Legs (& Chest) Day w/ Step & Cardio

Leg (& Chest) Day w/ Step & Cardio was an incredible workout. I loved it! This is the second workout I’ve done by Yvette Bachman and it feels like I am rediscovering Cathe (and Cathe Live) for the first time. I am not implying that she creates Cathe-like workouts. Yvette’s workouts are her own creation and unique. What I mean, is that I am as enamored of these workouts as I was of Cathe’s (and Cathe Live) workouts when I first discovered those.

This is a strength + cardio workout. The first half alternates leg work with cardio and the second half alternates chest work with cardio. I added the “& Chest” to the title since it isn’t present in Yvette’s title but the chest work is definitely present in the workout! This workout not only flew by but it was fun. Seriously fun. And I got some great strength work and cardio. During the workout, I never felt like any of the cardio was HIIT level so I was really surprised when I checked my Fitbit stats afterward and saw that I hit my peak heart rate zone quite a few times during the course of the workout. Apparently I was enjoying myself so much that it just didn’t register mentally! But I was working hard–the strength work especially.

Here is how much I love Yvette’s workouts–before I left for work this morning I perused her workouts again, looking for more that are in the hour time limit (her workouts range from 60-75 minutes) so I could do them on a work morning. A few that I really want to do (including one that is about an hour long) use a bosu ball. I don’t own a bosu ball. I have thought about buying one many times over the past decade but other things always seemed more necessary–heavier dumbbells, more barbell plates, kettlebells, weighted vests, squat rack–etc. Things I would use much more frequently than a bosu ball. And bosu balls are not cheap. Well…. impulse buy this morning! I bought a cheaper version (not bosu brand) just so I can do Yvette’s bosu workouts!

Legs (& Chest) Day w/ Step & Cardio is 57:30 minutes long; 11 minute warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: step @ 10 inches, sliding disks, mat and a variety of heavy dumbbells (Yvette has 15, 20, 25 and 30 pound dumbbells; she also uses 8 and 35 pound dumbbells for chest work). The weights listed below are what I used but I think Yvette used pretty much the same weights, for legs at least.

1. Unweighted pulsing stagger squat (pulse 3x then jump length-wise over step–keep alternating sides; one foot is always on the step when squatting)
2. One foot on step do a 3 count pulsing squat then do a side straight leg raise (with leg not on step); ends w/ just pulsing squats (one 20# DB)
3. Corner to corner step up onto step
4. Repeat #2 on other leg
5. Corner to corner hamstring pulls on step
6. Alternating reverse lunges off step (20# DBs)
7. Side to side jump steps w/ leg lift and arm circles
8. Deadlifts (30# DBs)
9. 3 jogs to side w/ high knee hold
10. Pulsing goblet squats (one 30# DB)
11. Step on step and to side both sides then step w/ knee raise; ends w/ alternating knee raises on step
12. Pulsing plie squats; single plie squats; hold in static plie squat (one 25# DB)
13. Corner to corner heel taps on step (tapping hand to heel behind you as you step up)
14. Reverse lunge off step w/ one arm overhead press when on top of step; ends w/ 4 one arm overhead presses (one 15# DB)
15. Lateral skaters (4 tapping corners of step + 4 w/ arms windmilling overhead)
16. Repeat #14 on other side of body
17. Corner to corner knee raise on step + 3 knee repeater; ends w/ all single knee corner to corner knee raises
18. Reverse slide back lunges raising arms overhead; hinge forward and slide same leg in and out faster
19. Russian twists sitting on step w/ feet raised off floor
20. Repeat #18 on other leg
21. “Superwomans”–alternate raising one leg behind you while leaning forward slightly and raising arms overhead
22. Glider climbers (sliding mountain climbers)

Lower your step to 8 inches and place fitness mat on bench. You are now doing chest work + cardio. For the first 4 sets of chest presses you do 5-8 reps–so you need heavy weights. Yvette is using 35 pound dumbbells. Yvette counts to 8 for reps but she isn’t able to do 8 reps each set of chest press (sets 1 & 2 she gets 8 reps, but set 3 & 4 she only gets 7 reps). For the final/5th set of chest presses Yvette tells you to lift 5 pounds lighter because you are lifting to failure. I started with 35 pound dumbbells but I actually had a problem getting the dumbbells overhead–once I was in position I was able to do the chest presses with 35 pounds. But by the 3rd set, I was really struggling just to get into position so I dropped to 30 pounds. I still felt them but when we did the failure set, I could have kept going with 25 pounds when Yvette stopped which tells me it was too light (I didn’t fail). My solution to this is next time I do this workout I will do the chest presses with my bench, barbell and rack rather than the step and dumbbells. I know I can bench a 70 pound barbell (thank you STS!) so I will do my 5-8 rep chest presses using bench and rack, and for the failure set I will use my 30 pound dumbbells.

1. Chest press (35# DBs)
2. Burpee w/ plank jack + 2 standing jacks (hands on step for burpee)
3. Repeat #1
4. Burpee + jump wide on top of step and pulse squat 3x  (hands on step for burpee); ends w/ just pulse squats
5. Repeat #1 (dropped to 30# DBs)
6. Insole steps corner to corner
7. Repeat #1
8. Basic step + 2 jacks pushing DB overhead; ends w/ all jacks (one 8# DB)
9. Straight arm front raises w/ palms facing ceiling and coming together in front of chest (8# DBs)
10. Basic step; changes to “helicopter”–knee raise on side of step, do 3 pulsing steps back plus another knee raise–alternate sides
11. Chest press to failure (25# DBs)
12. Mambo on step; add squat jump; ends w/ deep pulsing squats
13. Push legs in and out while sitting on step
14. Repeat #12 on other side of body
15. Chest fly, 12-15 reps (20# DBs)

For more info on Yvette Bachman and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.