UNILATERAL Full Body Workout at Home with Dumbbells

Unilateral Full Body Workout at Home with Dumbbells is another excellent total body strength workout from Caroline Girvan. The “unilateral” means you work one side of the body at time. This was a very enjoyable workout and the time seemed to fly. It is not as metabolic as many of her other total body strength workouts–until the end that is. Then it gets very metabolic. I feel like this is one of those workouts you can really grow with. If you return to it frequently enough you could build strength and gradually increase the amount of weight you are lifting. Even though I was challenging myself with the weight I lifted, I definitely felt the potential in almost every exercise for lifting heavier. Starting mid-September I plan to stop doing a new workout nearly every day and start building rotations (for myself) using mainly the workouts already reviewed here. When I do that, this will definitely be featured frequently.

This workout is done interval style: each exercise is done for 45 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest. This workout has a staple exercise: single leg deadlifts. It is every third exercise so that you do it 3 times in the course of the workout. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. A few of the exercises at the end have some impact. Caroline shows low impact alternatives during the previews.

***I am using this workout as part of the Strength & Muscle Building Rotation I created. Since this is one of the workouts I am using as a sort of measuring stick, in the breakdown below I am adding the date and the weight I used on that date. The first weight (without a date) is the weight I used when I created this review. If there is just a weight and no date then I used the same weight; so no change.***

Unilateral Full Body Workout at Home with Dumbbells is 50:13 minutes; 2:20 minute intro, no warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 9kg/19.8 pound and 17.5kg/38.6 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used. I also used my weight bench for exercises where you are laying down.

1. Single arm bent over row (one 37.5# DB) (8/27/22 one 40# DB) (10/01/22 one 42.5# DB) (11/12/22 one 45# DB)
2. Repeat #1 on other arm
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Uneven squat (hold one dumbbell in one hand at shoulder) (one 35# DB) (11/12/22 one 40# DB)
5. Repeat #4 with DB in other hand
6. Repeat #4 & 5
7. Staggered RDL (single leg deadlift, back leg is in kickstand) (one 35# DB) (10/01/22 & 11/12/22 one 40# DB)
8. Repeat #7 on other side of body
9. Repeat #7 & 8
10. Single side chest press (one 22.5# DB) (8/27/22 one 25# DB) (10/01/22 one 27.5# DB) (11/12/22 one 30# DB)
11. Repeat #10 on other arm
12. Repeat #10 & 11
13. Static lunge (stationary lunges) (20# DBs) (10/01/22 & 11/12/22 25# DBs)
14. Repeat #13 on other side of body
15. Repeat #13 & 14
16. Repeat #7-9
17. Single arm Arnold press (one 16.5# DB) (8/27/22 one 20# DB) (10/01/22 one 22.5# DB) (11/12/22/ one 25# DB first set, one 22.5# DB second set)
18. Repeat #17 on other arm
19. Repeat #17 & 18
20. Rear delt row (bent over single arm row with elbow out to side and palm facing behind you) (one 20# DB) (10/01/22 one 22.5# DB) (11/12/22 one 25# DB)
21. Repeat #20 on other arm
22. Repeat #20 & 21
23. Repeat #7-9
24. Squat to press (hold one DB in one hand at shoulder, squat and when you stand do a single arm overhead press) (one 16.5# DB) (8/27/22 one 18# DB) (10/01/22 one 20# DB) (11/12/22 one 22.5# DB)
25. Repeat #24 on other side of body
26. Single side maker (hold one DB in one hand, start in plank, do one renegade row, jump feet into hand/DB so you are in squat, do a single arm bicep curl, stand w/ DB at shoulder, do one single arm overhead press, squat and place DB/hand on the floor, jump feet back to plank and do one push up) (one 16.5# DB) (8/27/22 one 18# DB) (10/01/22 & 11/12/22 one 20# DB)
27. Repeat #26 w/ DB in other hand
28. One side staggered squat to press (single leg squat, back/non-working leg is in kickstand, hold one DB in same side hand as working leg, holding DB at shoulder do one squat and at top of squat do one single arm overhead press) (one 16.5# DB) (8/27/22 & 10/01/22 one 18# DB) (11/12/22 one 20# DB)
29. Repeat #28 on other side of body
30. One sided chest to floor burpee (holding one DB in one hand, place DB/hand on floor, jump feet back to plank, lower body to floor, push body back to plank, jump feet into hands and when you stand, do one single arm kettlebell swing using the DB, swinging DB overhead) (one 16.5# DB) (10/01/22 one 18# DB) (11/12/22 one 20# DB)
31. Repeat #30 on other side of body

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