Five exercises and a set of dumbbells are all it takes to build stamina, strengthen muscles and boost cardio fitness in the gym or at home on your exercise mat.
When working out from home, I like to use a set of the best adjustable dumbbells simply because I can lift heavier weights for lower-body exercises than I can for the upper body. That said, if you have access to multiple weights, I recommend hex dumbbells for floor-based moves.
Effective and efficient, these full-body exercises ramp up a sweat fest in a short amount of time and you don’t need to lift heavy to benefit. Follow along with the routine below, and find out some of the benefits of dumbbell workouts.
What is the 5-move full-body dumbbell workout?
How long you work for is up to you. You can set a time cap of 20 minutes if you prefer a challenge or just work through the reps until you finish.
The workout:
10-12-14-16-18-20
Start with 10 reps of the five exercises, then in round 2, perform 12 reps of each exercise (and so on) until you finish on 20 reps per move.
1. Bear squats
Bear squats hit the shoulders, chest, core, arms, hips, quads, hamstrings and calf muscles by mimicking a horizontal squat. Keep your butt low and practice sending your weight toward your heels, which will also help develop lower-body joint mobility.
- Start in a tabletop position with toes tucked and your core engaged
- Lift your knees roughly an inch off the ground
- Maintain a flat back, then push your hips toward your heels while keeping your knees close to the ground
- Pause, then slide forward to return to your starting position.
2. Thrusters
The thruster is a solid compound exercise for functional training, combining a squat and overhead press to develop strength and power.
- Start with feet hip or shoulder-width apart
- Rack your dumbbells onto your shoulders with elbows forward
- Brace your core
- Squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your spine neutral and chest forward
- Keep the weight mid-foot to heel
- Drive upward to stand, extend your hips and press your dumbbells overhead
- Push your head through your arms and lock out the elbows, keeping your biceps close to your ears
- Bend your knees and elbows, lower your weights back to your shoulders and move straight into your next rep.
3. Devil press
The strength and conditioning devil press exercise targets your back, chest, arms, shoulders, core, glutes and leg muscles by combining a burpee and snatch while adopting the snappy hips used in kettlebell swings to engage the hips, core muscles and glutes.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with dumbbells in front of you on the ground
- Engage your core, grip both dumbbells using a neutral grip and jump back into a high plank
- Lower your body to the ground between the dumbbells like a burpee
- Push upward, then jump both feet just wide of the dumbbells
- Lift your chest, pull both shoulders down and keep a flat back
- Hinge at your hips and swing both dumbbells between your legs like a kettlebell swing
- Snap your hips forward, extend your legs and press the dumbbells upward while bending both elbows
- Lock both arms at the top
- Reverse these steps back down to the starting position on the ground.
4. Squat cleans
Focus on shrugging your shoulders during the clean and avoid pausing between clean and squat. The upper and lower body are engaged during the explosive squat clean lift, making it a full-body workout that requires plenty of work from your core.
- Stand with your feet hip or shoulder-width apart holding a dumbbell in each hand
- Brace your core and pre-tension your glutes, shoulders and hips
- Squat down and keep your heels planted and chest lifted as you touch one head of each dumbbell to the floor just outside of your feet
- Maintain a flat back and ensure your shoulders are over the weights
- Explosively clean the dumbbells into the front rack position, lifting your elbows slightly. As your dumbbells reach mid-thigh, snappily extend both hips and knees and pull your body under the dumbbells
- Catch the weights in a full squat, pause at the bottom, then drive upward to stand while keeping the dumbbells racked at your shoulders.
5. Plank passthroughs
Plank passthrough, plank drag — whatever you call it, this core exercise engages muscles from head to toe as you maintain a plank while dragging a weight from side to side. It tests core strength, balance and stability while working the upper and lower body through stabilization.
- Start in a high plank and engage your abs, glutes, quads and shoulders
- Place your dumbbell on the left side of your body, behind your hand
- Grip the weight with your right hand, then lift or drag it over to your right side and place it behind your right wrist
- Place your right hand down, then repeat with your left hand
- Keep moving the weight from side to side
- Keep your shoulders stacked over your wrists and avoid letting your hips lift, drop, or twist from side to side.
Trainer tips
Explosive full-body exercises like squat cleans and thrusters recruit your fast-twitch muscle fibers and help build power, giving your metabolism a boost for a limited time afterward, especially when combined with weight training and cardio. Other than the plank and bear squat exercises, each movement requires fast, powerful movement, so remember to find a consistent pace that allows you to keep moving without burning out quickly.
Aim to perform the first two rounds for unbroken reps. During the remaining rounds, try to finish the reps in no more than two or three sets. If you’re having to break the reps down further, go for lighter weights instead.
If you are pregnant or postnatal, suffer from joint pain, or are working with an injury, clear your exercise routines with a qualified physician or personal trainer first.
More from Tom's Guide
- This 20-minute bodyweight workout builds full-body strength and it’s a great mood booster
- Who needs weights? This Pilates abs workout strengthens your back, core and arms in 10 minutes
- I tried the Pilates ‘rollover’ exercise to strengthen my abs and spine without weights — here’s what happened to my body
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