Cathe Live Review: Legs For Days (#264)
Legs For Days is a fun, metabolic lower body strength workout. This is a very different style of routine that focused on using range of motion rather than heavy weights.
This workout consists of three rounds of standing metabolic lower body exercises, which are each repeated, and one round of higher rep lower body exercises on the floor. I really enjoyed this routine and my heart rate stayed elevated throughout. You are moving reasonable quickly, from one thing to the next, and the exercises are more metabolic / compound style moves so I was pretty drenched by the end. There are also two cardio moves, with the resistance loop, which also gets you breathing a little harder, but I wouldn’t call this a cardio and strength workout although there is a strong cardio effect from the strength exercises too.
Cathe used lighter weights, for this routine, than she usually does so I increased on a few but this still wasn’t as challenging as many of her strength workouts. It was quite a sneaky workout though, as it started out feeling a lot lighter than her usual endurance workouts but by the end I was feeling some of the work.
The routine uses the step topper, dumbbells, resistance loop and stability ball. The topper is used for many of the exercises and for some adds a little intensity to more traditional moves, such as, the cross tap lunges, from the latest LITE: Strong Body Stacked Stets Lower workout (for a detailed review of that workout click HERE). The standing lower body moves are not too high rep – generally 8 – 24 reps and all fairly familiar moves often with just a little twist to them.
The workout ends with a higher rep section on the floor. This wasn’t as high rep as Cathe often does but I still felt nicely worked. However, I did use ankle weights for the outer and inner thigh lifts, and the glute hamstring squeezes to increase the intensity a little more.
Note: Cathe did struggle a little on the counting in this one, particularly during the floor section and there are often different numbers and rep patterns from one side to the other. These are shown below in ‘The Moves’ section.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable metabolic, lower body workout. This is a fun one to do when you don’t want to use heavier weights but still want to challenge the lower body in different ways.
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The Workout
Legs For Days is a metabolic lower body workout consisting of three sets of standing exercises that are each repeated and one set of floorwork. Cathe used a full size step topper, dumbbells, a medium tension resistance loop and a stability ball for this routine.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Legs For Days is 61 minutes long and originally aired on 5th September 2019 (#264). The workout starts with a 4:30 minute warm-up before a quick water break and moving into the first set of standing exercises. The step topper is set up horizontally in front of you at the start of the workout.
Standing Lower Body
Circuit 1a
Squat & alternating back lunge – two 10# dumbbells & step – 16 reps
Alternating crossback lunges – two 10# dumbbells & step – 24 reps
Deadlifts (standing on step) – two 15# dumbbells (I used 20’s) – 16 reps (2/2 & 3/1 count)
Jacks / touch down jacks – resistance loop – 16x jacks, 8x touch down, 8x jacks & 8x touch down
Side steps – resistance loop – lots of reps in 4’s, 2’s & singles
Circuit 1b
Squat & alternating back lunge – two 10# dumbbells & step – 16 reps
Alternating crossback lunges – two 10# dumbbells & step – 24 reps
Deadlifts (standing on step) – two 15# dumbbells (I used 20’s) – 16 reps (2/2 & 3/1 count)
Jacks / touch down jacks – resistance loop – 20x jacks & 8x touch down
Side steps – resistance loop – lots of reps in 4’s, 2’s & singles
Circuit 2a
Push dips – two 12# dumbbells & step – 16 reps each side
Single leg deadlifts – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) & step – 8 reps (1st side) 7 reps (2nd side)
Side lunge onto step – one 15# dumbbell & step – 12 reps each side
Alternating cross, tap lunges – two 10# dumbbells & step – 12 reps
Circuit 2b
Push dips – two 12# dumbbells & step – 16 reps each side
Single leg deadlifts – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) & step – 8 reps each side
Side lunge onto step – one 15# dumbbell & step – 12 reps each side
Alternating cross, tap lunges – two 12# dumbbells & step – 12 reps
Circuit 3a
Pendulum lunges (forward & back lunges) – two 10# dumbbells & step – 14 reps each side
Alternating side to side sumo squats (over step) – one 15# dumbbell & step – 16 reps (1st side) 20 reps (2nd side)
Elevated lunges with 1 arm overhead press – one 10# dumbbell & step – 16 reps each side
Tap outs – resistance loop – 8 sets of 16 reps (side & on an angle)
Circuit 3b
Pendulum lunges – two 10# dumbbells & step – 12 reps each side
Alternating side to side sumo squats (over step) – one 15# dumbbell & step – 16 reps (1 set only)
Elevated lunges with 1 arm overhead press – one 10# dumbbell & step – 12 reps each side
Tap outs – resistance loop – 8 sets of 16 reps (side & on an angle)
Quick stretch & get mat out at 45:20 minutes
Floor work with Stability Ball, Step Topper & Mat (I also used ankle weights)
Side leaning outer thigh lifts – ball (I used ankle weights & did these on the floor) – 16 reps (point) / 16 reps (flex) & 32 reps (pt & flex) 1st side. 3 sets of 8 reps (point x8 then flex x8) & 32 reps (pt & flex)
Hamstring roll-ins – ball – 24 reps
Hamstring roll-ins & hip lift – ball – 8 reps
Inner thigh lifts – (I used ankle weights) – 16 reps (point), 24 reps (flex) & 24 reps (pt & flex)
45 Degree inner thigh lifts - (I used ankle weights) – 18 reps
Inner thigh lifts (other side) - (I used ankle weights) - 24 reps (point), 16 reps (flex) & 32 reps (pt & flex)
45 Degree inner thigh lifts (other side) - (I used ankle weights) – 16 reps
Glute hamstring squeezes – step (I also used ankle weights) – 46 reps (1st side) 56 reps (2nd side)
The workout ends with a 2:30 minute cool down and stretch.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Give Me More Legs & Core – HERE.
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