Hi friends!

You guys, I have been busy pouring my heart & soul into this round’s Boot Camp program, and while it’s hard work, I absolutely love it at the same time. There’s something about designing a program for a mass of people, rather than just 1 or a small group. With many of you signed up already, and with each additional person who signs up, I feel like I just can’t let you down! I’ve been adding in some extras that weren’t included in Round 1 back in May, and I think you’re going to like them

I’m in the thick of designing all of the workouts for you right now, and with the third week of programming comes the addition of everyone’s favorite…(dun, dun, dun)….FINISHERS!

What is a workout finisher?

A finisher is an exercise of series of exercises done at the end of a workout, usually lasting anywhere from 4 minute-15 minutes (15 being on the long side,) that literally finish you and your workout. They’re typically metabolic in nature because the goal is to leave you feeling sufficiently smoked (but they shouldn’t exhausted to the point of not feeling energized after your workout.)

Picture from Blend ‘14 after a finisher Lindsay and I did!

They typically don’t include a long list of equipment, and not include too much thinking or technicality, because hey, they’re at the end of your workout! You’re likely already somewhat fatigued.

How do you set up a finisher?

The criteria for finishers is really dependent on what was done during your workout that day, and what your goals are. For my clients, if they have a strength workout that’s pretty metabolic anyway, I won’t program their finisher to be as intense. On the same note, if you did a BUNCH of glute-dominant exercises, and your glutes are pretty smoked, I probably won’t have them do a bunch of jumping exercises, or even more exercises that smoke the glutes. Or, I might just do that, depending on their programming. ha! Short answer: it all depends (like most things.)

To put it plainly, designing a finisher is just another component of writing a workout program, and should be done so safely and efficiently.

Build Your Own Workout Finisher

The program design of one of my favorite forms of finishers is the one I’m going to share with you today. I wanted to share it with you for 2 reasons a) to give you a little snippet of what just one of the boot camp finishers will look like and b) it’s a pretty safe bet that this type of finisher can be done after most types of strength workouts.

For my Online Boot Camp, I’m including a build-your-own-workout-finisher tool/template, with all of the tools the participants need to build your own finisher. Of course, I’ll supply a suggested finisher, but I thought it’d be a fun template for everyone to have in case they wanted to switch it up – or use it in the future for their own workouts.

While I can’t share the entire tool with the entire list of exercises in each category with you, I wanted to share a sample workout from it.

I call this type of finisher the Plane of Motion Workout Finisher, because I split the exercises into 4 categories: the 3 planes of motion + a prone exercise; and then plug in the corresponding exercise (or two) for each category. As I mentioned above, this type of finisher is pretty versatile, because it covers all planes of movements, so it’s balanced!

First, a quick description on the categories:

1. Frontal Plane: Movement from side to side, like a lateral raise

2. Sagittal Plane: Movement forward and backward, like a front raise

3. Transverse Plane: Movement in a rotational or twisting direction

4. Prone position (when body is parallel to the ground, like a plank)

So, for this particular finisher, I’ve chosen one exercise from each category, and set them up in an interval-style format. For a slightly longer finisher, or shorter intervals/fewer rounds, I’d usually implement 2 exercises from each category. All right, enough talking – let’s get moving!!

A few notes:

-If done 3 times through, this finisher should take you about 12 minutes. If done 4, 16 minutes.

-Again, this is just one type of finisher among many. Make sure your own finisher makes sense safely and systematically with your workout and workout program.

-If you haven’t signed up for boot camp yet, but want to, you still can here.

1. Skater Jumps: Bring one leg behind the other and lower into a half-squat, hop to the opposite side, propelling off of the front foot each time.

2. Tick Tock Lunges: From a standing position, bring left leg back into a reverse lunge, letting both legs bend to 90 degrees. Push off of the front heel, and step the left leg forward into a forward lunge. Press off of front heel to return to reverse lunge.

3. Side-to-Side Medicine Ball Slams: Hold a medicine ball overhead and laterally turn to the left while using the entire body to throw the ball into the ground. Pick it up in a safe, deadlifting manner, return to start, and explosively throw to the opposite side.

4. Plank Ups: In a high plank position, carefully lower onto your forearms, right and left. Press back up with your right arm and then left into a high plank. Alternate which arm you press up with. Make sure to keep the abs braced, glutes squeezed, and hips square to the ground.

More workout finishers:

Booty Blaster finisher

Kettlebell complex finisher

Dumbbell complex finisher

More finishers on my youtube channel

Do you incorporate finishers into your workouts?

What are some of your favorite finisher exercises? I looooove me some sled pushes.