What’s the reason you work out? Is it to improve your mental health? Help you find some headspace in your busy working week? Or is it to feel like the strongest, healthiest, and best version of yourself?
Whatever your reasons for doing so, the great thing about strength training is that this often low-impact form of exercise can tick off all of the above and more. Just take this 30-minute workout from fitness duo trainers Juice and Toya, which focuses on helping you build muscle and strength.
Using a couple of moderate to heavy dumbbells (although if you plan on working out at home each week, it’s well worth investing in a pair of the best adjustable dumbbells, as they’re effortless to store and the load can be adjusted easily as you get stronger), the duo has devised a full-body workout that will hit every major muscle group in your body in minutes.
“This is going to be a great workout if you’re looking to build some muscle and build some strength,” Toya says. “Both are important for your joint health and your bone health, but also important if you’re looking to lose some body fat,” the trainer adds.
Watch Juice and Toya’s 30-minute full-body workout
The workout is split into two groups of 10 exercises with no repeats included. These are a mix of upper and lower body exercises to make sure that you’re getting a full-body workout. Like many of the best workouts that are 30 minutes or under, this session has been designed into a high-intensity resistance training (HIRT) where the idea is to train intensely with weights in short bursts with minimal rest.
In this session, you’ll complete each move for 40 seconds before enjoying a 20-second break. In between the two groups of 10 exercises, you’ll have a longer 60 seconds to catch your breath.
Instead of trying to cram as many exercise reps into each 40-second interval, the trainers suggest aiming for 10 to 15 repetitions per exercise. “If it’s too difficult to get in those reps, you should lighten the weight and really make it work for you and focus on the form,” Juice says. The same goes for if it’s too easy. If that’s the case, you might wish to increase the resistance. For reference, Toya switches between 10lbs to 20lbs dumbbells. While Juice uses 15lbs and 35lbs dumbbells.
The workout starts with a quick warm-up and ends with a bodyweight cool-down ab finisher.
There are also modifications available, should you find a move too challenging. Remember, doing an exercise modification isn’t a cop out — in fact, it’s far from it. Performing a modified exercise will help you make better progress, prevent overuse injuries, and ensure that each exercise is suitable for your current level of fitness.
Can I get a full-body workout with just dumbbells?
If you favor using dumbbells for both your lower body and upper body training days, you’ll be pleased to know that you can tick off an effective workout using just these free weights.
For example, dumbbells challenge your muscles evenly without your more dominant side picking up the slack. You can also use these weights to work unilaterally. According to research, doing so could strengthen underused muscles along with boosting balance, coordination, and stability.
Whether it’s a farmer’s walk, squats, calf raises, bicep curls or shoulder press, dumbbells can be used to work all major muscles in your body — so once armed with a pair, there’s no end to their uses.
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