Bum Bum Live Workout

This thirty minute workout is conducted in Leandro Carvalho’s NYC studio, which is a large, airy space with huge windows and light oak floors. He’s there with one helper, an incredibly athletic and toned young lady called Marlene, and together they walk you through the twenty four minute workout and six minute stretch. This workout is different from the others in that there’s no infectious music, no coordinated group of workout crew, but rather just one camera, Leandro and Marlene, so that it feels exactly like a private workout, intense and personal and private.

The workout is an intense combination of lunges, curtseys, squats and leg raises, with Leandro combining them all and putting them through interesting variations. You’re guaranteed to break a sweat, and the focus on your core, hamstrings, glutes and quads will leave you burning in all the right places. So I’m going to run through the major moves so as to give you an idea what you’re in for, and the wrap it up with the final cool down stretch. Leandro doesn’t name a lot of these moves, so I’ve come up with my own monikers-don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear them called by these names!

Side Lunges

Start with feet at greater than shoulder width, and then fall to one side, into a deep lunge, both hands on the knees, back straight. All the way down, long back, and then up and down on the other side. Vary it after a few reps by opening your arms when you descend into the lunge, opening to the side, reach them to the front, back to knees, and then up and switch. The next variation is to touch outside your lunging foot with the opposite hand for a couple of bounces, and then extending the other arm up and toward the ceiling. Increase the tempo until you’re doing ‘singles’, which are single touches to the floor, other arm rotating up and to the ceiling for about 16 counts.

Monkey Squats

Feet now shoulder width, lower into a squat, knees above your toes, lower your fingers to touch the ground, and then slowly lower your booty into a crouch, then up to straight legs, fingers touching the floor at all times. Do this for a number of counts, and then increase the tempo. Then, after the fast part, stop your butt in the middle, level with your knees, and do a series of short bounces/pulses. Then raise one heel of the ground and repeat the pulses, and then switch legs.

Greet the Sun

Feet together, arms up and wide as if saluting the sky, chin high, and then step sideways into a squat, arms coming down to rotate all the way down and parallel to the floor. Up again, and then step into a squat on the other side.

Leg Raises
Arms extended out to the sides for balance, lift one leg and raise it to the side, then back diagonal, then out behind you, and then drop into a squat. Come back up, balance, and do the other leg. You’re working three angles-sideways, diagonal and backward, and finishing it off with a squat.

Curtsey Madness

Legs shoulder width, focusing on keeping your hips and shoulders square, lift your arms so that fingers touch above your head, cross one heel behind the other, and then extend it out and further back, and then once again so that you’re in a deep, deep curtsey. Arms descend to half way, diagonal down, and then touch on the final, deepest curtsey lunge. Back up, arms above your head once more, and then do the other leg. Crossing the back heel ever deeper and further back with each rep. Variation will include increasing tempo and going right into the deepest lunge without the intervening phases. Finally you will do the deep pulses with your leg all the way back, arms out to the sides.

4 Point Lunge

Lift knee, balance on one foot, arms above your head, and then fall forward into a forward lunge, hands on your knees. Back up, and then down into a side lunge, hands on knees, then back up and into a reverse lunge, and then finally back up and down into a reverse lunge (like the curtsey from the first move). Forward, side, back, and reverse. Increase the temp

Jumping Lunges

This one is simple. Go into a deep lunge, and then bounce up, jumping and falling down into an opposite lunge. You jump, pulse down twice, jump again, and then in the variation you jump without the pulses.

[Water break: As Leandro says, always drink some water between exercises, which will feel good after those big jumps!]

Calf Squats

Feet shoulder width, down into a squat, hands on knees, and then rise up onto your tiptoes, reaching high as if trying to put a box on a high shelf. Move your weight from heels to toes, rocking back and forth as you go. The first variation is to lower your fingertips to the ground, and then all the way back up, feet slightly wider apart. The next variation includes a little jump when you reach up as if blocking a volley ball spike at the net.

Stretch

The stretching is a six minute segment that is done on your back, and for this you’ll need a yoga matt. The stretches are classics, but Leandro carefully and clearly helps you get the most out of all of them, from hamstring to spine twists, from ankle rotations. Be sure to not skip this part-completing these stretches will relax your muscles, and help you be in great shape for your next workout. And there you have it–and intense example of the Brazilian Butt Lift workouts!

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