Perfect Legs, Glutes & Abs

Michele Olson
Year Released: 2010

Categories: Lower Body Strength


Now I know why everyone's raving about this one. There are actually two workouts: Mega Moves and Master Moves which both include leg, glute and ab work. You can do one workout or do the whole thing which I did today.

Mega Moves - Cross Chops (used 8#), kettlebell swings (I used 13# dumbbell) which she supersets with squats. Then she does another superset with Side and Rear Lunges (used 8#). Then she has you use dumbbells of varying weights in each hand (I used 8# and 5#). She does a combination of 2 squats, cross squats (opposite arm coming down to knee using heavier dumbbell), come up and do 4 military presses with other hand (lighter dumbbell), 8 standing oblique crunches pulling arm down, 4 oblique crunches without arms. I think she repeats this set about 3x before moving to other side. Abs consist of in and outs (V-Sits) (felt like an endless amount of reps!), bicycle with hands crossed in front, 1-legged rollups and alternating half hip circles. That's the end of Mega Moves.

Master Moves - Plie Squats in 2nd position (I used 8#), 1st position plie in releve (on toes) (also used 8#). Plyo jacks. Go to barre. Do leg lifts with toe of turned in working leg in releve. Then do leg lifts with working leg on the ground. In a T stance, bend and straighten working leg while other leg is behind you. Then she does a much needed glute stretch and you repeat sequence on other side. Move away from the barre and do curtsy lunges (she does them slow and fast - I used 5#). Then she does a split chair squat (lower yourself into a chair - for advanced people don't put the toe of your non-working leg down). 1 legged deadlifts, split chair squats again and then 1-legged deadlifts on other side. Abs included: Stretch legs out and bring them in keeping chest off the floor, double and single bicycles, dougle leg lift (straight up and corkscrew), dying bug (opposite arm and leg lift (straight legs, then bent legs).

Cooldown consists of a few plie squats, alternating lunges with arm movements sweeping across the body and overhead, hip flexor stretch, some shoulder rolls and I can't remember what else.

Burned 406 calories during this workout and kept my HR up for almost the entire workout. Your legs will be like jelly if you do both workouts. One workout is sufficient to feel the legs worked. The ab sections are only about 5 minutes each but you really feel worked by the end.

Only problem I found with this workout was production-wise. You can either pick the full workout to Play All (both workouts) or otherwise you have to go to each chapter individually to play Warmup, Mega Moves Legs & Glutes, Mega Moves Abs, Master Moves Legs & Glutes, Master Moves Abs and Cooldown.

Instructor Comments:
Michele is a pleasant instructor. She gives easier and advanced modifications throughout. There is one part where she says something about not worrying about creaky or popping knees or joints. My joints always pop so it's not an issue for me but this statement was offensive to many people (understandably if you have knee issues).

Marcy

02/18/2011