This workout serves as Day 1 of our Build with Tasha 10-Day Challenge but can be used as a standalone workout anytime!
The objective of the decreasing work intervals structure of this workout is to acclimate your lower body muscles to progressively increasing weight loads which elicit improvements in strength, muscle size, and overall performance. You will work through three rounds of two, 4-exercise circuits, decreasing the work intervals with each subsequent round and thereby decreasing the number of completed reps per exercise. This reduction in work/reps allows you to increase your weight selections each round, working towards approximately 65 to 75% of your maximal load per exercise. No worries — if you don’t know what your maximum weights are for each exercise, rely on your perceived efforts and the “last few reps” rule to determine how you increase your weights from one round to the next. The last two to three reps of each working interval should feel questioningly possible, but you should still be able to complete them without compromising your form (even if at a slower, more labored paced).
You will use two weights in circuit 1 and a single weight in circuit 2. Exercises are grouped together so that you can use the same weight(s) for each move in a circuit; however, we all have varying strength discrepancies so keep your weight selections nearby for quick weight swaps during the recovery intervals (which remain at 15 seconds for every round). The weight approximation goal (65 to 75%) is a wide range because we are completing the exercises in a circuit sequence, meaning that even if you are not targeting the same primary muscle groups from one exercise to the next, you are not getting much respite from working your lower body muscles. Fatigue can settle in earlier than anticipated or experienced in alternatively formatted routines so be prepared to adjust your weights and expectations accordingly (remember, feedback not judgment!).
Approach your first round of the two weighted circuits as a primer for the second two rounds, using this first go-through as an opportunity to play around with weight selections and determine your body’s readiness to “lift heavy” that day. You’ll notice that the moves in these weighted circuits are straightforward so that you can really zero in on your form and push your weight loads.
The two ladder-up burnout finishers are bodyweight-only. Fight the urge to add weights to these concluding segments! Decrease the tempo (even if this means not ascending very far up the ladder) and/or increase your range of motion to slightly bump up the intensity during these final segments; keep in mind that if you’re completing this workout as part of the 10-day challenge you will revisit the lower body again soon and don’t need to feel total annihilation at the end of this workout.
Challenge yourself, put down the weights every now and then to alleviate any tension in the forearms and wrists and, most importantly, have fun!
Workout
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exercise, no rest between exercises (6:00)
-Hip Openers
-Squat with Overhead Press
-Inchworm + Down-Dog
-Alt. Runner’s Lunge + Torso Rotation (World’s Greatest Stretch)
-Clamshell – R
-Clamshell – L
-Glute Bridge (lift and lower)
-Deep Squat + Forward Fold Hamstrings Stretch
-Split Squat/Stationary Lunge – R
-Split Squat/Stationary Lunge – L
-Alt. Lateral Lunges
-Jumping Jacks
***30 sec off***
My Weights (not a recommendation, just a reference):
Circuit 1 & 2:
-Round 1: 25 lbs. (11.3 kg)
-Round 2: 30 lbs. (13.6 kg)
-Round 3: 35 lbs. (~16 kg)
Circuit Format: 45 sec off between rounds (~21:00 total)
-Round 1: 45 sec on / 15 sec off (~8:15) [45 sec off before Round 2]
-Round 2: 30 sec on / 15 sec off (~6:15) [Water Break before Round 3]
-Round 3: 20 sec on / 15 sec off (~5:00)
Circuit #1:
-Narrow Squat
-Deadlift (RDL)
-Reverse Lunge – R
-Reverse Lunge – L
***30 sec off***
Circuit #2: 1 Weight
-Goblet Sumo Squat
-Racked: Curtsy Lunge – R
-Racked: Curtsy Lunge – L
-Goblet Alt. Forward Lunges
***Water Break after Round 2, then complete Round 3***
***30 sec off***
Ladder-Up Bodyweight Burnout Finisher #1: 3:00 – start with 2 reps of each exercise and increase by 2 each round
-Squat + Calf Raise
-Alt. Lateral Lunges (reps per side)
-Alt. SL Kickstand Deadlifts (reps per side)
***30 sec off***
Ladder-Up Bodyweight Burnout Finisher #2: 2:00 – start with 2 reps of each exercise and increase by 2 each round
-SL Glute Bridge Lifts – R
-SL Glute Bridge Lifts – L
-Glute Bridge Walkouts
Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 5:00)
-Lying Hamstrings Stretch – R
-Lying Figure 4 Stretch – R
-Lying Hamstrings Stretch – L
-Lying Figure 4 Stretch – L
-Cat/Cow Stretch
-Kneeling Quads/Hip Flexors Stretch – R
-Adductor Stretch – R
-Kneeling Quads/Hip Flexors Stretch – L
-Adductor Stretch – L
-Down-Dog + Rollup to Standing with Wrist Rotations