37MIN Quads & Calves Strength + Sprint // Day 24: HR12WEEK 5.0

37 Min Quads & Calves Strength & Sprint is Day 24 in Heather Robertson‘s HR12Week 5.0 program.

This was a leg burner that gets pretty metabolic at times. For the calf raises, I held a dumbbell in each hand rather than holding one goblet style. I am limited on what I can hold for that long goblet style and I knew from previewing this workout that the last circuit would be a burner and that I would want to hold the dumbbell goblet style for that circuit. By the end of circuit 3 my hands and back were definitely feeling that dumbbell, so I am glad I didn’t hold it that way for the calf circuit. Plus I was able to hold more overall weight for calves.

I mentioned in Day 21 review that the stretch at the end of that workout seemed odd because it was very quad focused when the workout focused on the glutes and hamstrings. Well, this stretch focuses on the glutes and hamstrings. I know that in some of Heather’s other programs you could tell that she filmed all of the exercises in advance then combined them in different ways for all of the workouts in the program. I haven’t been doing this program consistently like I did the previous ones (I am hybriding it with 3 other programs and I rotate through them, doing one week of each) so I haven’t really noticed that happening until this week. It appears that she (or whoever does her editing) mixed up the two stretches and attached them to the end of the wrong workouts.

There are 3 circuits and a finisher. For the circuits, the exercises are done for 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest. For the finisher each exercise is done for 30 seconds of work followed by 10 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. During the finisher’s recoveries Heather shows low impact versions of the exercises with impact.

37 Min Quads & Calves Strength & Sprint is 36:27 minutes; 30 second intro, 4:40 minute warm up and 3:10 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, yoga block and exercise mat. Heather recommends 20-55+ pounds. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used a heel wedge rather than a yoga block.

Circuit 1:

1. Suitcase squat (standard squat with a DB in each hand held at sides) (30# DBs)
2. 1.5 rep suit case squat (lower to bottom of squat, raise halfway, lower to bottom of squat, raise all the way) (30# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
4. Suitcase squat & pulse (lower to bottom of suitcase squat and hold isometrically while pulsing) (30# DBs)

30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Standing calf raises (hold one DB goblet style, raise and lower heels) (I held a DB in each hand–25# DBs)
2. Heels in calf raise (same as #1 but toes are turned out) (25# DBs)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
4. Calf raise & pulse (same as #1 but raise heels quickly and do not lower them all the way) (25# DBs)

30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Elevated squat (hold one DB goblet style, heels are elevated on yoga block or heel wedges) (one 40# DB)
2. 1.5 elevated squat (same as #1 but lower to bottom of squat, raise halfway, lower to bottom of squat, raise all the way) (one 40# DB)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 two more times
4. Elevated squat pulse (bodyweight, heels are still elevated on yoga block or heel wedges, lower to bottom of squat and pulse)

30 second rest

Sprint Finisher:

1. In & out squat hops (sumo squat jacks)
2. Repeat #1
3. Ghost rope (hop with jump rope arms)
4. Repeat #3
5. Wall sit (isometric wall squat hold)
6. Repeat #5
7. Jump squat
8. Repeat #7

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.