Fit Finisher Circuit - Preheat The Oven

I LOVE a good bodyweight only strength workout.

Bodyweight only workouts are always a great mix of...

Muscle burning strength
Muscle endurance
Heart pounding strength cardio

And this workout delivers on all three.

This is a great mini-circuit to start a workout (get extra warmed up) and of course finish off a workout with one final blast.

Let's get into this one.

Preheat the Oven Circuit Breakdown

This is a simple AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) workout.

And the exercises are simple (fundamental) in nature. But it's the order that makes this workout so brutal and effective.

Here's the circuit:

100 Flutter kicks
12 Concentration pushups
20 Squat hops
20 Lunge jumps

It gets progressively more difficult as you go from the squat hops... straight into the lunge jumps...

And tougher as the rounds stack up.

But you get very little rest in your legs because you'll still feel it doing flutter kicks.

This workout hits your legs hard.

Circuit Design Modification

Doing 100 flutter kicks is tough.

If you can't do 100 flutter kicks and keep up... drop the flutter kicks to 60 reps.

Keep the rest of the workout the same.

Preheat the Oven Exercise Breakdown

Flutter Kicks

Kindal flutter kicking and keeping her core fully engaged and pressing her back into the ground. She is also keeping her legs engaged and straight.

Kindal flutter kicking and you can see her core is pulled in and tight. Her low back is pressed into the ground while her legs remain straight.

Step 1

Get into a solid hollow hold.

Press your low back into the ground as you crunch your shoulders off the ground.

In the video I put my hands behind my head. It's a little easier to crunch of you reach your arms down at your side... but keep them off the ground.

Start with one leg up high and the other down low. This helps get you into the rhythm faster.

form tip

Ideally you want to keep your legs straight and toes pointed... you know... make this look graceful.

However... you may find your low back starts to arch off the ground.

If this happens... bend your legs to an appropriate level that let's you pull your abs in and press your low back down into the ground.

Listen to your body and try to track this so you can work on improving it.

Step 2

As fast as you can... without breaking down your form... kick back and forth. Each kick counts as a rep.

Try to get your legs to at least get 12 inches apart for each kick.

And of course remember to crunch HARD!!!

Modified Concentration Pushups

Kindal in the top of pushup position with her body straight and engaged. The width of her arms is a little wider than a normal pushup.

Kindal goes down into a concentration pushup to her left. She leans into the arm moving her body that direction. But her body still remains tight and fully engaged during the entire movement.

Kindal is down in the other side of the concentration pushup favoring her right side. Her body still remains engaged and her legs are fully locked out.

These are a little different from the "real" concentration pushups.

These move faster... which should make them doable by everybody. Remember, you can do these using:

Use these techniques so you can move faster and keep your form as good as possible.

Step 1

Get into an engaged top of pushup plank. This is pretty obvious right?

But here's where things change...

Take your hands and go wider than normal. If you can... try to get your hands outside a yoga mat width (outside your shoulder width).

Step 2

Go down into your pushup but lean into one of your arms.

This is similar to a [lizard pushup](/post-link) in that as you lean over to one arm... that elbow will go straight back (very close to your body).

The other arm's elbow will go out to the side... almost horizontal.

Step 3

Keep going from one side to the next with control.

Each pushup counts as a rep... so these will go back pretty quick.

Squat Hops

Kindal in the squat part of the squat hop and building up tension to get a good explosion from the bottom.

Kindal is exploding from the bottom of the squat and notice how her feet are still flat on the ground.

Kindal continuing up from the squat and getting upon her toes but not yet to full extension.

Kindal is fully extended from the bottom of the squat and is on the very top of toes before she goes straight back down.

Now we're getting into the crux of this workout.

You'll hear Dan in the video stress... only get to your tippy toes.

No jumping! Read my post if you want to know more about why I don't like jumping in workouts ... for most women.

(Yes I know... I'm about to break this rule in the next exercise.)

If you're experienced... jumping is great (though dangerous).

Step 1

Get in a good squat stance and squat down to just above parallel for this workout.

Remember all of the queues... twist your feet into the ground and make sure your bodyweight is over your entire foot (both feet!).

Step 2

Explode from the bottom of your squat... but with control.

Remember, you're not jumping.

You will get to a "weightless" state and up on your tippy toes. It's almost like your floating there for a brief moment before you come back down.

Make sure you fall immediately into the next squat. This is important to build that strength endurance.

Lunge Jumps

Kindal at the bottom of the lunge getting ready to explode up.

Kindal pressing in hard to get momentum going up from the bottom of the lunge.

Kindal in the jump part of the lunge jump and making the switch of her feet. Notice that she is only a few inches off the ground. It's not about height.

Kindal moving her legs very fast to complete the stance switch and land into the next lunge.

Kindal landing direction into the next lunge where she will immediately explode out of it to continue the reps.

Didn't I just say I don't like jumping?

I did.

And now I'm telling you to jump. I know... I know...

But I have a modification for you that requires zero jumping and burns almost as much. This is after the lunge jump explanation.

Step 1

Start at the bottom of a lunge jump. This makes it much easier to start the reps.

You can start with your feet together and just jump straight into your first lunge.

It's up to you and what feels the best.

Step 2

Explode from the bottom of your lunge jump so you can get just enough air to switch your stance.

You'll land almost at the bottom of the next (alternate) lunge stance.

You're not landing at the very top of the lunge and then going down...

You're landing "in the middle" of the alternate lunge. Low enough so you can get a pulse for the next explosion.

Lunge Jump Modification

Lunge jumps are awesome. They burn out your legs in such a unique - hardcore - way...

But like I said... jumping is dangerous. So a great alternative are:

Fast Lunges

Step 1

Start in the bottom of a lunge... just like you would when starting the lunge jump.

Plant your front leg hard into the ground.

Step 2

Keep your front leg bent at close to 90 degrees. It's going to stay here the entire time.

Your back legs is going to come up and tap the ground next to your front leg... and then you'll return it straight back to the lunge position.

This is a very FAST movement and the front leg is going to take all the work.

For this workout:

Do all the reps on one leg
Start the workout on your weak leg
Alternate from here

Do You Want To Workout - Train - And Get Coaching With & By Me?

Are you going to do this workout?

It's seems very easy on paper... or on the board... but it's a brutal test of your legs.

What I loved about it was how the flutter kicks brought very little recovery for the legs.

They were always getting worked... the pushups brought a little bit of a break... just enough recover to keep pushing hard on the leg exercises.

Tell me what you thought in the YouTube comments because I want to know!

If you enjoyed this workout... imagine how strong and fit you would be if you worked out with me on a regular basis...

You'd be in the greatest shape of your life.

That why you should look into joining Fit Women's Weekly LIVE or Habit.

FWW LIVE is my small group - private - online personal training strength training group.

Members get:

Custom - new - daily workouts
Every workout is initially streamed LIVE with me leading the workout rep for rep
Daily LIVE coaching sessions
Access to me and Dan (my trainer husband) when you need help
Plus the FWW LIVE app for tracking, accountability and motivation