Full Throttle Full Body Dumbbell Workout / Cardio | EPIC II – Day 40

Full Throttle Full Body Dumbbell Workout / Cardio is Day 40 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC 2 program. This was a long and grueling workout. I am not sure what possessed me to want to do it. I am not sorry I did it but I have no desire to ever do it again. This is a drop set workout. You are working a single muscle group for 135 seconds/2:15 minutes without a break. Every 45 seconds you drop some weight. It is burn out city. I hit muscle failure multiple times in the course of this workout–as did Caroline. Though this workout is a total body strength workout, your lower body, chest and shoulders get the bulk of the work. It is also very metabolic. I burned 475 calories in 69 minutes. One thing I really did not like about this workout is that Caroline put the back work at the very end of the workout–55 minutes into a grueling workout. I had my 30 pound dumbbells set out but I simply could not at that point. I wanted to but even with my 25 pound dumbbells I hit muscle failure. Caroline was using 22.5 pound dumbbells and she hit muscle failure during the back work multiple times–and she is much stronger than I am! This workout is obviously no joke.

This workout is done interval style. You will do everything in 3 minute blocks: 3 exercises, each for 45 seconds, one right after the other (no recovery between) followed by a 45 second recovery before moving on to the next 3 minute block. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the upcoming exercises. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. This workout is done to music with plenty of visual cues as well as “dings” to keep you on track.

Full Throttle Full Body Dumbbell Workout / Cardio is 69:39 minutes; 3:30 minute intro, no warm up and 3:20 minute stretch. I used Caroline’s 5 Min Full Body Warm Up. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Optional: a yoga block for deadstop lunges. Caroline is using 10kg/22.5 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used the 4 inch topper for my square step for the deadstop lunges.

1. Deadstop lunge w/ 2 DBs (front foot is on yoga block, lower all the way into a kneeling lunge, with knee on floor/mat, before raising back to starting position) (15# DBs)
2. Deadstop lunge w/ 1 DB (DB held same side hand as front leg) (one 15# DB)
3. Body weight deadstop lunge
4. 45 seconds rest
5. Repeat 1-4 on other side of body
6. Double arm shoulder press (arms are in goalpost) (15# DBs)
7. Shoulder press holding one DB in both hands (one 20# DB)
8. Pike push ups
9. 45 seconds rest
10. Repeat 6-9
11. Maker with 2 DBs (start in plank, do one renegade row each arm, jump feet into DBs so you are in squat, do a double arm bicep curl, stand w/ DBs at shoulders, do one overhead press, squat and place DBs on the floor, jump feet back to plank and do one push up) (15# DBs)
12. Repeat #11 with one DB (one 15# DB)
13. Repeat #12 on other arm
14. 45 seconds of rest
15. Kneel to squat with 2 DBs (holding DBs at shoulders, do one squat then a reverse lunge, lowering knee to floor/mat so you are in kneeling lunge) (15# DBs)
16. Repeat #15 with one DB (DB held in same side hand as front leg) (one 15# DB)
17. Kneel to squat body weight
18. 45 seconds rest
19. Repeat #15-18 on other side of body
20. Chest flys (15# DBs)
21. Single arm chest flys, alternate arms (15# DBs)
22. Wide push ups
23. 45 second rest
24. Repeat #20-23
25. Repeat #11-14
26. RDL to squat with 2 DBs (alternate deadlift with a squat) (25# DBs)
27. Repeat #26 holding one DB in both hands (one 25# DB)
28. Repeat #26 with no DBs/body weight
29. 45 seconds rest
30. Repeat #26-29
31. Chest press (20# DBs)
32. Single arm chest press, alternate arms (20# DBs)
33. Push ups
34. 45 second rest
35. Repeat #31-34
36. Repeat #11-14
37. Staggered RDL to staggered squat w/ 2 DBs (single leg deadlift alternated with single leg squat) (20# DBs)
38. Repeat #37 with one DB (one 20# DB)
39. Repeat #37 body weight/no DBs
40. 45 second rest
41. Repeat #37-40 on other side of body
42. Double arm bent over row (25# DBs)
43. Single arm bent over row, alternate arms (25# DBs)
44. Bent over row holding one DB in both hands (one 25# DB)
45. 45 second rest
46. Repeat #42-45

Finisher (3 minutes, no rest) (I used 15# DBs for everything)

1. Squat to overhead press w/ 2 DBs
2. Uneven squat to press (squat with single arm overhead press)
3. Repeat #2 on other side of body
4. Repeat #1 holding one DB in both hands

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