Review: 21 Day Fix, Total Body Cardio Fix

21 Day Fix Review: Total Body Cardio Fix

       Hey gang! Raven here, and today I'll be reviewing the "Total Body Cardio Fix" from the 21 Day Fix set of workouts. Essentially, if you are following this program, you should be accomplishing TBC a minimum of 3x in your 21 days, but if you are doing doubles you could wind up pushing play on this particular workout  six full times throughout your 21 days.

            I won't lie to you, this is one of the absolute toughest workouts of the week and there's a reason Autumn gives it to us on Day 1. You start with one of the hardest moves as well: surrenders. Surrenders scared me at first, as I had previously been injured and I wasn't sure if I could handle going down and up on my knees like that. I started out slow, with no weights. Now, surrenders are actually one of my favorite butt-burning and quad-building moves, and I'm curious to see how much weight I'll be able to lift in the future with this one. Currently I'm loading two 5lb weights for them. I won't even get into the irony of the fact that on day one, exercise one, we literally are 'surrendering' to this process, to the program, to Autumn, and to our willpower. This is Jedi type mojo, friends. May the force be with you!

            So after surrenders, we jump right into shuffle squats, which I still can't manage to do for a full minute without switching to the modifier. No shame in it just keep moving through the drop set! Not my favorite, but not my worst enemy either. From there we go into squat to woodchop - probably my third favorite move of this session, and one of the lesser challenging as far as stamina goes. I use a five lb weight for these but want to see an increase there as well. Then we have my absolute least favorite exercise of the day - cross country skiers. They are weighted and I can only manage with a 3lb and even then I struggle to keep going and have to modify. These are essentially split jumps and my legs burn out from them long before my shoulders do.

            From there, more weighted cardio. Jogging in place with weights, for this I also used the 3 lb today and it was a struggle/had to modify. Annnnd then the next move...MORE weighted cardio? C'mon Autumn. You're killin me smalls. This time weighted knee pulls which are really tough but I actually love them. They set my entire leg on fire, shoulders, and abs. Even though I wheeze and pant my way through them, they are fun to me. I use 5s for these, because they are a little less on the impact. Then we come down on the floor, and we do another fave move, frog crunches. These are my second favorites after surrenders because they are fun to do and its cool to see how low you can bring your legs to work the lower abs. After frog crunches come side crunches, and then you stretch it all back out.

            As I stated at the beginning of my review, cardio is one of the toughest of the week (at least in my humble opinion) and is definitely a workout that I have yet to master. I do like it, though, as it's a challenge for me and as they say what does not challenge you is not going to change you! Can it be done if you are a beginner? Yes. (Think modifier). Can it be a challenge if you are advanced? Yes! (Think increase in weights). The Total Body cardio is interesting because it utilizes weight lifting to increase the heart rate and burn calories, and many of the moves trigger multiple muscle groups so you get a seriously effective workout every time. Four and a half stars, and that negative 1/2 point is only because of the shift from xcountry to jogging, there could have been a bit of a break in there for the ol' ticker!  All in all a great 30 minute cardio extravaganza!  Have you tried Total Body Cardio? What did you think?! Read this and want to try it? Tell me why! Please share your thoughts in the comments below, and Shine on!