Leg Strength is Day 53 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. This is another very enjoyable lower body strength workout. Heather sequences the exercises so you can lift heavy for most of them without getting burned out. And I really enjoyed the warm up. It was made up of a lot of dynamic stretches. The stretch at the end was very relaxing and feel good, too. My legs feel well worked but not excessively fatigued.
This workout contains two circuits and each circuit is done twice. The exercises are done interval style: 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. If a move has impact, Heather shows a low or lower impact modification.
Leg Strength is 36:38 minutes; 25 second intro, 3:35 minute warm up and 5:40 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1:
- Kickstand (single leg deadlift, hold one DB in same side hand as working leg, non-working leg is in kickstand) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other leg
- Stiff leg deadlift (double leg deadlift) (hex deadlift bar @ 105#)
- Reverse lunge (rear step back lunge, hold one DB at shoulder of working leg) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #4 on other leg
- Goblet squat & lunge (one goblet squat + one reverse lunge, alternate legs when lunging) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1-6
- Pop lunge (no DBs, step back into reverse lunge then hop out of lunge bringing feet together, alternate legs)
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Curtsy lunge (cross-back lunge holding one DB at shoulder of working leg) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other leg
- Sumo deadlift & squat (hold one heavy DB by bar with both hands, do one sumo squat and one deadlift) (one 75# DB)
- Side lunge (stand with legs wide and do stationary side lunge holding one DB goblet style) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #4 on other leg
- 1.5 hip thruster (lay on mat with knees bent and feet close to glutes, place one heavy DB on hips, raise hips into bridge, lower halfway, raise back to top of bridge and lower all the way) (one 60# DB)
- Repeat #1-6
- In & out squat hop (lower into a narrow squat then jump out into sumo squat, jump back in to narrow squat)
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
