Lower Body Workout at Home with Dumbbells is tough lower body strength workout from Naomi Joy. This one really burned! Naomi manages to hit every muscle in your lower body using all different modalities–resistance loops, ankle weights, dumbbells, a chair or step and body weight. And the intervals are long! Most of the exercises are performed for 60 seconds followed by 15-30 seconds of recovery. Naomi was even burning out during the bodyweight Bulgarian lunge pulses–I was, too! To really fry your legs, on some of the unilateral exercises, Naomi does a weighted exercise for 60 seconds followed by a body weight version for 60 seconds–both on the same leg. By the end of the body weight version (which includes some form of isometric hold), that leg is fried!
This workout is set outdoors on a boardwalk. There is water behind Naomi and a city scape beyond that. During the workout there are boats drifting by behind her but during the stretch the water is calm and relaxing. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down the intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Naomi previews the next exercise. There is another timer in the lower left hand corner of the screen counting down the total workout time, minus the stretch. Naomi shows modifications to a few of the exercises if you do have the equipment. This workout is set to all music, no talking. In addition to the timers there are also little beeps to alert you when an interval begins and ends.
This is an excellent and thorough workout with an equally thorough and feel good stretch at the end. Because this workout is only 48 minutes, I used Heather Robertson‘s 10 Minute Squat Challenge as a finisher. Between the two workouts my lower body was definitely fried!
Lower Body Workout at Home with Dumbbells is 48:06 minutes; 45 second intro, 3 minute warm up and 5:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a step/stool/chair, ankle weights, a resistance loop/booty band, a yoga block and fitness mat. Naomi is using 20 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. I used my high step at 18 inches for the Bulgarian lunges and a chair for the elevated narrow bridge.
Circuit 1: (put resistance loop around calves)
- Out & in (keeping legs wide enough so there is always tension on the loop, perform step out squats: one squat + step out into a wider squat + step back in to narrower squat + step out to wider squat on other side)
- Squat + leg lift (lower loop to ankles; squat and when you stand, lift one leg out to side)
- Repeat #2 on other side of body
- Low squat pulse out (raise loop up again so it is around calves just below knees; lower into squat with legs wide enough so there is tension on the band, hold squat while pulsing knees outward)
- (remove resistance loop) Deadlifts (35# DBs)
- Sumo squat pulse (lower to bottom of sumo squat and pulse 3x) (one 55# DB)
- Repeat #5 & 6
- Elevated narrow bridge for 3 minutes (lay on back with heels on chair/step/stool, yoga block held between knees, raise and lower hips, squeezing yoga block for 30 seconds; pulse at top of lift for 30 seconds; continue alternating these two variations for 3 minutes)
- Curtsy lunge (20# DBs)
- Low body weight curtsy (lower into a single leg squat, other leg alternates tapping behind you in lunge then tapping to the side in cross-back/curtsy lunge)
- Repeat #9 & 10 on other side of body
- Repeat #9-11
- Balance lunge (Bulgarian lunge–lunges with back leg elevated on step/stool/chair) (20# DBs)
- Body weight pulse (same position as #13 but with no DBs, hold at bottom of lunge and pulse)
- Repeat #13 & 14
- Repeat #13-15
- (put on ankle weights) Inner thigh lift for 2 minutes (lay on one hip and forearm, back leg is bent with foot on ground, bottom leg is extended straight, lift and lower straight leg for 30 seconds; keep leg lifted and draw small circles with leg for 30 seconds; continue circling leg but reverse direction for 30 seconds; keep leg raised isometrically and pulse leg upward for 30 seconds)
- Repeat #17 on other side of body
For more info on Naomi Joy Fitness and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
