No gym, no problem when you have a set of dumbbells at hand and 30 minutes to spare in your day. This five-move routine targets the muscles in your body, strengthens and builds muscle, and boosts your metabolism.
The beauty of this routine designed by trainer James Stirling (also known as The London Fitness Guy on Instagram) is that it relies on minimal equipment to achieve maximum results.
You can perform the entire routine with a standard pair of dumbbells, just make sure you can lift the weight on all exercises (some movements will be more demanding than others). Or, better yet, if you own a set of the best adjustable dumbbells , you can work off of a single set of dumbbells and simply change the load as you like throughout the workout.
What is the 30-Minute Dumbbell Full Body Workout?
The game objective for Stirling's total body strengthening routine is to complete 10 repetitions of each exercise. This is not high-intensity interval training (HIIT), so you don't have to worry about working as hard as you can for a set amount of time, you just have to focus on executing the correct form for each movement and adjusting to the time under tension.
Time under tension refers to the length of time a muscle or muscle group is under tension. Slowing down the number of repetitions and increasing the repetition time is an effective way to encourage muscle growth. Here are exercises you can try.
- Goblet Squat: 10 reps
- Lunges and clean: 10 reps each side
- Push-up Drags: 10 reps
- Kneeling press: 10 reps
- Jack Knife: 10 reps
This dumbbell workout is great for targeting multiple major muscle groups in one short, half-hour session. You get a double-boost of lower-body strength with Goblet Squats and Lunge Cleans that help strengthen your legs, glutes, and core. During the last part of the Lunge Cleans, you'll hit your biceps, triceps, and engage your lower back to perform the clean.
Meanwhile, push-ups and knee presses will sculpt your chest, shoulders, and arms. We know how much people hate but love to train their abs and core, so of course this routine ends with some knives. This move is great for targeting your rectus abdominis (otherwise known as your “six-pack muscles”) as well as your hip flexors, which play a key role in lower-body mobility.
The variety of strength training exercises included in this workout will also help increase muscle mass, especially if you focus on incorporating the popular progressive overload training technique into your session. As your muscles grow, your body requires more energy to maintain them and therefore burns more calories when you rest, giving your metabolism a boost.