If you're aiming to build strength and prefer workouts that are short, sweet and effective, grab some dumbbells — we've got the perfect routine that targets your upper body muscles and engages your core.
This workout, created by online trainer Becky Greenan (built.by.becky on Instagram), includes seven upper-body dumbbell exercises designed to challenge and sculpt your back, shoulders and biceps. In addition to targeting your upper body, these exercises will also engage your core muscles, helping to define your abs and improve your balance and posture.
Greenan uses a set of the best adjustable dumbbells for the full workout, and for good reason: this type of weight allows you to easily adjust the resistance as you progress through different exercises. However, any standard pair of dumbbells will work just fine for this strength session. Just make sure to select a weight that challenges you but that you still feel confident working with.
What is the upper body and core dumbbell workout?
The workout is made up of one triset and two supersets, which we'll discuss the benefits of underneath. If you're trying this workout at home or at the gym, here's a breakdown of the exercises. You can also watch Greenan perform each move in the video below.
- Triset
- Curl into Press
- Straight Arm Kickback
- Lean Back Front Raise
- Superset
- Bird dog row
- Military press
- Superset
- Hammer into L Raise
- Alternating Lateral Raises
The workout kicks off with a triset, which is a strength-building technique that involves performing three separate exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between. In this case, this holy trinity of dumbbell upper body moves will hit the biceps, shoulders, triceps, and delts. Plus, to maintain stability and control throughout the exercises, your core will be put to work.
Trisets are an extremely effective way to gain greater muscle activation and help to improve your muscular endurance with extended work periods and little to no rest.
It's especially handy that Greenan has created this triset using just a dumbbell — I personally find trisets really hard to do in a busy gym where you often end up waiting for equipment and losing the effectiveness of the triset.
If you liked the pump you got from the triset that kicks off this routine then you should check out these other dumbbell workouts for triceps that we've picked out for their effectiveness. Or perhaps you found the trisets to be a little too demanding and will gladly welcome the two supersets which come next in Greenan's routine.
Dropping down one exercise, a superset involves performing two exercises back-to-back but again with very minimal to no rest. They garner the same results but are just less intense to complete than trisets.
With both kinds of sets, your body will benefit from the lack of rest between exercises. This technique keeps your heart rate elevated which can increase your fitness and increase calorie burn during your workout.
Your metabolic rate will also get a boost from this intensity of exercise, meaning your body can burn calories both during and after the workout. This afterburn effect is known as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), where your body continues to consume more oxygen and burn calories at an elevated rate as it recovers from the intense training.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget the gym — this 30 minute workout builds strength all over with just a pair of dumbbells
- Pilates instructor says this standing resistance band workout will strengthen every major muscle in 25 minutes
- I ditched the gym and tried this back strengthening resistance band workout instead — here’s what happened to my upper body
