30 Min Dumbbell Leg Day Complex Workout is Day 26 in Caroline Girvan‘s Fuel Series. Another tough metabolic lower body workout. This one burned my legs out! It was kicking Caroline’s butt., too, especially all of the step ups. This workout consists of complexes, but it is done a little differently than Caroline’s other complex workouts. Each complex is done for 2 minutes. Once you finish the complex you get 15 second of rest then you do a staple exercise (sprawl to alternating rear lunge) for 30 seconds. Once you complete the staple you get 30 seconds of rest. The staple appears after every single complex. Each complex contains 2 exercises. What this means is you are doing 2 exercises with no rest between exercises and you do not stop alternating those two exercises until the time is up. As already mentioned, each complex is done for 2 minutes. The complex you are working through is listed in the lower left hand corner of the screen for your reference. It lists each exercise you are doing and the amount of reps you do for each exercise. This is especially useful if you cannot keep pace with Caroline then you can still keep track of your complex. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen, counting down your 2 minutes of work as well as your other intervals and recoveries. Caroline previews your next complex during the recovery. This workout is set to great music, no talking. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.
30 Min Dumbbell Leg Day Complex Workout is 38:15 minutes; 2:44 minute intro, no warm up and 2:35 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, plyo box or step and fitness mat. Caroline is using 15kg/33.1 pound dumbbells and her plyo box is 20 inches high. The weights listed below are what I used.
Complex 1:
- High squats, 10 reps (squats w/ DBs at shoulders) (25# DBs)
- Alternating reverse lunges, 10 reps (20# DBs)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest
Staple: Sprawl to alternating rear lunge for 30 seconds (body weight, place hands on floor, jump feet back to plank, jump feet back to hands stand and do alternating reverse lunges, one each leg) (Caroline shows a low impact version where you step back into plank rather than jump)
30 second rest
Complex 2:
- Static lunge, 10 reps (stationary lunges) (20# DBs)
- Hand tap to knee drive lunge, 10 reps (body weight, step back into reverse lunge, tapping one hand to floor, when you raise out of lunge, bring back leg forward into a knee raise)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Repeat Complex 2 on other side of body
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Complex 3:
- RDL, 10 reps (Romanian deadlifts) (35# DBs)
- Alternating step ups, 20 reps (body weight, step onto box/high step then step back down, alternate lead leg)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Complex 4:
- Goblet squat, 10 reps (one 45# DB)
- Hand to floor squats or jump squats, 10 reps (hand to floor squats: lower into squat touching hands to floor, when you stand, raise onto toes)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Complex 5:
- Lateral lunge, 10 reps (static/stationary side lunge holding one DB) (one 30# DB)
- Side step up, 20 reps (stand beside box/high step with one foot on step, using step leg, lift yourself onto step then lower other leg back to floor)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Repeat Complex 5 on other side of body
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Complex 6:
- Rear step lunge, 10 reps (reverse lunges, holding one DB at shoulder of working leg) (one 20# DB)
- Momentum step ups, 20 reps (face box/high step with one foot on step, using step leg, lift yourself onto step then lower other leg back to floor)
- Repeat #1 & 2 as many times as possible within 2 minutes
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Repeat Complex 6 on other side of body
15 second rest followed by Staple followed by 30 second rest
Finisher: (2:15 minutes, no rest/recoveries)
- Squat + reverse lunge, 60 seconds (holding a DB in each hand, alternate one squat with one reverse lunge, alternate legs when doing the reverse lunge) (20# DBs)
- Repeat #1 with no dumbbells/body weight
- Hand to floor squats or jump squats for 15 seconds
For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
