Power Sculpt is one of two strength training workouts in Core De Force – the mixed martial arts program developed by Beachbody.  It contains more cardio moves than Dynamic Strength, so you really get your heart rate up throughout the workout.

Power Sculpt

• Length:  37 minutes.
• Number of Rounds: 9.
• Equipment:  None.
• Description:  A total-body burner designed to sculpt lean muscle and build next-level endurance with explosive power and interval training.

Format:  There are 9 rounds.  With all Core De Force workouts, a “round” is 3 minutes long, like a boxing round.  However, unlike the workouts that start with “MMA,” the format for a round is a little different for Power Sculpt, as it is more similar to the format of Dynamic Strength.  There are three moves in each round – the first move is considered to be the easiest and performed for 1 minute; the second move is a little more difficult and performed for 45 seconds; and the final move is considered to be the hardest and performed for only 30 seconds.  You will typically see one variation of a push-up, one leg move, and one move that focuses on the core and/or balance.  There are 4 original rounds; after you do them, you start from the top.  There is a final 9th burnout round with no breaks.

Warm Up:  A short warm-up of the following moves:  pulse side-to-side with a chest opener, pulse side-to-side with shoulder rolls, jumping jacks, alternating windmills to warm up the hamstrings, hip rolls, and a torso rotation.

Round 1 and 5:

1. Hip Drive Throughs.  I need to do a video to describe this one sometime.  Basically, you start in a seated position, then roll onto your back, raising your legs and hips into the sky, then rolling forward into a kneeling fight stance.  This one’s fun, and a great first move to get the blood flowing!

2.  Jumping Firefly.  Crouching push-ups with an oblique knee.  ROUGH!

3.  Half Monkey to Guard.  These are similar to gorilla crawls from 22-Minute Hard Corps, but a little easier, as you’re only doing one rep from side to side, and you stay a little higher in the squat.

Round 2 and 6:

1.  Switch Roundhouse Kick.

2.  Ground-to-Fighter Stance.  One of my favorite moves!  Start from a fight stance.  Drop to the ground into a plank, then let your entire chest hit the floor, then spring back up into fighter stance.  Here’s a short video to demonstrate this one:

3.  Low Stance Switch.  Start in a squat position.  Jump your feet so that you’re twisting through your core, and one foot alternates being slightly forward. Return to squat position.  Alternate.

Round 3 and 7:

1.  Ginga Hop.  Ginga lunge, then jump laterally into a lunge on the other side.

2.  Alternating Clinch Knee.  This is one of the big cardio moves of the workout, performed for 45 seconds!  Lean forward to grab your imaginary opponent’s head, then lean back as you knee it!  Go as fast as you can while maintaining good form.  Here’s a short video to show you the move:

3.  Triple Alligator Push-ups.  This one is strength and cardio combined!  Start in a low spider lunge, do three push-ups, then do a plyometric switch to change positions. Brutal!

Round 4 and 8:

1.  Roll Jumps.  Roll back, jump; roll front, jump.  Easy?  Jump higher!

2.  Plank Skaters.  Start in a bear stance.  Move your right leg over your left so that it’s diagonally behind your body.  Return to bear stance.  Switch sides.  I like to add a hop in between to make it a little harder.

3.  Superman Push-ups.  Push-up with an alternating arms and leg raise at the top of the move.  Here’s a short video to show you the move:

Round 9:

1.  Reverse Lunge, Clinch Knees.  Basically lunges with alternating knees.  30 seconds on each side.  Jericho modifies the move to make it more difficult by adding a hop with the clinch knee.

2. Push-up, Leg Check.  Push-up with an alternating leg check.  One minute. OMG.

3.  Guarded Squat to Squat Jump.  Squat to a jump.  Demonstrated in this video:

Cooldown:  There’s a short cooldown (around 2 minutes) with the following moves:  Hip flexor to calf stretch with a shoulder stretch, quad stretch, hamstring stretch, upper back stretch, chest opener stretch.

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The verdict?  This is one of two strength training exercises from the program, and it’s definitely a bit harder than Dynamic Strength.  The bursts of cardio between some of the lower impact strength moves keeps your heart rate up throughout the duration of the workout.  A lot of the moves in this workout are just, quite simply, FUN.  The hip drive throughs, for example, just make me feel like I’m a kid rolling around!

Interested in Core De Force?  You have a couple of options to buy it.  You can get a challenge pack that comes with Shakeology, or a performance pack that comes with two of my favorite performance supplements – Energize and Recover.  You can also check out the base kit or deluxe kit.

Need support?  It just so happens that I coach people through at-home fitness programs, like Core De Force!  So, if you order the program through one of the links on this site, I’ll be happy to work with you to help you stay on track and plug you into one of my online accountability groups!

Have questions?  Comment below or send me an email at distilledjill@gmail.com!