Shaped By COVID-19: Compass Fitness’ At-Home Workout

Editor’s Note: “Shaped By COVID” is a weekly series designed to help you stay active while you’re homebound with workouts from some of Denver’s leading fitness and wellness professionals. Got a fitness tip or favorite studio? Email us at digital@5280.com.

The gym: Compass Fitness
Year founded: 2018
The trainer: Heather Harrington, co-founder and lead instructor
Favorite COVID-appropriate rest day activity: Hanging with my daughter, Quinn, taking walks around the block with the dog, and doing puzzles.

Compass Fitness was founded on the premise that your fitness journey should change. “We believe it should go different directions,” says Heather Harrington, co-founder and lead instructor. “You shouldn’t be doing one thing all the time.” Pre-COVID, that meant a variety of classes from cardio blasts like “Hustle + Flow” to strength sessions like “Down + Dirty.” Now that the coronavirus crisis has the two-year-old fitness studio’s South Broadway facility shut down, Compass is leading live daily workouts for its members via Facebook Live; if you’re not already a member, you can sign up to try a few for free.

In the evenings, the studio will host 15-minute wellness sessions that might include a nutrition discussion or a simple yoga workout. The sessions reflect the focus of what will be Compass’ second location, Compass Wellness, a center for all things health and fitness (think: things like low-impact VersaClimbers, Barre classes, hydration therapy, and physical therapy all in one place) that was slated to open in June. That debut is up in the air, of course, as are so many other things. But in the meantime, Harrington has put together this butt-kicking (literally) full-body workout that requires nothing more than a little motivation to help you get moving in the right direction.

Workout Type: HIIT
Muscle Focus: Quads, glutes
Duration: About 70 minutes, with warm-up and cool down

Warm up: Spend a couple of minutes doing stretches that feel good. Some suggestions: Downward dog walkout to upward-facing dog, runner lunges, and passive squat hip openers.

Workout: You have the option to use reps or a timer for this workout. Pick what works best for you. If you have weights, use them. If you don’t, use body weight.

For Sets 1 and 2: Do all six exercises without resting between them. Repeat four times, alternating legs/sides for the strength blocks; rest for 15 seconds at the end of every full round. If this feels like too much, take breaks as you need (but still push yourself!) or reduce the time or number of reps until you’ve built up to the full workout.

1. Set 1
   Strength Block
   Single leg deadlift to squat, 25 reps or 90 seconds
   Reverse lunge to curtsy lunge, 25 reps or 90 seconds
   Lateral lunge to front kick, 25 reps or 90 seconds
   Cardio Block
   Squat jacks, 60 reps or 60 seconds
   Skaters, 45 reps or 45 seconds
   High knees, 30 reps or 30 seconds
   Rest one minute
2. Set 2
   Strength Block
   Single leg bridge lift, 50 reps or 90 seconds
   Sprinter sit-up, 50 reps or 90 seconds
   Side plank hip dip, 50 reps or 90 seconds
   Cardio Block
   Burpees, 30 reps or 60 seconds
   Mountain climbers, 50 reps or 45 seconds
   Split lunge hops, 20 reps or 30 seconds
   Rest one minute
3. Set 3 (finisher): An eight-minute, every minute on the minute (EMOM*) round.
   Eight push-ups
   16 star jacks
   *EMOM translated: At the beginning of every minute do the exercises, then use whatever time in the minute is left to rest. At the start of the next minute, do it again. Repeat for the specified number of minutes.

Cool down: Take a knee hug to the chest, then bring your heel to your glute to stretch the quad. End with a figure-four squat to stretch out the hip. Release into a forward fold and walk out to a plank position for some up dog love. Walk it back and repeat on other side.

This story is part of The Stay Inside Guide to Denver. For more ideas on enjoying the Mile High City from home, click here.