Cathe Live Review: Legs w Weights & Stability Ball (#41)
Legs w Weights & Stability Ball is another excellent and seriously tough lower body strength workout. Wow was this a challenging routine that worked my muscles hard. It also has a strong cardio effect, as you are lifting heavy and there are only very short rest breaks between the exercises.
This workout is similar to Cathe’s STS Mesocycle 2 lower body workouts in that you are doing trisets of lower body exercises. This routine consists of three of these trisets and then ends with floor work using the stability ball.
The workout starts with a very cardio focused warm-up in which you are actually doing lots of jacks, jump ropes and tap outs etc, which I wasn’t expecting. Then you move into the strength work. Each triset includes three different exercises using dumbbells or the barbell. These are then often combined with the high step or gliding devices to increase the challenge. You then repeat each triset two more times before moving onto the next one. Unusually, for a Live workout, Cathe’s barbell was loaded to 65 pounds, for deadlifts, so this is definitely a heavy strength workout in which you should try and go as heavy as you can, to maximise the benefits. As I don’t like using the barbell, I used dumbbells and a heavy kettlebell (for plie squats only) so my deadlifts weren’t quite as heavy but I increased on a few of the dumbbell exercises instead. The reps are slow and controlled so you have time, if you are using the heavier weights. I found that with the short rest breaks that the work really compounds so you will definitely be feeling those muscles, as the workout progresses.
One thing to note, on the first Triset, Cathe forgets the last exercise of the last round, which is deadlifts and actually starts changing the weight on her barbell before one of the class points this out. So she does eventually do them but after a longer break.
The workout ends with a short section, on the floor, using the stability ball. This has three focus areas, starting with hamstrings then outer thigh and finally inner thighs. I found the whole workout very challenging and so by the time we got to the last set of ball toss, my legs were shaking a little and everything felt really well worked.
(The only slight complaint for this workout is that oddly Cathe wandered around far more than usual rather than doing the actual exercises. Many times this meant that she lost the count and was often talking about people’s shoes when the reps were over! A little frustrating, particularly given the camera work, when walking around, was a little shaky and I found it difficult to watch. A minor detail though as it is still a fantastic workout.)
Overall, a very tough, pure strength routine that will really challenge the lower body and burn out those muscles.
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The Workout
Legs w Weights & Stability Ball is a pure strength, heavy weight lower body workout consisting of three trisets, which are repeated for a total of three times, and ends with a short section using the stability ball on the floor.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Legs w Weights & Stability Ball is 56 minutes long and originally aired on 5th March 2015 (#41). The workout starts with an 8 minute cardio warm-up, before moving into the first lower body exercise. The barbell, if you are using one, is set up with 65 pounds at the start of the workout. The high step, with three risers, is set up to one side in front of you (and the height does not change during the workout).
Triset #1
Squats – two 15# Dbs (I used 20’s) – 16 reps
Elevated lunges (one foot on step behind you) - one 15# Db & 10” step – 12 reps each side
Wide stance deadlift - 65# BB (I used two 27.5# Dbs) – 10 reps (9 reps on 2nd & 3rd set)
Repeat all above exercises two more times
Change barbell to 45 pounds
Triset #2
Static lunges – two 15# Dbs (I used 20’s) – 16 reps each side
Plie squats - 45# BB (I used 40# kettlebell) – 12 reps (1st & 2nd set) & 10x singles, 4x 2/2 & 2x 4/4 counts (3rd set)
Slide back lunges – two 15# Dbs & one gliding device – 10 reps each side
Repeat all above exercises two more times
Change barbell to 65 pounds
Triset #3
Narrow stance stiff leg deadlifts - 65# BB (I used two 27.5# Dbs) – 10 reps
Step ups – two 15# Dbs (I used 20’s) & 10” step– 10 reps each side
Side slide lunges – one 15# Db (I used 1x 20) & one gliding device – 12 reps each side
Repeat all above exercises two more times
Floor work with stability ball at 42:55 minutes
Hamstring roll-ins – ball & mat - 4 sets of 16 reps (slower & faster)
Outer thigh lifts (leaning on ball) – ball & mat (I used ankle weights instead of the ball) – 32x toe pointed, 16x flex & 32x pt & flex (2nd side ends with 40x pt & flex)
Ball toss (lay on back, legs straight in air in V position; toss & catch ball between ankles) / ball rotations (hold ball between ankles & rotate slowly in one direction then other) – ball & mat – 12x toss, 4x 4 count holds, 4x toss, 16x pulses, 4x rotations & 10x toss
The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch using the stability ball.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Totally Toned legs (#56) – HERE.
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