Lower Body Strength is Day 22 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. This is an excellent lower body strength workout. Unfortunately I have been having hip pain the past few days and even tho I’ve been foam rolling, using a heating pad, and doing trigger point release, it still isn’t back to 100%. So this morning I had to be conservative and use lighter dumbbells for most of the exercises. I still got a great workout but I also really felt like I could lift heavier. But safety first! For this workout Heather gives us a finisher and luckily it is all body weight. I did make sure I had my rebounder nearby for the squat jumps (again, to protect my hip) but it worked my legs and elevated my heart rate, no equipment required. The stretch at the end was very nice. I had already planned to add on figure 4 stretch and happy baby to the end for my hip but Heather included them in the stretch and I didn’t have to.
This workout consists of 4 supersets. Each superset is repeated 3 times. The supersets are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest. 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. At the bottom of the screen during the preview, there is a small graphic with a weight recommendation–light, medium or heavy.
The workout also includes a 5 minute finisher done AMRAP style. AMRAP stands for As Many Rounds As Possible. Each exercise is done for 6 reps. You (and Heather, of course) will repeat one circuit (or Round) as many times as possible within the 5 minutes allotted for it. Before the circuit or round begins, the 4 exercises in the circuit are listed onscreen while Heather previews them. When the circuit/round starts, there is a timer in the lower left hand corner of the screen, counting down the 5 minutes. You follow along with Heather as she does the exercises, keeping pace with her if you are able. Otherwise you will have to work at your own pace. Luckily, the list of exercises remains on screen the entire 5 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about losing track of the exercises if you cannot keep up with Heather’s pace.
Lower Body Strength is 38:10 minutes; 50 second intro, 2:55 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: medium and heavy dumbbells and a fitness mat. The weights listed below are what I used.
Superset 1:
- Suitcase squats (basic squats holding DBs at sides) (35# DBs)
- Stiff leg deadlift (35# DBs)
- Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
Superset 2:
- Hip thruster (glute bridges: lay on back on back on mat, knees bent and feet close to glutes, one heavy DB on hips, raise and lower hips) (one 70# DB)
- Butterfly bridge pulse (same starting position as #1 but bring soles of feet together and open knees, lift hips into bridge and pulse hips upward) (one 70# DB)
- Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
30 second rest
Superset 3:
- Static lunge (stationary lunge holding one DB at same side shoulder as front leg) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other side of body
- Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
Superset 4:
- Side lunges (alternating step out side lunges holding one DB goblet style) (one 30# DB)
- Sumo squat (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, hold one heavy DB in both hands) (one 60# DB)
- Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
AMRAP:
- Alternating bodyweight reverse step back lunges, 6 reps
- Body weight squats, 6 reps
- Alternating curtsy/cross-back lunges, 6 reps
- Jump squat, 6 reps
- Repeat #1-4 as many times as possible within 5 minutes
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
