There are a lot of different methods you can use to get fitter and stronger, and whatever approach you enjoy is likely to be the one that works best for you. However, if you’re not sure where to start, doing full-body dumbbell workouts is a great starter option.
That’s because you can strengthen every muscle group in the body in just 20 to 30 minutes, and dumbbell workouts are easy to scale to your fitness level. You’ll build strength and fitness quickly and you can also easily progress the workouts by using heavier weights as you get stronger.
This 20-minute full body workout from fitness trainer Lindsey Bomgren, founder of Nourish Move Love, is entirely made up of standing exercises and uses an interesting time drop approach to sets to help the workout fly by.
All you need for the workout is a set of medium dumbbells — Lindsey recommends 15lb or 25lb weights — but if you have a set of the best adjustable dumbbells that would be ideal because you can then set the weight to an appropriate level for each exercise.
Watch Nourish Move Love’s 20-minute dumbbell workout
The workout uses a time drop format, so as the session progresses you’ll be working and resting for shorter periods. In the first round you work for 40 seconds with each move, then rest for 20 seconds. In round two you do 30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest, and in the final round it’s 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest.
This means the first round of exercises is the longest, and it’s a good mental boost to know that once you’ve completed that round you’ll be working in shorter bursts from then on.
During the workout you’ll be doing three sets of the same seven exercises, with the moves broadly targeting your arms, legs, abs and then full body in turn, though most of the moves are compound exercises that enlist multiple muscle groups and joints at once.
During the workout you’ll be doing three sets of the same seven exercises, with the moves broadly targeting your arms, legs, abs and then full body in turn.
For each move Lindsey demonstrates the main move, while her fellow fitness trainer Rachel demonstrates an easier version, so all fitness levels are catered to. If you’re struggling to complete the sets while doing Rachel’s exercise, you can try dropping your dumbbell (carefully) and doing the move as a bodyweight exercise.
The session also includes a warm up and a cool down and even with those is only just over 20 minutes long, so it’s well worth prepping your muscles and then stretching afterwards.
The warm up will help you start strong in that longer first set and the cool down will kickstart your recovery and reduce any muscle soreness you suffer in the following days.
If you are finding the session too tough then it might be worth building up to it by doing some bodyweight workouts first. Try this 15-minute bodyweight workout for the whole body, or this six-move kit-free session to build up your strength.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget weights — you just need 6 minutes to reduce stiffness and boost your mobility with this equipment-free workout
- You don’t need the gym to build strength, try this 10-minute kettlebell workout instead
- No, not sit-ups — here's the one abs exercise you should do to strengthen your core without weights
