Wow–what a workout! I always expect to get a great workout with Heather Robertson but she outdid herself with this workout. Even she was struggling! Low Impact // Strength & Cardio Workout is total body metabolic strength workout. I actually hesitate to say total body because there is no upper/mid back work. You do hit your low back with deadlifts, but that is it for back. Still, she hit every other muscle group nicely, along with giving you some intense low impact cardio. Low impact in this workout definitely does not mean low intensity! Heather has several short strength workouts that target the back (4 that I can have reviewed–one 11 minute, two 13 minute and one 21 minute). Tack one on to the end of this workout as a finisher and you will have a total body workout. I was working hard from the very first exercise. This workout contains a few new exercises that I haven’t seen before in any of Heather’s workouts that I’ve done (and I’ve done a lot of her workouts) but I could be forgetting. Still, if she has used them, she doesn’t use them very often and they were hard. I miscalculated how heavy I could lift on more than one exercise. I do note the weights I used in the breakdown below but they are what I used the second time through the circuit. The first time through I struggled on a few of the exercises so when the exercise was repeated, I chose a lighter, more reasonable weight!
Low Impact // Strength & Cardio Workout is 36:29 minutes; 2:30 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 5 and 10 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. This workout is comprised of 3 circuits of 5 exercises and each circuit is done twice. The exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. During the recovery Heather previews your next exercise.
Circuit 1:
- Squat & raise (squat and as you lower into squat, do a straight arm front raise, lower arms as you stand) (5# DBs)
- Inchworm & push up (start standing at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one push up, walk hands back to feet, stand and raise arms overhead)
- Push press (step out squats with overhead press at top of squat, DBs are at shoulders when squatting, do 3 squat steps to each side) (10# DBs)
- Push back push up (in straight arm plank, do one push up and at top of push up, bend knees and push glutes back to heels–knees remain elevated off mat)
- Step jack (alternate stepping feet out to side in low jack, upper body is holding one DB in both hands, do an overhead press as you step out to side) (one 10# DB)
- Repeat #1-5
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Deadlift & curl (one deadlift and at top of deadlift do one bicep curl) (15# DBs)
- Squat & press (holding one DB in both hands in front of chest, squat, when you stand push DB overhead and do one overhead tricep extension/French press) (one 20# DB)
- One arm swing (holding a DB in each hand, do alternating single arm kettlebell swings) (10# DBs)
- Overhead lunges (with a DB in each hand, arms are extended straight overhead and held there isometrically while you do alternating reverse lunges) (8# DBs)
- Speed skater (hold one DB in both hands, do low impact lateral skaters, bringing DB hip to hip as you “skate”) (one 10# DB)
- Repeat #1-5
30 second rest
Circuit 3:
- Curtsy side lunge (holding one DB goblet style, do one rear curtsy/cross back lunge + one side lunge) (one 20# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other leg
- Sumo & side raise (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, hold a DB in each hand in front of you, do one wide sumo squat and when you stand, arc DBs to sides to overhead then reverse it, lowering DBs to sides and back in front of you) (8# DBs)
- Plank tap combo (hold one DB in each hand and get into straight arm plank, tap one DB to opposite shoulder, repeat on other arm then step one foot out to side and back in, repeat on other leg) (5# DBs)
- Squat & calf raise (stand with legs wide, holding one DB in each hand, squat and tap ends of DBs on the floor then stand, raising onto toes while also raising DBs overhead) (5# DBs)
- Repeat #1-5
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
