CGX: Iron Program Day 16: Lower Body Including Calves

This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page. Though this workout works your entire lower body, I really felt it in my quads. They were feeling very well worked by the finisher. I have never used my heel wedges for calf raises before but they are a game changer. In the past I either just did calf raises on the floor or in STS 2.0 you elevated the front of your foot with a barbell plate but this is different and I felt even more calf isolation.

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.

Lower Body Including Calves is 34:49 minutes (this time does not include the optional 9 minute warm up or the 1:45 minute intro, which is also optional) with a 3:25 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a heel wedge, a yoga block and a fitness mat. Caroline is using one 40kg/88 pound and 15kg/33 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Sumo deadlift (legs are wide, toes turned out, hold on heavy DB by bar with both hands, hinge forward deadlift style as you squat) (one 70# DB)
2. Repeat #1
3. Heel elevated squat (heels are elevated on wedges, DBs are held at shoulders) (30# DBs)
4. Repeat #3
5. Deadstop lunges (stationary/static lunges, front leg is elevated on yoga block, when you lower into lunge, back knee rests on floor briefly before rising back to top of lunge) (20# DBs)
6. Repeat #5 on other leg
7. Repeat #5 & 6 (25# DBs)
8. Rear step lunges (reverse step back lunges) (20# DBs)
9. Repeat #8 on other leg
10. Repeat #8 & 9 (25# DBs)
11. Paused heel elevated squat (heels are elevated on wedges, hold one DB in both hands in front of chest, pause briefly at bottom of squat) (one 35# DB)
12. Repeat #11
13. Calf rises (stand on with the toes/front of one foot on wedge, hold one DB in same side hand as working leg, raise other leg off floor and keep elevated, do heel raises–Caroline is holding onto the wall with her other hand for balance) (one 25# DB)
14. (no rest) Repeat #13 on other leg
15. (no rest) Repeat #13 & 14
16. Pause goblet squat (hold one DB in both hands in front of chest) (one 50# DB)
17. Repeat #16

Finisher: (2 minutes; do each exercise for 60 seconds with no rest/recoveries)

1. Hold (rise on beep) squats (bodyweight, heels are elevated on wedges, lower to bottom of squat and hold isometrically at bottom of squat until you hear the beep)
2. Full range squats (same as #1 w/ no pause)