Chris & Edi: 45 Min DUMBBELL LOWER BODY STRENGTH WORKOUT | Glutes, Hamstrings & Core Focus

Chris & Edi are new to me YouTube trainers that were recommended to me by a reader of this blog (thank you!!! 🙏🏻). It took me a while to get to them because I was in the midst of a 10 1/2 month rotation but now that I’m done with that, I picked out one of their workouts and gave them a try. I loved this workout. LOVED IT. It is a solid lower body strength workout that is paced so that you can challenge yourself with heavier dumbbells. And I was really surprised and impressed with the long stretch at the end. I love how they previewed each upcoming stretch, too, and did the stretches interval style as well. In fact, everything is done interval style and previewed before it is performed. From the excellent warm up to the thorough stretch at the end–all previewed. I actually planned to try another new-to-me trainer tomorrow for upper body but after doing this workout I have changed my mind. I am doing a Chris & Edi upper body workout tomorrow. I currently have my workouts scheduled through the end of of the year but who knows? I may swap some out for more Chris & Edi workouts. I will definitely be doing more of their workouts in the future.

The interval and recovery times vary in this workout and are noted in the breakdown below. There is a timer in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. Chris and Edi preview the next move during the recoveries. There is a progress bar in the upper left hand side of the screen counting down the workout time as a percentage. This is a follow along workout, set to music with no talking.

45 Min Dumbbell lower Body Strength Workout is 55:34 minutes; 6:40 minute warm up and 9 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells, chair or wall (something to hold for balance) and fitness mat. Chris is using 22.5kg/49.6 pound and 7kg/15.4 pound dumbbells. Edi is using 20kg/44 pound and 5kg/11 pound dumbbells. They use their heavier weight for everything except the first core exercise. For that they used their lighter weight. The weights listed below are what I used.

Lower Body:

1. Forward lean kickstand squat for 50 seconds (single leg squat, back/non-working leg is in kickstand, hold one heavy DB at same side shoulder as front/working leg, torso hinges forward over front thigh at bottom of squat) (one 40# DB)
2. 30 second rest
3. Repeat #1 & 2 on other leg
4. Repeat #1-3
5. Glute focused split squat for 50 seconds (static/stationary lunge holding one heavy DB in same side hand as back leg, torso hinges forward over front leg) (one 30# DB)
6. 30 second rest
7. Repeat #5 & 6 on other leg
8. Repeat #4-7
9. Sumo deadlift (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, hold one heavy DB by bar with both hands, lower into sumo squat with torso hinged forward deadlift style) (one 65# DB)
10. 30 second rest
11. Repeat #9 & 10 two more times
12. 60 second water break
13. Hamstring bridge for 40 seconds (lay on back on mat, legs are extended with knees partially bent and heels on mat, one heavy DB (or barbell) rests on hips, raise hips and lower slowly) (barbell @ 115#)
14. 20 second rest
15. Standing hamstring curl for 40 seconds (standing close to a wall or chair, lift one leg behind you while hinging torso forward, bend and straighten knee of extended leg bringing heel to glutes)
16. 15 second rest
17. Repeat #15 on other leg
18. 30 second rest
19. Repeat #13-18
20. Lateral lunge for 40 seconds (step out side lunge, hold one DB in same side hand as stationary leg, reach DB toward foot of leg that steps out as you lunge) (one 35# DB)
21. 20 second rest
22. Repeat #20 & 21 on other leg
23. Side lying hip raises for 40 seconds (lay on one hip and same side elbow on mat, both legs are bent at 90 degrees, lift hips while also raising top bent leg then lower hip back to mat while closing legs)
24. 20 second rest
25. Repeat #23 on other side of body
26. 30 second rest
27. Repeat 20-26

Core Circuit:

1. Kneeling core stabilizer for 40 seconds (in high double kneeling on mat, hold one DB in both hands, do a straight arm front raise, when arms/DB is at shoulder level, hold there isometrically and rotate DB/arms/torso to one side then to the other, return arms/DB to straight in front of you and lower DB to thighs) (one 10# DB)
2. 20 second rest
3. Plank crunches for 40 seconds (hold forearm plank, raise glutes while rounding lower spine and tilting pelvis under as if crunching)
4. 20 second rest
5. Figure 4 crunches for 40 seconds (lay on back with one leg extended straight and same side arm extended out to side on mat, other knee is bent with ankle crossed just above knee of opposite leg, same side arm is extended overhead, crunch upper body while also lifting straight leg to ceiling and reaching extended opposite arm to foot)
6. 20 second rest
7. Repeat #5 on other side of body
8. 30 second rest
9. Repeat #1-8

For more info on Chris & Edi and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.