Good Vibes Workout Day 10: Back, Butt, and Arms

From Self Magazine-By Christa Sgobba, C.P.T.

There’s a brand-new move here that’ll light up your glutes.

The workout below is for Day 10 of the Good Vibes Workout, a four-week workout plan. It’s pretty great on its own, but you can also check out the full program right here or browse the calendar here. If you’d like to sign up to receive daily emails of these workouts, you can do that here.

We hope you’re feeling loose and limber after yesterday’s yoga routine! For today’s workout, we’ll be using that extra mobility to help go through the full range of motion for each of these strength-focused moves, which will help you make the most out of each exercise.

Monday’s routine was big on jumping and cardio, but today’s workout is going to be lower impact and more strength-focused: You’ll do traditional strength exercises, with a couple variations to make the whole workout more fun.

There are just four exercises in your circuit, but they’ll hit nearly every muscle in your body. The push-up works the front side of your body, including your pectoral muscles and your triceps, while the bodyweight lat pull-down targets muscles in the back of your body, like your lats and rhomboids. The frogger (a modification of the burpee) pretty much works your entire body—from shoulders to core to glutes—and brings an extra cardio boost too.

We also want to take a minute to shine some light on a new exercise here: the reverse lunge to step through. You’ve probably noticed that there are several reverse lunge variations throughout this program. Why? The reverse lunge is a great unilateral strengthening exercise, meaning it helps you build balanced strength across both sides of your body. It’s also more knee-friendly than the forward lunge and makes it easier to maintain stability throughout the move.

All this means the reverse lunge is a great base exercise that lends itself to fun twists and variations, which challenge your muscles (and your mind). For instance, the reverse lunge to step through that you’ll do today has an increased range of motion at the end, which ups the challenge to your working glute. Enjoy this tweak and look out for more reverse lunge variations throughout this program!

Want more when your circuit is done? We have a two-minute core finisher on tap. And while it’s two moves back-to-back, you’ll be changing positions for each—from plank position to lying faceup—so it shouldn’t feel too taxing.

Workout Directions

Complete each exercise for your chosen work/rest interval:

30 seconds work, 30 seconds’ rest
40 seconds work, 20 seconds’ rest
50 seconds work, 10 seconds’ rest

After all 5 exercises, rest for 60 seconds. That’s 1 round. Complete 2–5 rounds.

Exercises

Frogger
Reverse Lunge to Step-Through (Left Side)
Bodyweight Lat Pull-Down
Reverse Lunge to Step-Through (Right Side)
Push-Up

Bonus: 2-Minute Core Finisher

After your last round, do the 2 moves below for 30 seconds each, back-to-back, without resting, for 2 minutes total.

Shoulder Tap
Flutter Kick

1. Frogger
- Start in a high-plank position with your palms flat on the floor, shoulders stacked directly above your wrists, legs extended behind you, and your core and glutes engaged.
- Jump your feet forward and land them lightly outside your hands. Lift your chest, drop your butt down so that you’re in the bottom portion of a squat, and lift your hands off the floor.
- Then lean forward again, place your hands back on the floor in between your feet, and jump your feet back out to return to a high plank.
- Continue to move as quickly as possible.
2. Reverse Lunge to Step-Through
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. This is the starting position.
Step back (about 2 feet) with your right foot, landing on the ball of your right foot and keeping your heel off the floor. Bend both knees to create 90-degree angles with your legs. Your chest should be upright and your torso should be leaning slightly forward so that your back is flat and not arched or rounded forward. Your right quad should be parallel to the floor, and your butt and core should be engaged.
Push through the heel of your left foot, bringing your right foot back to center, a few inches in front of your starting position. Tap your right foot on the floor for the step-through. You should feel this in your left glute. This is 1 rep.
Bring your right foot back into a lunge and continue.

3. Bodyweight Lat Pull-Down
- Lie face down on the floor with your arms at shoulder height and elbows bent to 90 degrees, so your shape roughly resembles a goalpost.
- From this position, engage your core and upper back as you lift your shoulders and chest off the floor. Squeeze your glutes and lift your feet off the floor as well. Be mindful to not crunch your lower back as you lift. This move is not about flexibility; it’s a strength move.
- From this lifted position, gaze down toward the floor to keep your neck in a neutral position with your spine. Extend both of your hands overhead (so you’re flying like Superman), then engage your shoulders to pull your arms back to their goalpost position.
- Exhale as you lower everything back to the floor.
- Make it easier: Do not lift your feet off the floor, just focus on your upper body.
4. Push-Up
- Start in a high-plank position with your wrists directly under your shoulders, core engaged, hips level, and legs extended straight behind you.
- Bend your elbows and lower your body to the floor.
- Push through the palms of your hands to straighten your arms.
- Make it easier: Drop to your knees, keeping your core engaged, and do the push-up from this position.
5. Shoulder Tap
- Start in a high-plank position with your feet hip-distance apart.
- Tap your right hand to your left shoulder while engaging your core and glutes to keep your hips as still as possible. (You can widen your feet a little to help with balance.)
- Then do the same with your left hand to your right shoulder. That’s 1 rep.