Lower Body Strength Workout is Day 2 in Heather Robertson’s Fierce 14 series. This is an intense and effective lower body strength workout. This workout contains 6 circuits; each circuit contains 3 exercises–two strength exercises and one cardio exercise (except for Circuit 2–that circuit is different). The cardio move is usually a plyometric move that also works your lower body, burning out the muscle groups you just worked with dumbbells (contrast training). Since Circuit 2 contains mat based exercises, that circuit uses an isometric pulsing move to burn out the muscle group rather than a plyo/cardio move. Each circuit is done twice before moving on to the next circuit. All of the exercises are all done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Heather previews the next exercise.
Because this is part of Heather’s Fierce 14 series, the object is to increase strength, so challenge yourself with the weights you use. Because this is a cardio + strength workout it is very metabolic–so you are getting a good calorie burn, too. Since it is only 45 minutes, I used one of Heather’s Daily 10 workouts as a finisher (10 Min Booty Band Workout). Overall I got a great lower body workout. According to my FitBit I burned 378 calories between the two workouts.
Lower Body Strength Workout is 45:07 minutes; 3 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Optional: a towel to protect your hips during the glute bridges. Heather is using 15, 25 and 35 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1:
- Goblet squat (one 40# DB)
- Deadlift (35# DBs)
- Jump squat
- Repeat #1-3
Circuit 2:
- Single leg bridge (lay on back on mat, knees bent and feet on floor near glutes, one heavy DB is on hips, raise one leg to ceiling, raise and lower hips/glutes while keeping the leg raised throughout interval) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other side of body
- Bridge pulse (same position as #1 & 2 except both feet remain on floor close to glutes, raise hips to top of lift and pulse hips upward) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1-3
30 second rest
Circuit 3:
- Stationary lunge (static lunges with one DB resting on same side shoulder as front leg) (one 25# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other side of body
- Pop lunges (hop back into reverse lunge then hop feet together, alternate sides when lunging)
- Repeat #1-3
Circuit 4:
- Cossack squat (hold one DB in both hands goblet style, alternating stationary side lunges but the straight leg is rotated so heel is on floor and toe is raised to ceiling when you are in lunge) (one 30# DB)
- Curtsy lunge & squat (alternating curtsy/cross-back lunges with one narrow squat between sides) (18# DBs)
- Side lunge hops (alternating side lunges w/ a hop-shuffle when changing sides)
- Repeat #1-3
30 second rest
Circuit 5:
- Sumo squat (one 50# DB)
- Sumo deadlift (hold one heavy DB in both hands, legs are wide with feet turned out in sumo squat position, hinge forward into deadlift) (one 50# DB)
- Pop Squat (squat jack, touching fingertips to ground when in squat)
- Repeat #1-3
Circuit 6:
- Overhead lunges (alternating reverse lunges while holding one DB overhead in both hands throughout, arms remain straight) (one 15# DB)
- Step squats (hold one DB in both hands goblet style, step out into squat then step feet together when standing, continue step squatting to one side the length of the mat before reversing the direction and step squatting back to start) (one 40# DB)
- Stand up & hop (start in high kneeling on mat, step one foot forward into kneeling lunge, step the other foot forward to meet it so you are now in squat, jump then reverse the motion, stepping one foot back so you are in kneeling lunge and the other leg steps back to meet it so you are back to the starting position of high kneeling)
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
