Lower Body Strength is Day 36 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. Another enjoyable lower body strength workout. Heather works your lower body thoroughly with compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups. For instance, a lunge alternated with a squat or a single leg deadlift. Additionally, she warms you up very nicely with some booty band work before you even grab your dumbbells. And of of course she gives you some more metabolic moves to keep your heart rate up so you are also burning calories while building muscle. For those moves she also gives you a low impact modification if you don’t want to jump.
This workout has 3 circuits. The first circuit is a glute activation circuit using a glute/booty band. Circuits 2 & 3 are strength circuits using dumbbells. The exercises are all done interval style. For the first circuit the intervals are 40 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. For the last two circuits the intervals are 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 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.
Lower Body Strength is 41:40 minutes; 1:15 intro, 2:45 minute warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Equipment: a glute/booty band, yoga block, dumbbells and a fitness mat. After the warm up you need to quickly put on your booty band for the first exercise. The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1: (40/10) (booty band is round thighs just above knees)
- Lateral walk (lower into partial squat and side walk the length of your mat and back)
- Squats (legs are open wide so there is constant tension on band)
- Side steps (lower into partial squat, step side to side)
- Glute bridge (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat close to glutes, legs are open wide so there is constant tension on band, raise and lower hips/glutes)
30 second rest
Circuit 2: (40/20)
- Squat & lunge (one squat + one reverse/step back lunge, alternate legs when lunging) (25# DBs)
- Split lunge & deadlift (one stationary lunge + one single leg deadlift, back foot is elevated on yoga block, hold one DB in same side hand as working leg) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #2 on other side of body
- Stiff leg deadlift (hex trap bar @ 105#)
- Squat & hop (stand with legs wide and toes turn out holding one DB by bell with both hands, lower into a sumo squat placing DB on ground, release DB and do a squat jump, land in squat and grab end of DB again and raise out of squat) (one 45# DB)
- Repeat #1-5 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 3: (40/20)
- Elevated squats (heels are elevated on yoga block, hold one DB in both hands goblet style) (one 45# DB)
- Single leg thruster (lay on back on mat, one foot is raised to ceiling, other foot is on yoga block close to glutes, one heavy DB rests on hips, raise and lower hips) (one 60# DB)
- Repeat #2 on other leg
- Side lunges (stationary side lunges, alternate sides, hold one DB in both hands goblet style) (one 35# DB)
- Curtsy squat & hop (no DBs, alternating curtsy/cross-back lunges, between each lunge do one squat jump)
- Repeat #1-5 two more times
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
