40 Min Dumbbell Back & Bicep Workout is Day 16 in Caroline Girvan‘s first EPIC program. This was a tough but excellent workout. Though your biceps are definitely well worked, this is a back workout. In fact, 81% of the workout is all back work. Caroline works your back thoroughly. I loved it! This workout also hits more than just your back and biceps, though they are definitely the stars of the workout. Your shoulders and triceps are worked, too. So you are getting a nice upper body workout.
The exercises are done interval style; most of the exercises are done for 30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. If it is a single arm move then you do each arm back to back several times before you get the 30 second rest (2 minutes of work before you get a recovery). The pullovers are different; they are done for 60 seconds before you get your 30 second rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner 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. Caroline gives a lot of excellent form pointers during the intro.
40 Min Dumbbell Back & Bicep Workout is 48:12 minutes; 4 minute intro, no warm up and 1:20 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or bench and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 17.5kg/38.5 pound and 8kg/17.5 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- Single arm bent over row (one 35# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Repeat #1 & 2
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #1-4
- Landmine row (hold one DB by bar with both hands, bend over and row DB underneath you) (one 50# DB)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #6 & 7 three more times
- Single arm supine row (bent over row with palm facing forward) (one 35# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Repeat #9 & 10
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #9-12 (one 30# DB)
- Single arm rear delt row (elbow is out to side, palm facing behind you, do bent over rows with arm in this position) (one 20# DB)
- Repeat #14 on other arm
- Repeat #14 & 15
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #14-17
- Single arm lat sweep (hinge forward, working arm is straight, sweep straight arm up behind you, keeping arm straight and remaining hinged forward) (one 12# DB)
- Repeat #19 on other arm
- Repeat #19 & 20
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #19-22 (one 10# DB)
- Pullover (60 seconds) (one 30# DB)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #24 & 25
- Alternating renegade rows (25# DB)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #27 & 28 three more times
- Bent over double arm row (done at a brisk pace) (20# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #30 & 31
- Double arm supine row (palms facing forward) (done at a brisk pace) (20# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #33 & 34
- Hammer curls (16.5# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #36 & 37
- 1/2 curl to rotate (start with DBs in front of thighs, palms facing forward, raise halfway into bicep curl then rotate arms/DBs out to sides of body, keeping elbows close to sides, return DBs in front of you then lower DBs back to start) (15# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #39 & 40
- Curl pulses (start with DBs in front of thighs, palms facing forward, raise halfway into bicep curl, hold this position isometrically while doing little pulses upward) (13# DBs)
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #42 & 43
Finisher: (13# DBs)
- 7x bottom half (start with DBs in front of thighs, palms facing forward, raise halfway into bicep curl then lower 7x)
- 7x top half (start from the halfway point and lift to top of bicep curl, lowering only halfway 7x)
- 7x full range (7 full range bicep curls)
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
