When it comes to non-scale victories, there aren’t many things that are more gratifying than mastering a move you used to think was impossible.
Testing your limits can help you gauge your progress in real-time and see what your body is capable of. Up for the challenge? We’ve gathered 12 of the toughest exercises from the entire BODi catalog. Each of these moves will challenge you in different ways, pushing your strength, mobility, endurance, or agility — or all of the above! — to the max.
See how many of these moves are currently in your fitness wheelhouse and which ones you can conquer next.
1. Roll Jumps
Where you’ll find it: Core de Force
Why it’s challenging: Your first rep of this exercise will feel pretty easy — it’s just a boxing roll followed by a straight jump. But as a 30-second cardio spike, this move will have your legs and lungs burning.
“The exercise itself isn’t what makes this difficult, but the cardio endurance needed to complete all the reps for the specific amount of time is tough!” Lopez says.
Try it:
- Stand in a fighter stance, with your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, hands up by your face, and elbows tucked in.
- With your weight on your right foot, bend your knees slightly and hinge at the waist as you “roll” to the left (as though you’re ducking under an opponent’s punch) and shift your weight to your left foot.
- As you come up from the roll, drive through the balls of your feet into a straight jump. Land in a fighter stance and repeat the move in the opposite direction.
2. Push-Up Lunge Clap
Where you’ll find it: 6 Weeks of the Work
Why it’s challenging: Mastering the perfect push-up takes work. Adding a plyometric element kicks it up a notch. But this move takes it to the next level, requiring explosive strength, flexibility, and coordination.
“In order to perform a plyo push-up, you have to develop much more upper body strength and core strength than it takes to perform a regular push-up,” says Amanda Lopez, CPT, technical fitness advisor at BODi. “Not only that, but you have to have the flexibility and stability to drive your knee and foot through for the lunge.”
Try it:
- Start in a high plank position with your feet on sliders.
- Keeping your elbows tucked toward your body and your head down, lower your torso until your chest is within a few inches of the floor.
- Push up with enough force for your hands to leave the ground. As you push up, bend your left knee and slide your left foot forward to explode into a lunge position. Clap your hands together below your left knee.
- Place your palms on the floor and slide your left leg back to the starting position. Repeat on opposite side.
3. Triple Bear
Where you’ll find it: LIIFT4
Why it’s challenging: “Core strength, core strength, core strength!” Lopez says. You’ll also rely on cardio endurance to crank out as many reps as possible, along with shoulder strength and stability to hold your upper body still — not to mention the mental grit to ignore your screaming quads.
Try it:
- Start on all fours with your arms straight, hands below your shoulders, and knees bent 90 degrees below your hips. Lift your knees two inches off the ground.
- Keeping your back flat and feet together, hop your feet to the left, back to center, to the right, and back to center.
- Repeat for 30 seconds, completing as many reps as possible while maintaining form.
4. Ground to Fighter Stance
Where you’ll find it: Core de Force
Why it’s challenging: Doing a burpee is hard enough as it is, but this exercise adds an extra degree of difficulty. After the push-up, instead of returning to a low squat like you would in a standard burpee, you’ll explode up into a fighter stance.
“This takes strength in order to pop your body up, but also mobility and flexibility in order to get your feet in the fight stance,” Lopez says. “Plus this exercise really spikes the heart rate!”
Try it:
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your knees into a low squat and place your hands on the floor.
- Jump your legs back into a push-up position and lower your body to the floor.
- Push up as you jump your feet forward, landing with one foot slightly in front of the other. Stand up into fighter stance.
- Repeat the movement, this time landing with the opposite foot in front.
5. Split Knee Jump
Where you’ll find it: Morning Meltdown 100
Why it’s challenging: You’ll need power, flexibility, and endurance to make it through a full round of high-flying split knee jumps. “This is just about as max-intensity in an exercise as you can get,” Lopez says. “This is all-around, full-body strength and power, while also needing coordination, mobility, and cardio endurance.”
Try it:
- Start in a standing position. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor, as though you’re doing a squat.
- Jump up, driving your right knee up and your left arm up into a running pose, then land softly with both legs at the same time.
- Repeat the movement with the opposite arm and knee. Complete as many reps as possible.
6. Quarter Turkish Getup
Where you’ll find it: 645
Why it’s challenging: “Nothing takes quite as much shoulder stability and control as having a dumbbell over your head,” Lopez says. You’ll also need “incredible core strength” to move through each step of this exercise while maintaining perfect form and keeping the dumbbell steady, she adds.
Try it:
- Lie on your back with your left knee bent and left foot flat on the floor. Extend your right arm and right leg out to the side at 45 degrees. Hold a dumbbell in your left hand and press it up toward the ceiling.
- Keeping your left arm straight overhead and eyes on the dumbbell, lift your left shoulder off the floor and roll up until you’re supporting yourself on your right forearm, then your right hand.
- Keeping your left arm overhead and eyes on the dumbbell, drive through your left foot and right hand to raise your hips off the floor.
- Slowly reverse the entire movement.
7. Running Clinch Knees
Where you’ll find it: Fire and Flow
Why it’s challenging: You’ll need serious stamina to keep your energy (and your knees) up for the entire interval. “This exercise definitely gets the heart rate up fast and keeps it high for the entire duration of the interval,” Lopez says. “It also takes a bit of coordination to keep going the whole time without getting tripped up.”
Try it:
- Clasp your hands overhead.
- Pull your hands down to your right hip as you drive your right knee upward with a small hop on your left foot.
- Repeat the movement on the opposite side. Continue to alternate sides as quickly as you can while maintaining good form.
8. Resistance X Jumps
Where you’ll find it: Insanity Asylum
Why it’s challenging: X jumps are already tough enough before you add resistance bands into the equation. “Anything plyometric will test your muscular and cardio endurance,” Lopez says. “But here, you have extra resistance — meaning you have to push past that extra barrier in order to extend your limbs into the X position.”
Try it:
- Wrap a resistance loop around your wrists (or hold one end of the loop in each hand), and wrap another loop around your ankles.
- Bend your knees, hinge at the waist, and touch your toes.
- Explode upward, reaching your arms wide overhead and straddling your legs as you jump, so your body creates an ‘X’ shape. Repeat for time.
9. Bulgarian Split Squat Jump
Where you’ll find it: The Master’s Hammer and Chisel
Why it’s challenging: Landing softly (and safely) on one leg requires stability and balance — and your legs will feel like jelly after the first few reps, making it even more difficult.
“This takes a great amount of core strength, leg strength, and lower body power to be able to drive that knee up high without the use of momentum, and then to be able to absorb the landing and not hurt your joints,” Lopez says. “You also may not realize how much the stable leg and foot will burn from trying to maintain balance and stability.”
Try it:
- Stand in front of a bench with your back to the bench. Rest the ball of your left foot on the bench behind you.
- Keeping your back straight, bend your right knee and reach your arms down towards your right foot.
- Keeping the ball of your left foot on the bench, explode off your right leg and pull your right knee up towards your chest. Land softly with a bent knee. Do equal reps on both legs.
10. Burpee Bolt
Where you’ll find it: Morning Meltdown 100
Why it’s challenging: Even basic burpees will push the limits of your cardio and muscular endurance, but this advanced variation will also test your agility.
“You’re adding the ‘bolt,’ which takes even more power, strength, and coordination to get your legs up high enough to create the shape,” Lopez says. “You also need the strength and stability to land your feet softly on the ground.”
Try it:
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your knees into a low squat and place your hands on the floor.
- Jump your legs back into a push-up position.
- Keeping your back flat, jump both feet off the ground at the same time, driving one knee forward toward your chest and shooting the opposite leg straight out behind you.
- Repeat with the opposite leg.
- Jump both feet forward to a low squat, then stand tall.
11. Ted’s Chair (Flying Pigeon)
Where you’ll find it: P90X3
Why it’s challenging: If you’ve ever wished crow pose could be even harder, this challenging pose from the X3 Yoga workout is for you.
“This exercise involves quite a bit: lower body strength and stability, mobility and flexibility, core strength, balance, and full body control,” Lopez says. “If any of these are lacking, it can be hard to perform the exercise, let alone hold it for the allotted time frame.”
Try it:
- Stand tall with your weight on your right foot. Lift your left foot and rest the outside of your left ankle on your right knee. Press your palms together in front of your chest.
- Bend your right knee and sit back into a one-legged chair pose.
- Reach your arms out straight in front of you and shift your weight forward until your hands are resting on the floor in front of your foot. Press the top of your left foot against your right arm to lock your left leg into place.
- Shift your weight to your hands and lift your right leg slowly off the floor, extending it behind you, aligning your shoulders over your fingertips for stability. Hold, then gently lower your right leg back to the floor and release the pose.
12. Four Ball Push-Ups
Where you’ll find it: P90X2
Why it’s challenging: Calling this exercise a “push-up variation” feels like an understatement. Along with strength and stability, you’ll need circus-worthy balance to pull it off.
“This just may be at the top of the difficulty list,” Lopez says. “It’s a full-body burner that takes an incredible amount of upper body strength, lower body strength, and core strength in order to balance on all four balls — and then, on top of that, perform push-ups.”
And while it’s not a cardio exercise, Lopez adds, the full-body engagement will definitely get your heart rate up.
Try it:
- Arrange four small medicine balls in a rectangle, approximately spaced to support your hands and feet while in a high plank position.
- Place your hands on the front two balls, keeping your back flat and shoulders directly above your hands.
- Walk your feet back and place the ball of your right foot on the ball. Keeping your left foot on the floor for balance, adjust the placement of the ball until you’re in a high plank position.
- Keeping your entire body engaged, lift your left foot off the floor and place the ball of your left foot on the fourth ball.
- While maintaining your balance on the four balls, perform a set of push-ups.
