FLAMING LEGS – Leg Day Workout | EPIC Heat – Day 7

Flaming Legs is Day 7 in Caroline Girvan‘s Epic Heat program. That title is no exaggeration! My legs were on fire! I previewed this video and could tell it would be very challenging but I was optimistic about my weights and had the full selection of heavy dumbbells laid out. I ended up only using my 15 pound dumbbells for the entire workout except Triset 9. For that I used one 25 pound dumbbell. There is a lot of body weight work in this workout but due to the way it is structured (trisets) I still got major muscle burn out. During the finisher at the end, Caroline’s legs are burning out during the sumo squat hops and she had to take a brief personal recovery. She got back at it though and finished it but at the end she basically collapses to her knees. This was an awesome and intense lower body workout.

This workout consists of trisets. The trisets are done for 90 seconds straight–that means 3 exercises are done back to back with no break or rest. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds. At the end of the 90 seconds you get a 30 second recovery. That is, except for Triset 9. For that triset you work for 3:30 minutes with no rest. Brutal. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries, Caroline previews the next triset. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. This workout is set to all music, no verbal cuing. However, there are lots of beeps and on screen graphics to signal you when to change your exercise within the 90 second intervals. There are a few exercises that include impact. For those exercises, Caroline gives a low impact alternative.

Flaming Legs is 40:13 minutes; 2:40 minute intro, no warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a chair or step for Bulgarian lunges. You also need a fitness mat for the stretch at the end. Caroline is using 12.5kg/27.6 pounds dumbbells. I used 15 pound dumbbells for everything except Triset 9. I used one 25 pound dumbbell for that triset. I used Heather Robertson‘s Leg Day Warm Up.

Triset 1:

1. Bulgarian lunges w/ 2 DBs (back leg is on chair or step behind you)
2. Bulgarian lunges w/ 1 DB (hold DB in same side hand as front leg)
3. Bulgarian lunge forward lean (no DBs, hinge torso forward and continue lunging)
4. 30 seconds rest
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

Triset 2:

1. Lateral lunges
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Low alternating lateral lunges (place both DBs on the floor, torso remains low, stationary/static lunge side to side at a brisk pace; this is the “staple” triset that is repeated multiple times in the course of this workout; sometimes when doing it she does it Cossack lunge style-do side/lateral lunges but the straight leg is rotated so heel is on floor and toe is raised to ceiling)
4. 30 second rest

Triset 3:

1. Reverse lunge + squat (hold 2 DBs at shoulders)
2. Staggered squat (single leg squat, 1 DB is held at shoulder of working leg)
3. Bodyweight staggered squat
4. 30 second rest
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

Triset 4:

1. Lateral lunges
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Low alternating lateral lunges
4. 30 second rest

Triset 5:

1. Static lunge jumps (Caroline also shows modification of doing brisk stationery/static body weight lunges)
2. Static/stationary lunges w/ 2 DBs
3. Reverse lunges (no DBs)
4. 30 second rest
5. Repeat #1-4 on other leg

Triset 6:

1. Lateral lunges
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Low alternating lateral lunges
4. 30 second rest

Triset 7:

1. Bulgarian lunge w/ 1 DB (hold DB in same side hand as front leg)
2. Single leg RDL w/ one DB
3. Alternate Bulgarian lunge with single leg RDL (no DBs)
4. 30 second rest
5. Repeat #1-4 on other side of body

Triset 8:

1. Lateral lunges
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Low alternating lateral lunges
4. 30 second rest

Triset 9:

1. Right leg hamstring lifts (lay on back with legs extended and knees slightly bent, heels are in mat, one DB on hips, raise and lower hips/glutes while also raising and lowering left leg)
2. Right leg hamstring hold (same position as #1, but keep hips/glutes and left leg raised isometrically)
3. Repeat #1
4. Repeat #1-3 on other side of body
5. Double hamstring hold (both legs are extended on the mat, knees slightly bent, both heels are pressed into mat, keep hips/glutes raised isometrically)
6. 30 second rest

Triset 10:

1. Lateral lunges
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Low alternating lateral lunges
4. 30 second rest

Finisher: all body weight, each exercise is done for 30 seconds, no breaks

1. Squat to lateral raise (wide squat to side leg raise)
2. Repeat #1 on other side of body
3. Squat walk clockwise (remain in squat and step one foot forward, keeping other leg stationary so you are squat walking in a circle)
4. Squat walk counter-clockwise (swap stationary legs and circle walk in other direction)
5. Sumo pulses
6. Sumo hops (Caroline shows low impact alternative of doing sumo squats)

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