#167 Fit Tower Cardio Legs is another excellent Fit Tower workout. I wasn’t feeling 100% when I came to this workout this morning (its been a rough weekend) but I still gave it 100% and got an excellent workout that really wore me out and worked my lower body hard. I had some serious muscle burn out several times. Again, I am not sure if the level of my muscle burn out had something to do with the fact I was not at my best but I am pretty sure I would have been burning out at some point, regardless. I also didn’t challenge myself to lift heavier weights but I definitely can in the future. An excellent cardio + strength lower body workout that I will definitely be purchasing via download. Because Cathe is burning out your lower body so much she does give you some nice stretches between rounds.
The first part of this workout consists of lower body cardio blasts (all plyometric) followed by a lower body barre exercise followed by a more traditional lower body strength exercise that uses weights or a fitness loop. The cardio blasts (for me) were pretty high intensity (HIIT level) and my FitBit showed that several times throughout the workout I was in my peak heart rate zone for a short amount of time–I’m sure that was during the cardio bursts. The cardio + strength rounds end at 45:00 and then you are just doing lower body strength exercises–and the real burn out begins! I love my Fit Tower for so many reasons, but one of the big reasons is how they help me feel glute bridges so much more. My glutes and hamstrings are still burning from all the punishment this workout doled out. Most especially from the final glute bridge exercise. My glutes were on fire during this exercise! It was a very appropriate exercise to end this workout with.
I used the fitness loop that came with the Fit Tower for most of the exercises that use the loop, but for one of the exercises you have the loop around your thighs and for me, those plastic loops just don’t do the job properly. I used my EnriQ Booty Band for that. But the plastic loop worked fine for all of the cardio moves. However, you also do some firewalking in this workout and in the future I will also use my EnriQ Booty Band for those since it is more suited for strength work.
I had already created my lower body Top 10 List before doing this workout but now I have to put some serious thought into whether this workout will oust another workout from the list. It was that good. You can do Cathe’s live workouts by subscribing to her streaming site or purchasing the individual downloads. Here is a video clip of this workout.
Fit Tower Cardio Legs is 62:30 minutes; 6 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: Fit Tower, fitness loop (firewalker), 10 and 12 pound dumbbells and mat. Any exercise that is done on one side of the body is immediately repeated on the other side of the body. Additionally, the majority of the plyo cardio moves are repeated on the other side of the tower, even they aren’t a unilateral move.
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar, do plie squat jumps w/ arm pull downs with other arm
- Repeat #1 on other side of tower/body
- Face tower and place hands on bar in front of you, heels together, toes turned out, raise onto toes, bend knees and lower into a shallow barre squat (spine straight) and pulse; lower into deeper barre squat and continue pulsing; changes to partial reps (squat deep, raise halfway, squat deep, raise all the way)
- Wide plie squat walks, 4 steps to each side (Cathe uses 10# DBs; in the future I will use 12# DBs)
- Squat lunge jumps (stand beside tower with one hand on bar, do a wide plie squat then hop to turn towards the bar, landing in a lunge, arm is extended outside when in plie squat then arcs up overhead to tap the bar when in lunge)
- Repeat #5 on other side of tower/body
- Stand beside tower, one hand on bar, lift outside leg straight in front of you with toe pointed and pulse; turn foot out to side (toe still pointed) and continue pulsing
- Repeat #7 on other leg
- Pulsing walking lunges, 3 pulses w/ each lunge, walk/lunge forward 3 steps then pivot into wide plie squat and pulse 4x (Cathe is using 12# DBs)
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar, firewalker loop is around ankles, do wide plie jumps, tapping heels together
- With firewalker loop still around ankles, walk laterally 4 steps to side; add 4 side to side steps at the end of the 4th lateral step; ends with 8 side to side steps (for this one I will use my EnriQ Booty Band in the future)
- Raise firewalker loop up around thighs, face the tower with hands on the bar, legs are together, raise onto toes, lower into barre squat, open knees, close knees and straighten (remain on toes the entire time); remain in squat and pulse; remain in barre squat (on toes) and open and close knees (I used my EnriQ Booty Band for this exercise)
- Face tower with hands on bar, do alternating jump lunges
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar, lift one leg straight out to side of body and pulse leg, outside arm is extended out to side and circles every 4th leg pulse; arm changes to circling after every 2nd leg pulse
- Face tower, raise one leg behind you with knee bent, holding one 12# DB in same side hand, other hand is on the bar, lower into a single leg squat and pulse; changes to lowering to squat, raise halfway, lower back into squat then stand; changes to partial (halfway) squats only
- Repeat #15 on other leg but it ends with 15 pulses
- Put firewalker loop around ankles and do jumping jacks; changes to scissor jacks
- Firewalker is still around ankles, face tower with hands on bar, bend one knee, put the band around the sole of foot and push the leg/band out behind you; changes to raising and lowering foot, pulling up on the band (keep knees together); alternate the two moves–one lift + one push
- Single leg deadlifts to various tempos (Cathe is using 10# DBs; I will use 15# DBs in the future)
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar and do plie squat jacks, with criss-cross hops at top of jack
- Stand facing tower with hands on bar, one foot is in front of the other, feet are situated so the heel of one is close to the insole of the other, raise onto toes, do pulsing barre squats in this position, first shallow then deeper
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar and holding one 10# DB in the other hand, pulsing curtsy lunges; changes to single curtsy lunges; changes to singles alternated with pulses (in the future I will use one 15# DB)
- Stand beside tower with one hand on bar, lift one bent leg out to side in hydrant and pulse; changes to pulsing 4x as you move your leg to the front then 4x as you move it back behind you
- Face tower with hands on bar, raise and lower heels; cross one foot behind other ankle and continue to raise and lower heel of working leg; heels together, toes turned out, continue raising and lowering heels; toes together and heels turned out, continue to raise and lower heels
- (lower bar to level 3) Lower to one knee beside tower, same side elbow on bar, other leg is extended out straight to side with toe pointed, raise and lower straight leg; continue raising and lowering leg with foot flexed; changes to bending knee and pushing flexed foot out to side; add raising and lowering leg while continuing to bend knee and press flexed foot out
- (lower bar to level 1) Lay on back with feet on bar, hands grasping the base of the tower beside you, do bridges, raising and lower hips; changes to keeping hips raised at top of bridge and pulse hips; raise one leg to ceiling while continuing to pulse hips up
