Best Dumbbell Exercise For Weight Loss

Are you ready to start your new workout routine? Are you looking for a way to get fit and tone up? Well, we have the answer for you!

This at home dumbbell workout for weight loss is exactly what you need. It will help you burn fat, build muscle and increase your energy levels.

We all know that diets don’t work. In fact, most of them make us feel tired and drained. But when it comes to working out, we often find ourselves too busy or too tired to do anything about it.

Well, no more excuses! You can now get in shape without leaving the comfort of your own home. All you need is some free time and a set of dumbbells (which are sold everywhere).

Right here on Buy and Slay, you are privy to a litany of relevant information on 30 minute dumbbell workout plan, 30 minute dumbbell workout for beginners, 30 minute dumbbell workout full body, and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on similar topics.

Best Dumbbell Exercise For Weight Loss

When you’re planning on a quick stop at the gym, but don’t have a training plan like this dumbbell workout in place and are short on time, turn to this 30-minute dumbbell workout, devised by Alex Crockford, trainer and founder of the Crockfit app(opens in new tab). 

Using just eight exercises, the full-body circuit asks you to work for 40 seconds and rest for 20 seconds, rather than specifying reps. 

Crockford explains that the beauty of this format is that you aren’t pushing any muscle group to absolute failure, “meaning you can repeat this workout multiple times per week, enhancing results.”

“This time interval is also great for building up strength, endurance and cardiovascular fitness,” says Crockford. “Not only will you build muscle, but you’ll get fitter, and with that high heart rate, you’ll see a big calorie burn too,  if you’re looking to get leaner.”

Crockford recommends doing this workout up to five times per week, depending on what other training you have in your routine and how well you recover. “You could also consider increasing or decreasing the rounds of this workout to make it longer or shorter depending on your fitness level and time available.”

No dumbbells to hand? You can also use kettlebells.

Before you go, be sure to fully warm up. Set an interval timer to eight blocks of 40 seconds work, 20 seconds rest, then take a one-minute rest after each full circuit. Complete three circuits in total.

1 Goblet squat

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing out slightly. Hold one end of a heavy dumbbell in both hands at chest height. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower, keeping your back flat and gaze forward. When your thighs are parallel to the ground and your elbows are inside your knees, push up through your heels to rise. 

2 Bent-over row

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding medium dumbbells with your palms facing and arms by your sides. Push your hips back until your torso is almost parallel to the ground, letting your arms hang. Keeping your core engaged, lift the dumbbells to your ribs, leading with your elbows. Slowly lower the dumbbells. 

3 Dumbbell press-up

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

With the dumbbells on the floor, get into the top press-up position, supporting your weight on your knees or toes, and your hands holding the dumbbells. Keeping your body in a straight line, bend your elbows to lower your chest down to the floor, then push up through the dumbbells to rise. 

4 Devil’s press

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

This is a complex move so make sure you’ve mastered the form before incorporating it into the workout. If you’re not confident, sub in burpees. Stand holding medium dumbbells by your sides, palms facing. Push your hips back to lower the dumbbells and place them on the floor, then jump both feet back and lower your body to the floor. Push your body back up and jump your feet forward, landing outside of the dumbbells. Engage your glutes, and keeping your back flat throughout, clean the dumbbells to your shoulders then press them overhead. Lower the dumbbells back to the start.

5 Lunge

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells by your shoulders. Take a large step forward with your right foot, then bend your knees to lower until your back left knee is just above the ground. Your right knee should stay directly above your right ankle and your torso should be upright throughout. Push through your front heel to rise. Alternate sides with each rep.

6 Thruster

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing out slightly, holding dumbbells by your shoulders. Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat, then push through your heels to rise and use the momentum generated by your lower body to push the dumbbells overhead. Pause, then lower the dumbbells back to your shoulders under control and drop back down into a squat. 

7 Romanian deadlift

Time 40sec Rest 20sec

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding medium dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing you. Engage your core and keeping a slight bend in your knees, push your hips back to lower the dumbbells, keeping them close to your legs. When the dumbbells reach halfway down your shins, push through your heels to come back up to the start. 

8 Russian twist

Time 40sec Rest 1min 20sec

Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet held just above the floor, holding a light dumbbell in front of your belly button. Engage your core, lean back ever so slightly, and slowly rotate your torso from side to side, keeping the dumbbell in front of your belly button.

30 Minute Dumbbell Workout Plan

You only have so many hours in the day, so it’s no wonder you’re concerned about how much time your dumbbell routine is going to take from your day. Dumbbells can be a handy tool for doing arm and back exercises such as biceps curls and lateral arm raises, but you can also hold them as you do leg exercises such as squats and lunges. As such, your dumbbell routine may be all the strength training you need to do in a day, lasting anywhere from about 20 to 60 minutes.

Recommendations

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines state that all adults should do strength-training exercises at least two days a week, which could include using dumbbells, operating weight machines or doing body-weight exercises. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes it one step further, stating that the two days of strength training should include all major muscle groups, including the arms, shoulders, chest, back, legs and hips.

General Time Frame

How long that dumbbell routine takes you to complete is going to depend on a number of factors. If you go to the water fountain in between each exercise set or you do your sets extra slow, it’s naturally going to take you longer to complete your routine than someone who whips through each exercise quickly. The number of exercises you choose to do will also make a difference. As a general rule, though, strength-training sessions last anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, advises certified personal trainer Linda Burke. On its website, the American Council on Exercise lists 26 different exercises you can do with dumbbells; if you did them all, you’d definitely be closer to the 60-minute mark.

Sets and Repetitions

You’ll also need to factor in the number of sets and repetitions you do during your strength-training sessions. Generally, one set of 12 to 15 repetitions is more than enough to help you gain some strength and get more fit, advises Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Edward Laskowski. The key there — doing each set of exercises to fatigue. At the end of your set, the exercises should get really difficult to do, so that it’s difficult to finish the last few repetitions. Ideally you’ll have a set of adjustable dumbbells to which you can add more weight. You’ll gain strength as you continue to do your dumbbell routine, so you’ll need to add weight over time to make the exercises work you to fatigue. The bottom line: you don’t need to do endless repetitions and sets to get in a good dumbbell workout — doing one set of each type of exercise to fatigue is just fine.

Breaking It Up

If you have a very limited amount of time each day, you don’t have to do all of your dumbbell exercises in one stretch. The guidelines state that you need to work each muscle group twice a week, but you don’t have to do all muscle groups on the same day. When time is tight, break your strength-training sessions into smaller amounts. For example, do an arm workout one day, then legs the next, and then back and core muscles the next. On that type of schedule, you may only need to do your dumbbell workout for 10 minutes a day.

How Many Sets of Dumbbells to Do Per Day

Adding weight training to your exercise routine offers a number of benefits, including stronger muscles, stronger bones and an overall toned appearance. While free weights or weight machines are viable ways to strength train, it’s also possible to use dumbbells for a total-body weights workout. The trick is knowing how many sets and repetitions of each exercise to do. Fortunately though, health experts have some very clear guidelines about what you should be doing.

Exercise Recommendations

First off, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends doing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic conditioning and strength training two days a week. The strength-training sessions should work all the major muscle groups. When it comes to scheduling your workouts throughout the week, you can either do all of the strength-training sets in one session or you can break it up into multiple days, doing upper-body on one day and then lower-body the next day, for example. Even with that type of workout, you’ll only need to do strength training four days a week and not every day. Also keep in mind that your muscles need time to recover following a strength-training workout, so always give yourself at least 24 hours’ rest in between working the same muscles.

Dumbbell Exercises

According to the CDC, the exercises you do as part of your strength-training sessions should include exercises for the arms, shoulders, chest, abs, back, legs and hips. This list includes seven areas of the body — but that doesn’t mean you’ll only need to do seven individual exercises. The arms, for example, include the triceps at the backs of the arms, the biceps near the front of the arms, as well as the forearm muscles. To work each of these muscles, you could do bicep curls for the biceps, triceps kickbacks for the triceps and hammer curls for the forearm muscles.

Repetitions and Sets

Once you’ve determined which exercises you’re going to do, you may be surprised to know that you don’t have to do a high number of sets and repetitions in order to get the benefits of strength training. According to Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Edward Laskowski, most people only need to do a single set of 12 to 15 repetitions of each exercise in order to fully work the muscle. That comes with a very big condition, however. That single set has to work your muscles to fatigue, meaning you’ll barely be able to lift the dumbbell during the last few repetitions. That’s when a set of variable-weight dumbbells is necessary, since you may be able to lift different amounts of weight with different muscles. Athletes and people training for a special event can also do two or three sets, advises Dr. Laskowski.

Adding Weight

If you stick to your dumbbell routine, eventually you’ll find that the sets that once caused you to be fatigued will no longer do so. That’s when you might be tempted to move up to doing a second set of each exercise — which is not going to hurt you per se — but it may not do as much good as moving up in weight. Every week or so, move up to a heavier dumbbell, increasing the weight you’re lifting by 5 to 10 percent each week, advises Yale Medical Group.

30 Minute Dumbbell Workout For Beginners

After months of doing bodyweight exercises in your living room, you’re probably ready to try something new. And while you could certainly mix things up by ordering a Peloton bike or a fancy trampoline, you can also choose to up the ante on your at-home workouts with one of the most basic (and affordable) equipment upgrades money can buy: A simple set of dumbbells.

Adding weights into your workout can be a great way to increase overall strength, tone your muscles, and improve balance, flexibility, and stability, but reaching for a set for the first time can be admittedly overwhelming. “I love supplementing bodyweight exercises with dumbbells… to make the movements more challenging,” says Venus Moore, a trainer with Halle Berry’s new virtual fitness and wellness platofrm, Re.Spin. “Adding progressive weight to your workouts forces the muscles to constantly have to adapt and rebuild themselves stronger, and highly effective workouts are key to creating those desired next level results.”

When you’re first getting started with beginner dumbbell exercises, Moore suggests keeping it simple and choosing light dumbbells—ideally between five and 10 pounds. “You want to be able to learn the exercise movements correctly and execute proper form, so you don’t want the weight to be too heavy,” she explains. “The right weight dumbbells ensure you train effectively without putting the wrong type of strain on your muscles. Train smarter, not harder, to eliminate the risk of potential injury, and remember that heavy weight does not equal results when it’s used incorrectly.”

According to celebrity trainer Lacey Stone, you’ll want to begin by focusing on more basic stationary moves, like squats, chest presses, rows, biceps curls, shoulder presses, and triceps extensions. “First things first, get that form down with lighter weights,” she says. “Once you get the fundamentals down, that’s when you can add in compound movements where you work the upper and lower body together.” 

To help you work a set of weights into your regular routine, scroll through for some of the best beginner dumbbell exercises you can do at home to work your entire body in a single workout. But remember: “Basic” does not necessarily mean “easy,” which means you’ll be feeling the dumbbell burn in no time.

1. Bent over row

Grab a dumbbell in each hand, and bend your knees with your feet hips-width distance apart. Push your hips back and roll your shoulders back to bend your upper body down (keeping your spine straight), and pull your arms up with your elbows at 90 degrees until the weights are parallel to your hips. Squeeze your shoulders at the top of the move, then slowly lower your arms back down to start.

2. Alternating dumbbell curl

This move is a two-for-one that targets your arms and shoulders. Standing up straight with a dumbbell in each hand, bend at your elbows to curl the weights up to your shoulders (be sure to keep your palms facing your body and your elbows glued to your sides as you curl). Then, pivot your arms so your palms are facing each other, and press the weights up overhead as you twist your arms so that your palms face forward. Slowly reverse the move to return to start.

3. Dumbbell lateral raise

Target your deltoids with this move, which involves raising a set of dumbbells out to the side until they’re parallel to your shoulders, creating a “T” shape with your body. Be sure to engage your core and glutes as you move, and start with light weights until you master the slow, controlled motion of the move.

4. Goblet squat

Weights aren’t reserved for working your arms and shoulders—you can use beginner dumbbell exercises to hit your lower body, too. Holding a single, medium-to-heavy weight with one end in each hand, lower down into a squat until your butt is slightly below your knees. Drive up through your heels to return to stand, squeezing your glutes as you reach the top of the move. Be sure to keep your chest proud and eyes up to maintain proper form.

5. Weighted reverse lunge

Kick your lunges up a notch by adding some weight into the mix. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and take a big step back with one leg. Drop down into your lunge, making sure that your front knee stays behind your toes, then drive up through your front foot to return to stand and repeat on the other side.

6. Dumbbell wood chop

Yup—you can use dumbbells to work your core. This move involves twisting through your abs and obliques to raise a weight above your head, and mimics the act of chopping wood. Hold the top of a weight in both hands at one side of your body, then stabilize your core as you pivot to reach it up above your opposite shoulder (as if you were swinging an axe). Then, swipe it back down to the starting position as you rotate through your feet.

7. Single-leg deadlift

This hip-dominant, unilateral move targets your hips and glutes one side at a time. Hold a weight in one hand, and stabilize with your foot on the opposite side. Bend your standing knee and slowly lower the weight down toward the floor (keeping your chest proud, back flat and hips square) while the foot on the same side as your weight back behind you. Activate your “floating” leg throughout the move by flexing your foot, which will help to fire up your glutes. Drive through your standing leg to return to the starting position, and track the movement with your gaze to maintain proper form.

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