Bigger Back & Bicep Workout – Unilateral Training is Day 38 in Caroline Givan‘s EPIC III program. This is an excellent workout that works your back and biceps hard. Caroline looks like she is dying during the finisher! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her struggle that much! It was a very tough finisher. Caroline is using heavier dumbbells for the rows than what I’ve seen her use in the past (but I am also not doing all of her EPIC III workouts, so she might have been using a 44 pound dumbbell for rows for a while), which encouraged me to up my weight for rows. I’ve been sticking with 35 pounds for a while. It definitely highlighted how one side of my body is stronger than the other. After the first 8 exercises I felt like I could continue using 37.5 pounds with my right arm but my left arm needed to drop back to 35. But still–I got 4 sets each arm at a heavier weight. I’ll keep starting with 37.5 pounds now and drop to 35 when necessary. I’ll eventually build up the strength in my left arm. I got a great upper body workout this morning. My biceps felt really pumped by the end of this workout.
This workout is done interval style. The exercises are done for 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery 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.
Bigger Back & Bicep Workout – Unilateral Training is 46:21 minutes; 2:35 minute intro, no warm up and 2:45 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, a chair or bench and a fitness mat. Caroline is using 8kg/17.6 pounds and 20kg/44 pounds dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.
- Single arm bent over row (one 37.5# DB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Repeat #1 & 2
- Single arm deadstop momentum row (single arm bent over row, place DB on floor at bottom of row, release DB, grasp DB again and pull up fast, using momentum to assist) (one 37.5# DB)
- Repeat #4 on other arm
- Repeat #4 & 5
- Supine row (bent over single arm row with palm facing forward) (one 35# DB)
- Repeat # 7 on other arm
- Repeat #7 & 8
- Sweep w/ pause at top (hinge forward, holding one DB in one hand, keeping arm straight and palm facing you, sweep arm up behind you and pause briefly at top of lift) (one 10# DB)
- Repeat #10 on other arm
- Repeat #10 & 11
- Repeat #1 & 2 (one 35# DB)
- Repeat #4 & 5 (one 35# DB)
- Arm tuck curl (single arm bicep curl, other hand is placed under tricep) (one 16.5# DB)
- Repeat #15 on other arm
- Repeat # 15 & 16
- Cross body curl (do a single arm hammer curl with palm facing body, bringing DB to opposite shoulder at top of curl) (16.5# DBs)
- Repeat #18 on other arm
- Repeat #18 & 19
- Repeat #1 & 2 (one 35# DB)
- Repeat #4 & 5 (one 35# DB)
- Hammer curl w/ hold (single arm hammer curl, other arm holds DB isometrically at mid-lift–switch arms after 20 seconds) (15# DBs)
- Repeat #23
- Wide curl w/ hold (same as #23 but arms are open to sides, elbows kept against body) (13# DBs)
- Repeat #25
- Alternating bicep curls (start w/ DBs at sides in hammer position but when lifting, rotate DB so palm faces you) (16.5# DBs)
- Repeat #27
Finisher: (each exercise is done for 20 seconds, no rests) (15# DBs)
- Alternating hammer curls
- Hold both DBs isometrically at mid-lift
- Repeat #1 & 2
- Repeat #1
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
I did this one today. I used 37.5lb, like you. I’m not sure I could have gone to 40s because at 37.5 I was thoroughly challenged. I used 17.5lb for biceps except for the exercises where you went down, too. I went with 12s and boy that was plenty! Tomorrow I’m repeating Day 8 upper body destroyer which is chest/tri/shoulders, so a good complement to this one.
Holy cow … remember a couple days ago I did legs and mentioned that Caroline burned out my calves at the end? Well, that resulted in some pretty terrible DOMS in my calves which I hate because it makes moving anywhere super annoying. But I was happy that she worked them well enough to feel that because not many of her LB workouts include calves (primary, anyway).
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Once you start rebounding you will work your calves well every time you do an intense rebounding workout. You’ll stop worrying about whether or not a lower body workout isolates your calves because they get everything they need from frequent rebounding! My husband frequently makes comments on my calves–which started after I started rebounding!
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This was the first time I could remember her reaching for the 44s … I even went wow, that’s tough!
I did day 39 calisthenics yesterday. I had quite a bit of trepidation based on how unenjoyable the 2 other similar workouts were that I had done previously. On those I think she did 4 exercises for 3 minutes. For this one she did 2 exercises for 2 minutes before taking a break. Challenging for sure, but doable and actually enjoyable which kinda blows me away!
Today I did a couple ab/cardio/booty workouts from nobadaddiction.
Oh, on Saturday I did this sarabeth ham stretch (https://youtu.be/IC9JNtmkjnQ). This was the BEST stretching for my hamstrings. I’ve had tight hammies and soreness for a long, long time. Never really went away no matter what I did. For whatever reason, this one nailed it. I am no longer sore and my flexibility has improved dramatically! The practice wasn’t even hard or uncomfortable for me. I’m kind of shocked, actually. But yay anyway for no more soreness!
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That looks like a good Sara Beth Stretch. I added it to my To Do list. I really enjoyed her 10 minute yin pigeon practice. That one was really nice.
44 pounds is so impressive. One day I will do some of Caroline’s calisthenics workouts. Mid-November I’m starting the 7 week rotation I posted last week with a few substitutions here and there. So I won’t be doing many new-to-me Caroline workouts for a while after this week.
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