MUSCLE BUILDING Back and Bicep Workout | EPIC III Day 26

Muscle Building Back and Bicep Workout is Day 26 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC III program. This was a very tough workout. For me at least. This workout contains a staple exercise (#1 & 2 below) which is done a total of 3 times in the course of the workout. I actually prepared for it, too. I decided to use my 50 pound dumbbell for the landmine rows since that is what I always use in other workouts. But since it is superset with another exercise (bent over double arm rows) I went went lighter than usual with the double arm rows. I still burned out big time on the landmine rows! So when we returned to it later in the workout I dropped to a 40 pound dumbbell. That was more manageable after 45 seconds of double arm rows. 76% of this workout is focused back work. The last 24% of the workout is bicep isolation work. However, all of the back exercises are compound exercises, so your biceps are being worked hard throughout the back exercises. I mention this because I was so burned out by the time we got to the bicep exercises, I did not even try to use my 16.5 pound dumbbells. This was yet another excellent and tough upper body strength workout from Caroline.

The exercises in this workout are done interval style. You will two exercises, each for 45 seconds, before you get a 30 second recovery. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner of the screen counting down the intervals and the recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercises. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. During the intro, Caroline gives a lot of good and important form information on how to perform the tempo exercises properly.

Muscle Building Back and Bicep Workout is 45:56 minutes; 3:13 minute intro, no warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a yoga block and fitness mat. Caroline is using 17.5kg/38.6 pounds and 8kg/17.6 pounds dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

1. 2x dumbbell row (double arm bent over row) (25# DBs)
2. Landmine row (pause at top) (hold one DB by bar with both hands, bend over and row DB underneath you) (one 50# DB)
3. 30 second rest
4. Single arm row (lower slowly) (one 35# DB)
5. Repeat #4 on other arm
6. 30 second rest
7. Single arm row (pause at top of row) (one 35# DB)
8. Repeat #7 on other arm
9. 30 second rest
10. Single arm row (momentum lift) (lift fast–with momentum–and lower slowly) (one 35# DB)
11. Repeat #10 on other arm
12. 30 second rest
13. Repeat #1-3 (I dropped to one 40# DB for the landmine row)
14. Pullover (lower slowly and raise at normal speed) (one 30# DB)
15. Pullover (pause at bottom of move)
16. 30 second rest
17. Repeat #14-16 two more times
18. Single deadstop row (single arm bent over row, place DB on floor at bottom of row, releasing DB, grasp DB again and complete row, pausing at top of row) (one 35# DB)
19. Single arm deadstop row same arm but lift with momentum (one 35# DB)
20. 30 second rest
21. Repeat #18-20 on other arm
22. Repeat #1-3
23. Single arm renegade row (other hand is on yoga block) (one 25# DB)
24. Repeat #23 on other arm
25. 30 second rest
26. Repeat #23-25
27. No touch renegade row (other hand is on yoga block, do single arm renegade rows to a brisk pace, DB does not touch the mat) (one 16.5# DB)
28. Repeat #27 on other arm
29. 30 second rest
30. Rotate no touch row (repeat #27 but start with DB facing behind you, as you row up, rotate DB so palm faces in front of you) (one 16.5# DB)
31. Repeat #30 on other arm
32. 30 second rest
33. Bicep curl (pause at the halfway point when lowering) (15# DBs)
34. Cheat curl (bicep curls, lower very slowly and raise fast with momentum) (15# DBs)
35. 30 second rest
36. Wide curl (pause at the halfway point when lowering) (13# DBs)
37. Wide cheat curl (lower very slowly and raise fast with momentum) (13# DBs)
38. 30 second rest
39. X body single arm curl pause at top for 30 seconds (do a hammer curl with palms facing body, bringing DB to opposite shoulder at top of curl and pause) (15# DBs)
40. Repeat #39 on other arm for 30 seconds
41. Alternating X body single arm curls for 30 seconds (15# DBs)
42. 30 second rest
43. Double arm hammer curl (pause at the halfway mark when lowering) (15# DBs)
44. Hammer curl alternate hold (alternating hammer curls, hold non-curling DB isometrically at halfway point while other is curling) (13# DBs)
45. 30 second rest

Finisher: (each exercise is done for 30 seconds)

1. Hammer curl burn out (double arm hammer curls) (15# DBs)
2. Continue hammer curl but hold one DB in both hands (one 15# DB)

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