You're busy — there's work to do, chores to finish, social events to attend and families to look after. That's why you're looking for a short but very effective routine you can do at home to build muscle all over and raise your heart rate with just a set of dumbbells.
So, grab a set of the best adjustable dumbbells (these are expensive, but flexible and make a great home workout companion) and roll out a yoga mat, then you're ready to take on this session from YouTube fitness duo Juice & Toya.
There are just six exercises in total. You'll repeat the round three times, adding more weight into the mix each time The first round, it's body weight only. Then, one dumbbell, before ending the third round with two weights.
If you're not sure which load to lift initially, Toya uses 5 and 10lbs dumbbells for the routine, while Juice works out with 10 and 15lbs. You'll train for 25 seconds, take a 15-second break, then start the next exercise.
As there's not a long break between move (15 seconds), adjustable 'bells mean you can quickly switch loads before the next one begins, and you can gradually increase the weight as you get stronger over time, in line with the progressive overload technique.
Watch Juice & Toya's 30-minute dumbbell workout
I always love Juice & Toya's workouts because they're effective, easy to follow and the pair demonstration different versions of the same move (standard and with modifications). However, for this one, there are no modifications.
Instead, as Toya explains at the start, if you need to adjust the intensity of the exercise, either lower the load you're lifting or switch to using your body weight alone. There's a common myth that dropping weights is a 'failure', but it definitely isn't.
As someone that's trained with weights for years, the worst mistake I made when first starting out was to lift too heavy. This meant I arched my lower back (hello, back pain) and I didn't focus on my form enough, so I wasn't getting much from the moves either.
So, don't do what I did; if you need to drop the weight that's absolutely okay. You want to stick to the correct form to get the muscle-building effects of the routine. Plus, as it's arranged as a high-intensity resistance training workout, there are other benefits too.
Working your muscles hard in quick bursts and keep breaks to a minimum increases your heart rate, so you burn more energy than during an equivalent steady-paced routine. And, over time, this can increase your metabolism as well.
So, you end up with a muscle-building, core-strengthening, fat-burning, metabolism-boosting workout you can do in less time than it takes to watch an episode of your favorite TV show — and you only need two dumbbells to get started.
