No gym, no problem when you have a set of dumbbells to hand and 30 minutes to spare in your day. This five move routine targets muscles across 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 get maximal results.
You can perform the entire routine with a standard pair of dumbbells, just make sure you can lift the weight across all of the exercises (some moves will feel more demanding than others). Or, even better, if you own a set of the best adjustable dumbbells you can work from one set of dumbbells and simply change the load as you wish throughout the full workout.
What is the 30-minute full-body dumbbell workout?
The aim of the game for Stirling's full body strengthening routine is to complete 10 reps of each exercise. This isn't high-intensity interval training (HIIT) so you don't need to worry about working as hard as you can for a set duration of time, you just need to focus on executing the correct form for each move and tuning into time under tension.
Time under tension refers to the amount of time a muscle or muscle group is under tension. Slowing down your reps and increasing your time on reps is an effective way to encourage muscle growth. Here are the exercises you can try this out with.
- Goblet Squat: 10 reps
- Lunge & 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 various major muscle groups in one short half-hour session. You've got a double whammy of lower body bolstering moves with the Goblet Squats and Lunge Cleans helping to build strength in your legs, glute and core. During the latter part of the Lunge Cleans you'll be engaging your biceps, triceps and there will be some lower back recruitment to drive the clean.
Meanwhile, Push-up Drags and Kneeling Presses will sculpt your chest, shoulders, and arms. We know how much people hate but love to train their core and ab muscles so, of course, this routine finishes with some jack knives. This move is excellent for targeting your rectus abdominis (otherwise known as the 'six-pack muscles') as well as your hip flexors, which play a key role in your lower body mobility.
The variety of strength-building exercises involved in this workout will also contribute to increasing muscle mass, particularly if you focus on incorporating the popular progressive overload training technique into your session. When your muscles grow, your body requires more energy to maintain it and therefore burns more calories when you are resting, giving your metabolism a friendly boost.
