CGX: Intent Program Day 9: Ballpoint 15-20 Rep Lower Body

This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page.

This was a tough workout. It was more of an endurance level lower body workout. The intervals were long but thankfully so were most of the recoveries. 90 seconds of stability ball roll outs is brutal. You do 3 sets but the final set Caroline quits at 75 seconds so that was a surprising reprieve. The timer keeps going and I guess you could as well if you wanted to but I was happy to follow Caroline’s lead! I was really struggling by the time we got to all the lunge variations. This was one of her less enjoyable workouts (for me at least). I was glad when it was over.

This workout is done interval style. Most of the interval’s are 75 seconds of work followed by 45 seconds of recovery. When the interval or recovery time is different, it is noted below. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a progress bar at the bottom of the screen, counting down the workout time as a percentage.

For the stability ball roll outs, Caroline shows 2 alternate exercises you can do. One uses sliders and the other is a hamstring hip bridge with a barbell on your hips.

Ballpoint 15-20 Rep Lower Body is 49:40 minutes (this time does not include the optional 5:55 minute warm up or the 1:56 minute intro, also optional) with a 4:15 minute stretch. Equipment: barbell and/or dumbbells, chair/bench, stability ball, a yoga block, heel wedges and a fitness mat. Caroline’s barbell is at 58kg/128 pound and she also uses 30kg/66 pound and 10kg/22 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Sumo deadlift squats (legs are wide w/ toes turned out, hold one heavy DB by bar with both hands, torso hinges forward deadlift style when lowering into squat) (one 65# DB)
2. Repeat #1 two more times
3. Hip thrust (lean back against your bench or step, place one heavy DB or barbell on hips, knees bent and and feet on floor w/ knees in line w/ ankles, raise and lower hips slowly) (barbell @ 105#)
4. Repeat #3 two more times
5. Heel elevated squats (heels are on heel wedges, hold DBs at shoulders) (30# DBs)
6. Repeat #5 two more times
7. Stability ball roll outs for 90 seconds (lay on back on mat, heels on stability ball, raise hips and keep them elevated, roll ball toward glutes then back out)
8. 30 second rest
9. Repeat #7 & 8 two more times
10. Close lunge (stationary lunge, legs are closer together than normal, front foot is elevated on yoga block) (25# DBs)
11. Repeat #10 on other leg
12. Even closer lunge (repeat #10 but with legs closer together) (20# DBs)
13. Repeat #12 on other leg
14. Rear step lunge for 90 seconds (reverse step back lunge, front foot is elevated on yoga block) (20# DBs)
15. 30 second rest
16. Repeat #14 & 15 on other leg
17. Repeat #14-16 but w/ only one DB held in same side hand as front leg (one 20# DB)

Finisher:

1. 3/4 rep elevated squats, 10 reps (bodyweight, heels elevated on heel wedges, lower to bottom of squat but only raise 3/4 of the way)
2. Sumo squats, 20 reps (still bodyweight but on floor/no heel wedges)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 4 minutes