38 Min Lower Body Strength is Day 11 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.
This was a tough lower body workout! Intense and metabolic. Your weight choice does have. a lot to do with it. During the second circuit I had to drop to a lighter dumbbell because the cardio factor was starting to take over the workout for me. According to my Apple Watch, I was in my peak heart rate zone during that circuit. During the intro Heather says your aim is 10-12 reps but that is not possible. She does not even do 10-12 reps! During circuit 2 you are technically doing that many reps but that is only if you count each part of the compound exercise. If you count the entire compound exercise as 1 rep (which is what I do) then you still are not getting 10-12 reps. In fact, the only way to get Heather’s recommended number of reps is to move faster than she does! I am okay with amount of reps I did. I could not have gone faster using the weights I was using anyway.
This is a circuit based workout. There are 3 circuits and each circuit is done 3 times. 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.
38 Min Lower Body Strength is 37:22 minutes; 40 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 3:45 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and fitness mat. Heather recommends medium to heavy dumbbells (15-40 pounds). The weights listed below are what I used.
Circuit 1:
- 1.5 deadlift (lower to bottom of deadlift, raise halfway, lower to bottom of deadlift then raise all the way) (30# DBs)
- Stiff leg deadlift (full range) (hex deadlift bat @ 100#)
- Alternating deadlift & lunge (alternating reverse/step back lunges with a deadlift between each lunge) (25# DBs)
- Repeat #1-3 two more times
30 second rest
Circuit 2:
- Curtsy & side lunge (hold one DB goblet style, step back into curtsy/cross-back lunge and as you step out of it go into a side lunge) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other leg
- Alternating step out side lunge (still holding one DB goblet style) (one 30# DB)
- Repeat #1-3 two more times (one 25# DB for all exercises)
30 second rest
Circuit 3:
- 1.5 rep sumo squat (stand with legs wide and toes turned out holding one DB in both hands, lower to bottom of squat, raise halfway, lower to bottom of squat, raise all the way) (one 50# DB)
- Sumo squat (same position as #1 but all reps are full range) (one 60# DB)
- Sumo pulse (same position as #1 & 2, lower to bottom of squat and pulse) (one 40# DB)
- Repeat #1-3 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.
