Dumbbell Single Arm Overhead Squat question

[Bonnie]

The book tells you how to do this puppy, and at the end it says "Do all your reps, then switch arms and repeat the set."

Okay, so I'm very literal-minded. It says "switch arms," not "switch dumbbells." So when I first read this, I took "switch arms" to mean that one set looks like this:

1. Right arm holds lighter DB in air, left arm holds heavier DB down between legs. Squat six times.
2. Left arm holds heavier DB in air, right arm holds lighter DB down between legs. Squat six times.

At the end of 3 sets you've done 36 squats, but each arm gets an "uneven" workout, which seemed kind of odd to me but I just hoped it would work out somehow in the end.

But now I'm wondering if "switch arms" means to switch dumbbells, too, so that you're always raising the lighter one in the air. One set looks like this:

1. Right arm holds lighter DB in air, left arm holds heavier DB down between legs. Squat six times.
2. Left arm holds lighter DB in air, right arm holds heavier DB down between legs. Squat six times.

At the end of 3 sets you've done 36 squats and each arm gets an "even" workout. This makes more sense to me. Like, d'uh! Maybe I've been doing them wrong.

(If this is a really obvious question, don't forget you're dealing with a human dumbbell.)

[LisaS]

You are correct. You change which arm is up/down. Keep the light db up and the heavy db down (which implies switching hands) since that is the exercise.

Similarly, if doing a one-arm row, doing all reps for one arm and then switching arms to repeat the reps - you wouldn't do the 2nd arm empty-handed, you'd switch the db to that arm.

[Bonnie]

Thank you, LisaS. I guess now I know that if a workout seems uneven, I'm probably doing it wrong!