Squat and Press NO LESS Full Body Workout / EPIC II Day 34

This was actually the first workout by Caroline Girvan that I previewed and I was very impressed. I ended up trying some of her other workouts before finally getting to this one, but I didn’t forget about it. I was actually a little afraid of this workout but it didn’t end up being as brutal as I feared. It was a tough workout but I also didn’t go crazy trying to lift heavy. This workout is primarily made up of squats and overhead press variations. I’ve already had one shoulder surgery so I am always careful with shoulder exercises. I used primarily 15 pound dumbbells for all of the overhead press exercises and that challenged me but didn’t leave me wiped out by the end of the workout. The squat to overhead press is a full body exercise so doing a zillion variations of this exercise will give you an excellent metabolic total body workout.

This workout is part of Caroline’s EPIC II program. If you are interested in the program Caroline has an entire program PDF on her website. It is a pretty advanced program. I am not doing the program. I am just doing workouts of Caroline’s that interest me, whether they are part of a program or not. This workout is done interval fashion: each exercise is done for 40 seconds followed by 20 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. Caroline previews your next exercise during the recovery. This workout is set to great music, no talking. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. There is also a lot of other instruction on screen to help you through the workout.

Squat and Press NO LESS Full Body Workout / EPIC II Day 34 is 51:30 minutes; 1 minute intro, no warm and 4 minute stretch. Caroline has provided a 5 minute full body warm up that you should do before starting this workout. It does a great job warming up your entire body. Equipment: dumbbells. Caroline is using 10kg/22 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Front squat into overhead press (hold DBs at shoulders when squatting, palms facing you, when you do the overhead press, rotate palms so they face the front) (15# DBs)
2. Repeat #1
3. Suitcase squat to clean to press (squat with DBs at side, clean DBs to shoulders into overhead press) (15# DBs)
4. Repeat #3
5. RDL (Romanian deadlift) to squat to press (deadlift, at top of deadlift bringing DBs to shoulders and do a front squat and when you stand do an overhead press) (15# DBs)
6. Repeat #5
7. Front squats (20# DBs)
8. Repeat #7
9. Squat 5x + overhead push press 5x (push press=overhead press, but slightly bend knees to push up with lower body to help you get DBs overhead) (15# DBs)
10. Repeat #9
11. Half squats (hold one DB at chest with both hands, do partial squats for 10 seconds then stand and press DB overhead) (one 20# DB)
12. Repeat #11
13. Slow squat into overhead press (15# DBs)
14. Repeat #13
15. Front squat (20# DBs)
16. Squat into single arm overhead press (one 15# DB)
17. Repeat #16 on other arm
18. Repeat #16 & 17
19. Sumo hold (curl to press on beep) (hold sumo squat isometrically for approx. 10 seconds, holding one DB in both hands between legs, at the beep, curl DB, stand and do an overhead press) (one 20# DB)
20. Repeat #19
21. Front squats (20# DBs)
22. Body weight squats
23. Repeat #22 but only do partial squats (lower into squat but only raise halfway)
24. Staggered squat to single arm press (single leg squat–you are in split stance but with most of the weight on your front leg, overhead press is done with same arm as front leg) (one 15# DB)
25. Repeat #24 on other side of body
26. Repeat #24 & 25
27. Front squats (20# DBs)
28. 2 squats + 2 single arm overhead press + one squat thrust (hold one DB at shoulder when squatting; when doing squat thrust, you are still holding DB–so one hand is on the DB/one on the floor when you jump back to plank, when you jump feet back into hands, hold deep squat and do a bicep curl to bring DB to shoulder and stand w/ DB at shoulder) (one 15# DB)
29. Repeat #28 on other side of body
30. Repeat #28 & 29
31. Squat to diagonal press (hold one DB by bar with both hands, squat holding DB at chest level and at top of squat press DB upward, in front of you but high overhead on an angle) (one 15# DB)
32. Repeat #31
33. Front squats (20# DBs)
34. Squat to rotational press (squat while holding one DB at shoulder, at top of squat, pivot on one foot (same foot as hand holding DB) and rotate torso to side while doing a single arm overhead press) (one 12# DB)
35. Repeat #34 on other side of body
36. Repeat #34 & 35
37. Single arm snatch (squat, reaching DB toward floor, as you stand, pull DB up upright row fashion until you get to shoulder level then flip elbow so weight of DB is in palm and do an overhead press) (one 15# DB)
38. Repeat #37 on other side of body
39. Repeat #37 & 38
40. Front squats (20# DB)

Finisher=do each exercise for 20 seconds with no rest between each exercise

1. Front squat into an overhead press (see #1 above) (15# DBs)
2. Squat into overhead press holding one DB in both hands (one 20# DB)
3. Body weight squats

For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.