Cathe Live Review: Plyo Leg Blast (#270)

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Cathe Live Review: Plyo Leg Blast (#270)

Plyo Leg Blast is a fun cardio and strength workout focused on the lower body.

The workout starts with alternating cardio blasts with lower body exercises (ten sets) and ends with more concentrated lower body moves using the stability ball. As much as I enjoyed this routine, and I definitely did, I was a little disappointed by the intensity. Cathe starts the workout saying that this is an “aggressive” workout and that you will begin with an “aggressive warm-up”, using the gliding devices. The warm-up was great and included low impact cardio drills that you often see in Cathe’s main workouts (swim lunges, jacks & rapid slide outs etc) so I was thinking this was going to be really tough. However, the actual workout just didn’t deliver that and was far lower intensity than I was expecting. The cardio drills are not done for that long and you get breaks after most of them. Many are also not really tough drills (by Cathe’s standards) so you are not going all out during these. Now as I mentioned, this is a really nice workout, but I think my disappointment stems from the fact that I had been expecting a version of Ripped with Hiit: Lift It, Hiit It Legs, one of Cathe’s excellent tough plyo leg workouts, and this just wasn’t it. So having prepared myself for a real challenge, this felt a little bit of an anti-climax but this is more my issue than anything else.

The lower body strength moves are done using dumbbells. Cathe is using fairly light dumbbells and I did increase on a few moves but would probably do so more next time. The only challenge is that some of the moves are done at quite a fast pace so this wouldn’t be possible for all of the moves. I will say I didn’t find the standing strength moves that challenging, as there are not really enough reps to really fatigue the muscles, but they do serve to keep the heart rate up a little higher. However, the hamstring roll-ins, with the stability ball, were a different matter entirely! I definitely felt those, particularly the fast set at the end. Cathe also did the roll-ins with arms extending over the head – I found these really difficult to get the ball to roll in straight and was glad when they were done! The workout ends with ball toss and lots of knee squeezes using the ball.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, cardio and strength workout that targets the lower body. It’s definitely not the toughest routine but the workout flies by and before you know it you are done.

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The Workout

Plyo Leg Blast is a lower body focused cardio and strength workout, which alternates cardio drills with lower body exercises. The routine ends with a short floorwork section using the stability ball. Cathe used light to moderate dumbbells, two gliding devices and a stability ball for this workout.

What You Need to Know

(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).

The Moves

Plyo Leg Blast is 48 minutes long and originally aired on 17th October 2019 (#270). The workout starts with an active 8 minute warm-up, including using the gliding devices, before moving into the first leg exercise. The cardio blasts are shown in bold italics below.

Plyo Leg Blasts

• Quarter turn jumps – 24 reps

• Alternating side to side sumo squats – one 15# dumbbell – 28 reps

• Dynamic squat abductions (I did vertical mountain climbers as I find these awkward) – 32 reps

• Crossback lunges – two 15# dumbbells – 16 reps each side

• Alternating side to side squat jacks (with arms out) – 24 reps

• Rear sliding lunges – two 10# dumbbells & two gliding devices – 12 reps alternating & 8 reps each side

• Explosive side to side lunges – one 10# dumbbell – 22 reps

• Side slide pick up lunges (setting down & picking up db) – one 10# dumbbell (I used 1x 12) & one gliding device – 16 reps each side

• Squats in a box – 12 reps

• Touch down lunge & 1 arm overhead press – one 10# dumbbell – 16 reps each side

• Attacks / attacks with leg abductions – 32 reps (alternating sets of 8 reps for each version)

• Single leg deadlifts – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) – 16 reps (1st side) & 13 reps (2nd side)

• Power scissors – 48 reps

• Sweeper lunges – one gliding device – 48 reps each side

• 4 Jacks / 2 touch down jacks – 8 sets

• Plie squats – two 15# dumbbells – 24 reps

• Lateral skates (slow or fast) – 30 seconds

• Alternating front lunge & side lunge combo (2 alternating front lunges & 2 alternating side lunges) – two 10# dumbbells (I used 12’s) – 10 sets

• Lateral hops – one 10# dumbbell (held horizontally between hands) – 3 sets of 10 reps

• Warrior lunges – one gliding device – 12 reps each side

Quick water break & stretch (using stability ball) at 36 minutes

Floor work using stability ball at 37:20 minutes

• Outer thigh lifts – ball & mat (as I find these uncomfortable for my hip – I used ankle weights & did these lying on the mat) – 8 reps (point), 8 reps (flex) / 16 reps (pt & flex) – repeat all 3 sets with arms extended. (2nd side – you do 16 reps (toe pointed) when arms extended (rather than 8) – the rest is the same)

• Hamstring roll-ins / hamstring roll-ins with straight arm overhead extensions – ball & mat - 20 reps / 10 reps (arms extended) / 24 reps (fast)

• Ball toss – ball & mat – 16 reps

• Ball knee squeeze – ball & mat – lots of reps both slow & fast

The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch.

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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Lower Body Hiit w Abs – HERE.

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