Total Body Strength Plus starts with a pair of dumbbells in your hands, and it starts with the pattern every card in the program follows. Six exercises - 12 thrusters, 12 calf raises, 12 reverse lunges, 12 plank rotations, 6+ push-ups and 12 renegade rows - done in order, one after another, and that is one set. Rest 2 minutes, then repeat. Level I is 3 sets, Level II is 4, Level III is 5, and the level is yours to choose each day. Where a count reads "6+", six is the minimum - do at least that every set and take it toward 12 when you can. Every number is a total: 12 reverse lunges is 6 per leg, 12 renegade rows is 6 per arm. Pick dumbbells you can hold overhead for 12 clean thrusters; if that means lighter than you expected, that is the right pair.
Thrusters are the day's biggest movement: dumbbells racked at the shoulders, squat down, and drive up so hard the weights press straight overhead as you stand, then lower them back to the shoulders and squat again - legs and shoulders in one rep. Calf raises rise onto the balls of the feet with the dumbbells hanging at the sides. Reverse lunges step back and drop the rear knee with the weights held low. Then the floor: plank rotations turn a plank into a side plank with the top arm reaching up, push-ups lower the chest to the floor and press it away, and renegade rows finish - a plank with each hand gripping a dumbbell on the floor, one weight rowed up to the ribs while the other arm and both feet keep the body still, then the other side. Legs with load, then three exercises on the hands, the last of them holding you up on a dumbbell.
In thrusters, the squat is a real squat - hips below the knees if you can - and the press finishes with straight arms and the weights over the shoulders, not in front of the face. Calf raises full range. Reverse lunges torso tall, front knee over the foot. Plank rotations turn as one piece. Push-ups full range, body in one line. In renegade rows, set the feet wide, keep the hips square to the floor, and row the elbow up past the ribs - if the hips twist toward the rowing side, widen the feet before you lighten the weight.
Weights racked, weights pressed, weights rowed - Day 1 puts the dumbbells to work in every position they will hold for the next month.
Make it Harder: Add a two-count pause with the dumbbells locked out overhead at the top of every thruster.
Make it Easier: Lighter dumbbells for the thrusters, renegade rows from the knees, and Level I.
