This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page. This is a straightforward lower body strength workout. You repeat each exercise two times. Use challenging dumbbells and you will get a solid strength workout. I know I did! Caroline was challenging herself as well. She dropped to lighter weights a few times.
All of the exercises in this workout are done interval style: 60 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. This workout has a long intro. Since this is the first workout in the Iron program, the first 4 minutes she gives information about the next 10 weeks of the program. The last 30 seconds she gives information about this workout.
Leg Day is 35:34 minutes (this time does not include the optional 9 minute warm up or the 4:28 minute intro, also optional) with a 2:20 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a yoga block or heel wedges and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 30kg/66 pounds, 20kg/44 pounds and 15kg/33 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- High squat (hold DBs at shoulders) (35# DBs)
- Repeat #1
- Sumo deadlift squat (with legs in sumo position, hinge torso forward deadlift style as you squat) (one 70# DB)
- Repeat #4
- RDL (Romanian deadlift) (45# DBs)
- Repeat #5
- Static lunge (stationary lunges) (25# DBs)
- Repeat #7 on other leg
- Repeat #7 & 8
- Staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, back leg is in kickstand) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #10 on other leg
- Repeat #10 & 11
- Heel elevated squats (heels are elevated on wedges, hold one DB in both hands at chest) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #13
Finisher: (2 minutes, no rest between exercises)
- Pause squats for 30 seconds (hold DBs at chest, lower to bottom of squat and hold briefly) (30# DBs)
- Repeat #1 w/out DBs/bodyweight for 90 seconds
It has posted. I am also interested in how you track your weights. I can’t seem to remember what I did the previous workout and always opt for a lower weight. Thank you! I love your blog!
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Until a few years ago, I tracked my weights on what I refer to as “workout cards.” For every workout I did, I created a chart with all of the exercises and on the chart I recorded the weight I used. But some people who follow my blog wanted to know the weights I use for my workouts. So I started listing the weights I used for each exercise in the strength workout blog posts. After a while there didn’t seem to be a point in recording it in two places so now I use my blog to track my weights. However, most of the time when I return to a workout I just update the weight I used if I lifted heavier. So I can’t really see the trajectory anymore. But I still know. For example, I recently did 6 months of Cathe Friedrich’s STS 2.0. I was making big strength gains and I knew that because nearly every time I did a workout I had to update the weight I used in the blog post. I knew it was time to move on to something else when my strength plateaued and I wasn’t updating the posts as much. Which is where I am now–moving on to CGX’s 10 Week Iron program so I can keep progressing.
In short, I suggest keeping a note book, workout cards, or creating your own computer or online database to track your weights. I always preview a workout (my blog posts) before I do a workout to prepare myself–equipment needed and the weights I plan to use.
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I am not sure this one posted so pasting it here. Hey! I just have a quick question about Iron. I am finding her glute days too repetitive and too hard at the moment. Would you be able to recommend a workout that I could swap these days with. My focus is strength building. I am on the last 3 days of Iron but will repeat it. Ideally would like to focus on a smaller number of workouts so I can track my progress better. I am finding 30 days just too varied for my goals at the moment. Thank you !
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