40 MIN Brutal LEG STRENGTH Workout // Day 17 HR12WEEK 2.0

40 Min Brutal Leg Strength Workout is Day 17 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week Program. Another excellent metabolic lower body strength workout from Heather. This is another cardio + strength workout. Every 4th exercise is a cardio burst with a lower body focus. I have noticed Heather has some new lower body exercises in this workout I am not a fan of. They are great exercises and do the job but they are no fun! Carry lunges! Walking lunges have never been my favorite exercise and with this exercise you are holding a DB overhead the entire time. And I have noticed that this exercise keeps popping up in her 12 Week Program! And she really seems to be into the stand up exercises now, too. Those are always challenging but now she is adding holding a dumbbell overhead. Holding a dumbbell overhead definitely makes the exercise tougher! Anyway, they are great exercises but there is a dread factor to them for me. Because this workout is only 42 minutes, I used Heather’s Mini Band Workout for Strong Glutes, which is a really great lower body finisher workout.

This workout is made up of 4 circuits. Each circuit has 4 exercise: 3 strength moves and one cardio move. Each circuit is done two times before moving on to the next circuit. 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 your next exercise. For some (not all) of the exercises that include impact, Heather shows a low impact variation

40 Min Brutal Leg Strength Workout is 42:09 minutes; 3:30 minute warm up and 5 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Heather is using 10, 15 and 25 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Stationary lunge (static lunge w/ one DB held on same side shoulder as front leg) (one 25# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other side of body
3. Carry lunges (arms are raised overhead holding one DB in both hands, do walking lunges, 2 steps forward the length of your mat then turn and repeat, DB is held overhead the entire interval) (one 15# DB)
4. Scissor squats hops (4 scissor runs then jump into a squat and do one jump squat)
5. Repeat #1-4

Circuit 2:

1. Goblet squat (one 40# DB)
2. In & out squat (hold one DB goblet style and do step out squats–step out into wide squat, step back in and do a narrow squat, step out to other side into a wide squat) (one 30# DB)
3. Sumo squat (one 50# DB)
4. Jump squat
5. Repeat #1-4

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Stand up & drive (start in high kneeling on mat, arms are extended overhead holding one DB in both hands, step one leg forward so you are in kneeling lunge, when you stand do a front knee raise with back leg bringing DB down to thigh, reverse this motion, bringing DB overhead again and stepping back into kneeling lunge then back to start position of high kneeling) (one 15# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other side of body
3. Side lunges (holding one DB goblet style, do alternating side lunges) (one 30# DB)
4. Side lunge hop (alternating side lunges w/ a hop-shuffle when changing sides)
5. Repeat #1-4

Circuit 4:

1. Single leg deadlift (when you hinge forward into deadlift, lift non-working leg straight behind you) (one 30# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other side of body
3. Stiff leg deadlift (35# DBs)
4. Butt kicks (butt kick runs)
5. Repeat #1-4

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