Day 7: Booty & Thigh Toning (Ankle Weights Workout) / HR12WEEK 4.0

Booty & Thigh Toning (Ankle Weights Workout) is Day 6 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. This was a different way to work my lower body. Not that I haven’t done mat work before but usually as a finisher or in conjunction with weighted strength work. The only resistance used in this entire workout is ankle weights. The heaviest ankle weights I’ve ever used in a workout is 3 pounds and that was killer. But Heather is using 5 pound ankle weights which inspired me to add a pound to mine and use 4 pound ankle weights. The burn! It was definitely tough! One thing to keep in mind when doing this workout is that Heather doesn’t mirror you. So if the screen says to work your right leg and you mirror what Heather is doing, you are actually working your left leg. This was frustrating because the workout starts laying on your back doing bridge work. Mirroring isn’t an issue in this position. So if you are following what the screen says then you turn on your side to mirror Heather you mess with the flow of the workout–which is to do all of the exercises on one leg, burning it out, then do them all on the other leg. This is a common problem with Heather’s unilateral workouts but since I do not do Heather’s workouts as often as I used to, I wasn’t prepared for it. So I was following the screen directions and not mirroring Heather for the first circuit but after that I mirrored and worked the opposite side that the screen directed me to work. As long as you are prepared it is not a big deal. Which, btw, is why I always mention it in my reviews. If I return to this workout then I will reference this review and be prepared.

This workout contains 3 circuits. The first circuit is all mat based, the second circuit is all standing and the third circuit is mat based. The exercises are 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.

Booty & Thigh Toning (Ankle Weights Workout) is 38:22 minutes; 45 second intro, 2:50 minute warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: ankle weights and fitness mat. Heather’s ankle weights are 5 pounds each. Optional: something to hold onto for balance–a chair, the wall, etc. As soon as the warm up is over, the workout starts and Heather is already wearing ankle weights. I wore 4 pound ankle weights. I also had a heavy glute band lying beside the mat so I could quickly put it on (around thighs just above knees) for the very last exercise in Circuit 3.

Circuit 1:

1. Glute bridge (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, raise and lower hips/glutes, arms are extended straight to ceiling)
2. Single leg bridge kick (same position as #1, hands are on mat at sides, elevate and extend one leg straight, raise and lower hips as you did in #1 but when hips are raised, leg is raised to ceiling, when you lower hips, lower straight leg so it is a few inches off the mat)
3. Laying side leg lift (lay on one hip and same side forearm, raise and lower top straight leg)
4. Front lift (still resting on one hip and same side forearm, bend bottom leg and extend top leg in front of you, raise and lower straight leg)
5. Reverse leg circles (in same starting position as #3, draw small circles with top straight leg, circling leg backwards)
6. Side bridge lift (lay on one hip and same side forearm, both knees are bent and top arm is extended to ceiling, raise and lower hips, when you raise hips also raise top bent leg)
7. Repeat #1
8. Repeat #2-6 on other side of body

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Step squat (step one leg out into squat, then step back in to standing)
2. 1.5 side lunge (stationary side lunges, start standing with legs wide, lower to bottom of side lunge, raise halfway, lower back to bottom of side lunge, raise back into wide leg stance)
3. Sumo pulse (stand with legs wide and toes turned out to sides, lower to bottom of sumo/plie squat and pulse)
4. Curtsy & kick (one cross-back/curtsy lunge + one side leg lift)
5. Pulsing lunge (static/stationary lunges, lower to bottom of lunge with arms extended straight in front of you, pulse at bottom of lunge)
6. Rainbow kick (standing, hold onto something for balance, extend one leg to side with toe on ground, raise leg and circle it behind you and lower so toe is on ground behind you, reverse this move, bringing leg/foot back to starting position)
7. Repeat #1-6, if a move is done on one side of the body, do it on the other side

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Donkey kick (on hands and knees, raise one bent leg behind you, pushing sole of foot up to ceiling)
2. Hydrant kick (still on hands and knees, lift and lower one leg to side w/ knee bent at 90 degrees)
3. Kick & tuck (still on hands and knees, lift one leg straight behind you, bring knee to same side elbow outside of body then push it back out and up behind you)
4. Rear pulse (lower to forearms, lift leg straight behind you and pulse it upward)
5. Bridge march (lay on back, knees bent and feet in floor, raise and lower hips into bridge, as you raise hips, also raise one bent leg, alternate legs)
6. Bridge pulse (same starting position as #5, raise hips and keep them raised isometrically entire interval, pulse knees open wider) (I also wore a heavy glute band around my thighs)
7. Repeat #1-6, if a move is done on one side of the body, do it on the other side

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