Killer HIIT Legs Workout is Day 12 of Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. Wow! This was a tough lower body workout! There is a lot going on in this workout. It is a cardio + strength workout and the cardio intervals all double as contrast training. All that means is you pair a strength exercise (usually one using dumbbells or some other type of resistance) with a power exercise (usually a plyometric exercise) that mimics the strength exercise or uses the same muscle groups. It can get intense. I was working very hard in this workout. Because it is just under 43 minutes (and it is a Saturday) I did a finisher workout, so I do not know the total calories I burned in the course of this workout. The finisher I used was Caroline Girvan‘s Lots of Lunges, which is 25 minutes and pretty metabolic. Between the two workouts I burned 614 calories and spent 34 minutes total in my peak heart rate zone. I was wasted by the end of today’s workout session! In fact, I actually considered skipping the finisher because this workout wore me out! But again, today is a weekend, so I decided to just do it.
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 the intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Heather previews the next exercise. Heather shows a low impact variation for some of the exercises that have impact.
Killer HIIT Legs Workout is 42:38 minutes; 4 minute warm up and 5:20minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather is using 15 and 25 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- Goblet squat (one 40# DB)
- Jump squat
- Carry lunges (walking lunges–lunge walk 2 steps (the length of your mat) then turn around and repeat, you are holding one DB in both hands extended overhead throughout) (one 15# DB)
- Pop lunges (hop back into reverse lunge then hop feet together, alternate sides when lunging)
- 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)
- Glute march (alternating single leg glute bridge–same position as #5, except when you raise your hips, also raise one bent leg, alternate legs)
- Sumo squat (one 50# DB)
- Heel clicks (jump squats, when you are jumping/air born click heels together)
- Repeat #1-8
- 30 second rest
- Squat knee taps (with hands behind head, squat, when you raise out of squat, raise one knee and tap knee w/ opposite hand, alternate legs)
- Pop Squat (squat jack, touching fingertips to ground when in squat)
- Side lunges (hold one DB goblet style and alternate sides) (one 25# DB)
- Side lunge hops (alternating side lunges with a shuffle-hop when changing sides)
- Squat toe taps (lower into squat and hold isometrically, alternate tapping toes out to side)
- Curtsy & squat (hold one DB goblet style, one curtsy/cross-back lunge + one squat, alternate sides when lunging) (one 25# DB)
- Deadlift & lunge (one deadlift + one reverse lunge, alternates when lunging) (20# DBs)
- Squat & hop (hold one DB by bell, squat and place DB on mat, jump and land in squat, grab bell of DB and stand) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #11-18
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
Happy Saturday!
This is the workout I did today. I agree that it was tough – the cardio moves really spiked my heart rate. I’m not so sure I like heel clicks anymore … haha! It’s hard to keep going with them the full 40s after doing strength moves. 😉
I finished with Caroline’s Christmas 20 min UB circuit. For the most part I used my regular weight dumbbells which pleased me to no end. I went to see a phys therapist Thursday and he basically said to use common sense – if it hurts, don’t do it. For therapy he used one of those metal scapula things and lube to run along my forearm, bicep and tricep. It was like a washboard, esp my bicep. He said that was the fascia being all scarred and lumpy. But OMG, did it feel good afterwards! He put KT tape from the back of my hand along my forearm and up my tricep which acts as a “muscle” to assist the forearm and take some pressure off it. The tape will stay on until my next appt mon. My elbow feels much better already! Granted, it’s just 1 appt but I’m SO hoping I can just do PT and not need surgery. Best case scenario with that!
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Oh yeah, I remember this workout. It was a tough one! But super effective.
I am glad to hear PT is working for you and appear to be on the mend. Great news!
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This looks like a really good one! I applaud you for following it with a Caroline lunge workout. I can see why you were spent afterwards … 😉
Today was cardio/abs for me and I had a total blast! I started with Heather’s Day 39 serious ab burner workout. While not super tough, it was challenging but more importantly it was FUN. She really had you moving around the mat, some standing exercises, some body weight, some with dumbbells. I’ll definitely return to this one. ☺️
I followed it with Caroline’s Day 40 dumbbell HiiT workout which was fun as well! In fact, I got to the finisher (100 snatches which were not easy at her pace) and was surprised I was at the end. This one moves quickly so no heavy weights, but the weights were there for intensity and not strength building. It was a perfect workout to combine with the first one.
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