Dumbbell HIIT Workout at Home | 15 Minutes

15 Minute HIIT Dumbbell Workout at Home is an add on/finisher workout from Caroline Girvan. I used it this morning in combination with Caroline’s Disciplined Dumbbell HIIT Workout from her EPIC Heat program. Normally I would use a workout like this as a finisher but I know from experience that Caroline’s EPIC Heat workouts usually wipe me out, so I did this workout first. This would be an excellent finisher for any total body strength workout that does not wipe you out. For my purposes today it was a great warm up! You will not want to use heavy dumbbells. Not only are these mostly compound exercises that work both the upper and lower body at the same time, but they are done at a brisk pace in order to achieve the cardio effect. This workout is done interval style: 30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals. Another timer appears in the center of the screen, counting down your recoveries. Caroline does not preview the next move like she does in her other workouts but the name of the exercises does appear during the recovery. Caroline previews all of the exercises during the intro but the sound quality of the intro is horrible. The sound is fine during the actual workout.

I really enjoyed this workout. My heart rate never elevated into my peak heart rate zone as it should have during a HIIT workout, but I think that had more to do with the long recovery. 30 seconds actually seemed like a long time, giving me plenty of time to fully recovery from the exercise I just finished. When I return to this workout in the future I think I will try to lift a bit heavier for some of the exercises. ***I did return to to this workout and used it as a finisher for another total body strength workout. I increased my dumbbells (noted below) and got a great workout. Perfect finisher!***

15 Minute HIIT Dumbbell Workout at Home is 18:36 minutes; 2:38 minute intro, no warm up and no stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 6kg/13 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. Front squat into overhead press (hands rotate so palms face forward at top of press) (15# DBs)
2. Stationary lunge with lateral raise (raise arms at bottom of lunge) (6# DBs)
3. Repeat #2 on other side of body
4. Deadlift into rear delt fly (10# DBs)
5. Squat to curl (wide deep squat, hold at the bottom of squat and do a bicep curl before standing) (15# DBs)
6. Plank to thruster (start in plank, jump feet into hands so you are in squat, do a bicep curl then stand and do an overhead press) (16.5# DBs)
7. Snatch (stand with legs wide and one DB in one hand, squat, reaching DB toward floor, as you stand pull DB up as if doing an upright row then flip it at shoulder level so palm is facing forward and do an overhead press) (one 16.5# DB)
8. Repeat #7 on other side of body
9. Lateral lunge to upright row (stationary side lunge with double arm upright row at top of lunge) (13# DBs)
10. Repeat #9 on other side of body
11. Tricep press with leg lower hold (lay on mat with legs extended straight and elevated a few inches off the floor, do narrow chest presses in this position) (16.5# DBs)
12. Flys with leg lower (lay on back with legs raised straight to ceiling, do one chest fly then lower legs almost to floor and raise them back to start, alternate the fly with the leg lower) (18# DBs)
13. Sit up to driving car (lay on mat, knees bent and feet on mat, holding one DB in both hands, do a full sit up and rotate DB side to side like a steering wheel 4x) (one 10# DB)
14. Plank to side raise (in straight arm plank, holding one DB in one hand, rotate into side plank while also raising DB to ceiling) (one 10# DB)
15. Repeat #14 on other side of body
16. Burpees (no push up)

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