A Little Obsessed 4 – Legs

In contrast to some of the other workouts in this mini-series, which are quite complicated and innovative and trying to target lots of body parts at once, this is a good, solid, traditional “leg day.” It’s essentially based around variations on squats and lunges, with lots of reps and little time to catch your breath.

The pattern is three sets of three 15 rep exercises, repeated twice. This wasn’t a particularly fun workout – it’s very much a get in and get it done affair – but my goodness it’s effective. My legs are pretty strong – proportionately much stronger than my upper body – and it takes a lot to burn them out. But by the end of this, matching Autumn weight-for-weight (so mostly 15 pounds on each side/30 pounds in total) my legs were trembling, and I really had to force myself through the last few reps.

And for several days afterwards, the whole of my upper legs and glutes were aching like crazy. As an added bonus (if that’s the right word!) the constant focus on the legs and the relentless pace meant that my heartrate was sky high throughout the majority of the workout, meaning it must have burnt a fair few calories.

I’d be lying if I said I actively enjoyed this one – because ouch – but I’d highly recommend it for those days when you want to get some serious leg work in while also blasting some calories.

Reverse straight leg lunge	This was probably the trickiest move in “booty” earlier in the week, and now it’s back, and as challenging as ever. As the name suggests, it’s basically just a lunge, but the tricky bit is that you step back with a straight leg rather than a bent one.
Curtsy lunges	These will be familiar to anyone who’s done 21 Day Fix or Chalean Extreme (where they are called Bowler Lunges). Cross one leg behind the other and out to the side, then lunge down. These always used to kill me, but I’ve done enough in other programmes that they were manageable here (though no doubt still effective for the side of my bum).
Hip hinge	This was basically like a deadlift, but there was a focus on bending and straightening the legs, because even in a leg-focussed workout, Autumn can’t resist a bit of glute work 😉
Squat slide step	Standing on the sliders, squat down, open out one leg, bring the other leg to join it, rise up, then go back the other way. These were hard, but I loved them. There was something really fun about the down/open/close/up pattern and the sliding that made me forget all about the pain in my quads.
Reverse lunges	Unlike the straight leg lunge from earlier, you’re allowed to bend your leg here, which should make things easier. The twist is that the back leg is on a slider, which forces you to really thing about balance.
Modified pistol	Holding one weight and with one foot on a slider, slide that leg forward, bend over, stick your bum out. I couldn’t quite get the pattern to this one, but it seemed to work my legs and bum nonetheless.
Sumo squats	Following some rather complicated moves with sliders and movement patterns, we’re back to an old, straightforward favourite. Legs wide, toes turned out, go up and down. I could basically sumo squat for hours, so despite being a big move, this was quite a welcome break (ie. I probably should have put my weights up, but I was pretty much hyperventilating!)
Front diagonal lunges	With one foot on a slider, slide forward at a diagonal angle then lunge down. Like the pistols, I struggled slightly to get the movement down, but hey, half the point of A Little Obsessed is to start to learn the moves for Eighty Day Obsession.
Side lunge	In theory, this shouldn’t have been too challenging a move. Start with feet together, step the right leg out to the right and squat down, close, repeat. By this point though, after everything above, I could hardly get my legs under control, so even with a fairly light ten pound weight in each hand, I had to force myself through it. Which was strangely satisfying.