.

Okay, last time on the split lunges, we drop the weights. We go power and core. We go power and core in 10 seconds. Keep lunging one rep at a time. Right here. You're gonna give those forearms a break. In five, four, three, two. Weights are down. Holy bananas. Find your sheet, write down your reps, your weights used. You're never going to get better if you don't track it. For me, I write down, made it to seven pull ups. Had to drop. Get my last three. All right. Breathe while you breathe. If you did overload 30, it's going to be familiar to you. Two minutes of consecutive work. 30. 30, 30, 30. Two moves, no rest. Just go. Gonna be. Holy bananas. Yep. Grab your weights. Let's do it. Set your weights as a marker if you want them. You're gonna need them for exercise, too. 30 seconds of power into 30 seconds of core. Your power is a broad jump. Shuffle back. Looks like this. I'm gonna jump, try and hit my weights. Shuffle back, load the hips, land soft. Shuffle back. 30 seconds of that. If broad jumps are not available to you, grab a weight and give me a dumbbell swing. Dumbbell swing. Working the same muscle groups, that is your option. Okay. After 30 seconds is up, I'm going to say switch. You're going to find a bear crawl. Knees hover. You're going to row and Row. If that's not available to you, you are on tabletop, on your knees, and you row and you row. All right, 30, 30, 30, 30. You can do anything for two minutes. You can do anything for two Minutes. Rod, jump, shuffle back. 30 second. Timer starts in three, two. Let's go. Load the hips, Land soft, shuffle back, load, land, shuffle. Here we go. Load, land, shuffle. Working hammies, glutes, hips. Adding some power and explosivity. I love adding broad jumps to my hamstring day, so good for firing those hamstrings. Yes, team. 10 more seconds here. Find that bear crawl, find the floor and row. You're there in 5, 4, 3. Shuffle back. Hit your weight, hit your weight. Knees, hover and row, row, row. You don't have to rip these out. Catch your breath, catch your breath. How close can you get those knees to the mat? Hips should be square and parallel to the ground, not wavering. You got it. 10 seconds in the row. Back up, broad jump, shuffle back in 5, 4, 3, 2. Let's go. Get back. Here we go. Load it, land it. Shuffle it. Load, land. Lance off, Lance off. That's your focus. Be kind to your joints. Again, if this is not available to you, grab your dumbbell. You are swinging. Dumbbell swings. Here we go. Push it. 10 more seconds. 10 more seconds. Yes, you can. Bear crawl rows in four. Three, two. Hit it. Hit your weights. Knees, hover, row. Water break is on the other side of this. 30 seconds, guys. Water break is on the other side. Yes, you can. Elbow to hip. Holy bananas. This is when the going gets tough. Yes, you can. Core, knees, quads, back. It is all firing for 10. Nine. Just keep rowing. Just keep pulling. Right here. Five, four, three, two. Recover. Yeah. You did it. Nice work. Fully bananas. That was tough.

Yeah.

Grab some water. Grab some water. Oh, another giant set. Just like that. Three new moves. Three new moves. Then you got another power burnout to finish. Crushing it, team. Crushing it, team. Three new moves. Basics. Squats. Single arm row, lateral lunge. Squat. Single arm row, lateral lunge. Grab your weights. Grab your weights. Right here. Weights. You want to squat with one dumbbell at each side. 40 seconds. Down, up. You are squatting. Grab them. Here we go. Squats in three and two. Let's go. This is your chance to catch your breath. Holy bananas. Are you glad we knocked out pull ups in circuit one.

I am.

I don't know if I could get back on that bar. Come on, catch your breath. This is an intense workout program, guys, designed for people who want to train like an athlete. At home in 25 minutes a day. I'm using all 25 minutes you give me. All right? I'm using it all. We talked about how pull ups engage 15 muscles. The squats are truly the king. They recruit more muscles than any other exercise. You're talking legs, glutes, core, back and shoulders are turned on. You're here for five. Four, three, two. Set it down. Rest. Single arm row on the right. I'm going to prop up my left dumbbell as a tripod. A place to put my hand. Single arm row, right here. Pull. Elbow to hip. Lower with control. You're there in 3, 2. 40 seconds. Let's row, row, row. You don't have to rip these out. Get your hip. Hold for a second. Lower with control. Hold. Lower. Inhale, down. Exhale. Pull. Legs and back. Right here. Pull, squeeze. Lower with control. Again. Finding that breath. These are the two largest muscle groups in your body. Working your legs and your back. That's why your heart rate is so stinking high right now. Come on. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Lateral lunges in 10. Pull. Keep breathing. You got this last. 5, 4, 3, 2. And recover one weight. One weight. You could always grab two. I'm grabbing my 130 pound. My one heavy is a lateral lunge just to your right. So you can hold two weights and frame your foot or one weight with the left hand. Step right. You're on in three, two. Let's go. Hit right, drive out of the hole. Hit right, drive out of the hole. Nice work right here. Awesome job. We are training sideways today so you don't get sidelined later. Okay? Seriously, Mobility and strength. This is your hips. Your glutes protect your knee in injuries. I love training laterally because life, you move front, back, side to side. Got to train in all planes. And that's exactly what we're doing, protecting our knees for long form. Health right here. I'm wearing this knee brace because I tweaked my knee. Wakeboarding, you're here for three, two and one. I truly believe if I wasn't strong, it could have been a lot worse. Okay, Those are your three moves. Back to the top. 40 seconds of squats. Back to single arm row. Other side. Lateral lunge. Other side. Grab your weights. We go in three, in two, in one. I think if Rachel was here, she would have argued for longer rest times. She would have argued for longer rest times. Tim didn't know any better. I said, welcome. Jump into the arena. Here we go. These are short rest times. You can always hit that Pause button. But I'm trying to make the most, the most of the time you are giving me today. All right? We're not wasting a single second today. We are sweating. We are getting stronger. One rep at a time right here. Come on. 10 seconds. Let's go. Keep squatting. Single arm, row, other side. In 5, 4, 3, 2, and recover. Right hand can be on your weight. Left hand is gonna row. Single arm, row on the left. Single arm, row on the left. You got this, guys. Grab your weight. You're on in three, two. Let's go. Row, row. You got it. Pull. Elbow to hip pocket. Elbow to hip pocket. Nice work, team. Pull. Nice. Find that focal point on the floor in front of you. Find your balance. Find your place to focus. Right here. Doesn't have to rip them out. Sometimes slower is harder. Pull, hold. Lowers control. 20 down, 20 to go. Whoo. This weight feels heavy.

Now that going down is what really?

Yep.

Hard. You don't need to super heavy because.

We do a lot of them right. The eccentric portion of the movement you're going to find in this program, there's going to be a mix of timed intervals, like today, and then there's going to be a mix of reps and rep drops. Coming at you tomorrow. In three, two. Rest and recover. One weight. Two. If you got lighter weights, you are hitting just to your left this time. Lateral lunge, lateral lunge to your left. You got this. You're there in four. Grab your weight, Hit left in three, two. I'm watching out for this sweat pile on the ground here. Trying not to slip. Tim is just crushing in. We get asked all the time, can men do my workouts? What do you think, Tim? Can men do these workouts?

I'm keeping up, but you're doing. You're using heavier weight than me.

What do you got? This is true. This is true. I'll be the first look at you.

This is not one of my best exercises. My lower back tends to take over.

Right.

So I'm doing it smart.

Yeah, it's smart. Listen to your body. Tim's also coming out of season, you guys. He plays professional beach volleyball, if you didn't know that. So his focus has been very body weight and plyometric focused and not as much strength Focus the last several months. Three, two, and recover. Okay. Go through different seasons where you got different focuses. Focus of this program is to make you feel strong, stable, and explosive. Right back to the top for the final time. Squats for the final time. Third set, guys. Last round. 3. Grab your weight 2. We're squatting. Here we go. Last round. Last round. This is it, guys. This is it. Come on. You did your power and explosivity mid workout. There's no burnout right here. This is it. You finish with three heavy strength moves and you are out of here. Three heavy strength moves and you are done with day one of athlete 25. Let's go. Come on. Slap those weights on and go heavy. This is it. There's no burnout. The burnout was mid workout. This time gonna be different every day. We're gonna keep you coming back for more, and we're gonna challenge you, and we are gonna push your limits every single day. For three, two, set them down. Shake it out. This time, it's an alternating row hinge over row right, row left, row light right, row left. You ready? Grab them. Three, two, let's go. Pull Right. Lower. Pull. Left. Lower right, left. Strong back, strong core. You can always drop weights here if you need. Okay, I know this is a heavy load on the back. You got it. This and laterals. That's all that's left, guys. That's all that's left. 20 down, 20 to go. Keep pulling. One rep at a time. Right here. Pull. Yes, you can pull. You're almost there. It's ten. Nine, Eight. You got this. Seven. Stay with it. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. Set them down. Holy bananas. Right. Lateral lunges and you are out. One to your right, one to your left. That's it. Lateral lunges and we stretch. Lateral lunges and we stretch. Okay, Hit right, hit right. In three, in two. Let's go. Hit right. Stand up. Hit left. Drive up. Yes, team. Yes, team. Come on, Finish it right here. One rep at a time. You got this. Nice work. Finish strong. Come on. Finish strong. Right here. Hit it. Drive it. Hit it. Drive it. 20 seconds left in today's workout. 20 seconds left, and you are stretching. I'm so proud of you for showing up for day one. I am so proud of you for being here and putting in the work. 10 seconds. Let's go. Finish. And make yourself proud today. Make yourself proud. For 5, 4, 3, 4, 2. And you are stretching. Weights are down, water is up. Day one, day one. Baby is done. Always feels good to be on the other side, doesn't it? So stinking good. You did it, team. And we are stretching. Here we go. Let's loosen that back. Give me a knee hug on the right. Toes up to the ceiling. Reach and scoop. Do it again. Reach and scoop. Lengthen and scoop. One more. Lengthen and scoop.

That does feel nice.

Switch sides. Right knee. Hug on the left. Toes up. Lengthen and scoop. Up. Lengthen and scoop. One more. Lengthen and scoop. Hold high. Feet are parallel. Left hand grabs right up and over. Open those lats. Open those lats. Nice work. Back to center. Switch it out. Open the lats to the left option. Give me a big circle all the way down, around. Switch your circle other way. Big circle all the way down, around. You get to the top. You flap those wings. You high five your partner. You say, we're out. If you want a longer cool down, I'm linking that for you in the description below. We're keeping it tight and short. Today. We put in the work. You did it. I want to see you back on the mat for day two. Upper body. Body push. Awesome job crushing day one of this program. If you loved it, hit subscribe to my YouTube channel. I've queued up day two for you right here. And you can find this entire two week program at home in this playlist right here. Have a great day.