Booty Builder: Lower Body Strength Workout // Day 9 HR12WEEK 2.0

Booty Builder: Lower Body Strength Workout is Day 9 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. This was a tough metabolic lower body strength workout! I chalk that entirely up to the interval times. You only get 10 seconds of rest between intervals and it gets brutal. Circuit 2 and Circuit 4 especially kicked my butt due to the exercise sequencing. I got some intense cardio along with my strength work this morning. According to my FitBit I spent the majority of the workout after Circuit 1 in my cardio zone and a total of 7 minutes in my peak heart rate zone! Intense workout! Since it is only 44 minutes I rounded out my hour by doing Naomi Joy‘s Quick Burn Inner Thigh Workout, which isn’t a big calorie burner (though it will fry your inner thigh muscles!). Between the two workouts I burned a total of 364 calories. Again–the majority of that was during this workout!

This workout has 4 circuits, each containing 5 exercises. Each circuit is done 2 times before you move on to the next circuit. The exercises are all done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 10 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. Heather shows a low impact versions of some (but not all) of the exercises that have impact.

Booty Builder: Lower Body Strength Workout is 44:08 minutes; 4 minute warm up and 5:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 10, 15 and 25 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Stiff leg deadlift (35# DBs)
2. Single leg bridge (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, one heavy DB on hips, raise one leg and keep it raised throughout interval while raising and lowering hips) (one 40# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other side of body
4. Glute bridge (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, one heavy DB on hips, raise and lower hips) (one 40# DB)
5. Bridge pulse (same position as #4 but remove DB, keep hips raised at top of bridge and pulse hips upward)
6. Repeat #1-5

Circuit 2:

1. Side lunges (alternate sides while holding one DB goblet style) (one 30# DB)
2. Curtsy & squat (one curtsy lunge + one narrow squat, alternate sides when lunging, still holding one DB goblet style) (one 30# DB)
3. Side leg lift (in modified straight arm side plank (on one hand and one knee) with top arm raised to ceiling and top leg extended straight, raise and lower straight top leg)
4. Repeat #3 on other leg
5. Heel clicks (squat jump, at top of jump click heels together)
6. Repeat #1-5

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Single leg deadlift (when you hinge forward into deadlift, raise non-working leg straight behind you) (one 30# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other leg
3. Deadlift & lunge (one deadlift + one reverse lunge, alternate legs when lunging) (20# DBs)
4. Sumo deadlift (deadlift with leg wide and toes turned out) (one 50# DB)
5. Butt kicks (butt kick run)
6. Repeat #1-5

Circuit 4:

1. Kneeling squat (in high double kneeling with knees wide, DBs on shoulders, lower glutes to heels then raise back up to high double kneeling) (25# DBs)
2. Stand up & drive (start in high double kneeling on mat holding one DB in both hands and arms/DB extended straight overhead, step one foot forward into kneeling lunge and when you raise back leg to come to standing, pull knee forward and bring DB down to knee, raise DB back overhead and reverse motion, returning to high double kneeling) (one 15# DB)
3. Repeat #2 on other side of body
4. Sumo squat (one 50# DB)
5. Side lunge hops (alternating side lunges, shuffle-hop when changing sides)
6. 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.