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 lower body workout! The intervals are long so it is high rep/endurance level. It is one long circuit and it kicked my butt. Very metabolic. It was wearing Caroline out, too. By the second time through the circuit she started taking personal breaks. It felt like there were two finishers. You get the usual 4 minute complex finisher that is in all Intent workouts, which was killer on it own, but the third time through the circuit she changes the last 2 exercises to 3/4 reps to really fry your legs. I definitely needed the longer than usual stretch she gives us at the end.
This workout is done interval style. Each exercise is done for 90 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. 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 along the bottom of the screen, counting down the workout time as a percentage. For the stability ball roll outs (#4 below) Caroline also shows an option of doing hamstring bridges.
The finisher is a complex. The preview instructs you to do 20 banded roll outs and 10 bridges. But the pop up on the screen instructs you to do 10 reps of each. I did not count Caroline’s reps for the entire finisher complex but the first time she did the banded roll outs, she did 20 reps because I did them with her. As the complex went on though I could not keep pace with her because my legs were fried. About halfway through the finisher I noticed the reps listed on the pop up and went with that since those roll outs were frying my legs anyway–10 reps was less painful.
4 Compounds & 1 Isolation Lower Body is 51:01 minutes (this time does not include the optional 6 minute warm up or the 3:01 minute intro, also optional) with a 3:50 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a barbell, a step or bench, heel wedges, yoga block, a booty/glute band, a stability ball and a fitness mat. Caroline’s barbell is at 48kg/106 pounds. She is also using 12.5kg/27.5 pound and 10kg/22 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- Banded hip thrusts (lean back against your bench or step, place barbell on hips, knees bent and feet on floor, glute band is around thighs just above knees and legs are open so there is constant tension on band, raise and lower hips slowly) (barbell @ 95#)
- Banded RDL (Romanian deadlift, glute band is still around thighs above knees with legs wide enough that there is constant tension on band) (35# DBs)
- Hip thrust (not banded) (repeat #1 w/out band) (barbell @ 95#)
- Stability ball roll outs (lay on back on mat, heels on stability ball, raise hips and keep them elevated, roll ball toward glutes then back out)
- Heel elevated squats (heels are elevated on heel wedges, DBs at shoulders) (30# Dbs)
- Close lunge (stationary lunge, legs are closer together than a normal lunge, front foot is elevated on yoga block) (20# DBs)
- Repeat #6 on other leg
- Repeat #1-7
- Repeat #1-4
- 3/4 rep heel elevated squats (heels are elevated on heel wedges, hold one DB in both hands at chest, lower to bottom of squat but only raise 3/4 of the way so there is constant tension on legs) (one 30# DB)
- 3/4 rep close lunge (stationary lunge, legs are closer together than a normal lunge, front foot is elevated on yoga block, hold one DB at same side shoulder of front leg, lower to bottom of lunge but only raise 3/4 of the way so there is constant tension on leg) (one 25# DB)
- Repeat #11 on other leg
Finisher: (4 minutes) (the preview says 20 reps of #1 but the pop up on the screen during the complex says 10 reps for both)
- Banded stability ball roll out, 20 reps (lay on back on mat, heels on stability ball, glute band is around thighs just above knees and legs are open so there is constant tension on band, raise hips and keep them elevated, roll ball toward glutes then back out)
- Bridge, 10 reps (glute band is around thighs just above knees, lay on back with both heels on stability ball, ball is pulled in close to glutes so knees are bent at 90 degrees, legs are open against band so there is constant tension on band, lift and lower hips in bridge)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible in 4 minutes
