PARADOX Leg Day Workout – Compound Exercises | EPIC Heat – Day 23

Paradox Leg Day Workout is Day 23 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Heat program. Another tough but effective workout from Caroline. I did not enjoy this one as much as some of her other workouts but that did not stop my legs from getting fried! This one contains a staple superset that you do a total of 5 times in the course of the workout. I really enjoyed the staple superset. The supersets in this workout are made up of two exercises that work opposing muscle groups (hence “paradox”)–the quads and the glutes/hamstrings. The staple superset is heel elevated front squats and full range deadlift. Loved that combo. I think the biggest reason I didn’t love this workout was the short recovery time. After working hard 100 minutes non-stop, I felt like a bit more than 20 seconds of recovery was needed. And during the staple exercise I had to have everything set up so that I could quickly swap out my dumbbells since I can use heavier dumbbells for a deadlift than I can use for a squat. Regardless, it is still an excellent lower body workout.

As already mentioned, this is a superset workout that is done interval fashion. Two exercises are done back to back, each for 50 seconds with no rest between, followed by a 20 second recovery. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next superset. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.

Paradox Leg Day Workout is 40:53 minutes; 2 minute intro, no warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or step, a yoga block, a fitness mat and a wall for wall squats. Caroline is using 12.5kg/27.6 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Heel elevated squats (heels are elevated on the yoga block, DBs are held together in front of chest) (25# DBs)
2. Romanian deadlift (35# DBs)
3. 20 second rest
4. Bulgarian quad focused lunge (back leg elevated on chair/step behind you; front leg is closer to the chair and you are lowering as if doing a single leg squat) (one 25# DB)
5. Single leg RDL (back leg is still elevated on the chair/step behind you) (one 25# DB)
6. 20 second rest
7. Repeat #4 & 5 on other side of body
8. 20 second rest
9. Repeat #1 & 2
10. 20 second rest
11. 1/2 staggered squat (holding one DB at same side shoulder of working leg, single leg squat, back/non-working leg is in kickstand, lower all the way into squat but only raise halfway) (one 25# DB)
12. 1/2 rep staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, back/non-working leg in kickstand, lower to bottom of deadlift but only raise halfway) (one 25# DB)
13. 20 second rest
14. Repeat #11 & 12 on other side of body
15. 20 second rest
16. Repeat #1 & 2
17. 20 second rest
18. Forward lunges (15# DBs)
19. Reverse lunges (same leg as #18) (15# DBs)
20. 20 second rest
21. Repeat #18 & 19 on other leg
22. 20 second rest
23. Repeat #1 & 2
24. 20 second rest
25. Squat to RDL (alternate front squat (DBs held in front of you at chest level) with deadlift) (25# DBs)
26. Squat to RDL (body weight, wide deep squat, rather than raising out of squat, raise glutes so you are hinged forward into deadlift then lower glutes back into a deep squat)
27. 20 second rest
28. Repeat #25 & 26
29. 20 second rest
30. Repeat #1 & 2
31. 20 second rest
32. Weighted wall sit (hold wall squat isometrically for 50 seconds with a DB resting on thighs) (one 20# DB)
33. Weighted hamstring hold (lay on back on mat, legs are extended with knees slightly bent, one DB is on hips, with heels pressed into mat, raise glutes and hold isometrically for 50 seconds) (one 25# DB)
34. 20 second rest
35. Repeat #23 & 33
36. 20 second rest

Finisher: (no DBs)

1. Hamstring marches for 60 seconds (lay on back on mat, legs are extended with knees slightly bent, with heels pressed into mat, raise glutes and hold isometrically, alternate raising one foot as if marching)
2. Single leg lift for 20 seconds (same starting position as #1, raise one leg and keep it raised while raising and lower hips by pushing into mat w/ other heel)
3. Repeat #2 on other leg
4. Repeat #1
5. 10 second rest (just enough time to get into position for the next excerise)
6. Heel elevated 1/2 squats for 30 seconds (lower all the way into squat but only raise halfway)
7. Heel elevated full range squats for 30 seconds
8. Repeat #6

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