20-minutes, a set of dumbbells and a fat-burning workout for building lean muscle all over

Working on your strength and cardio in this workout, you will strengthen and build muscle while boosting your metabolism

Person lacing up their trainers ready for a workout
(Image credit: Getty)

What happens when you combine cardio with strength? You can burn fat and build muscle in one workout session. This dumbbell mixed session only takes 25 minutes and will help you achieve both.

Either find yourself a place in the gym and get yourself some dumbbells from the free weights section or if you're training at home it's worthwhile investing in some of the best adjustable dumbbells. These modifiable weights allow you to adjust the load during a workout and save on space as you get multiple weights in one as opposed to buying a full rack of dumbbells.

Once you've acquired some weight to work with you just need to follow along with Heather Robertson's instructions and demonstrations for a full-body workout. Robertson is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist who specializes in building lean muscle and burning fat through High-Intensity Resistance training.

This routine is made up of five different supersets to develop lean muscle across your body and raise your heart rate, which will help you to burn fat during and after this exercise session. You will perform each exercise for 40 seconds, rest for 20 seconds and complete each superset twice over.

Watch Heather Robertson's Strength and Cardio Session

Supersets are when you perform more than one exercise back to back and then take a short rest. Using supersets can be a time-efficient way to reach your fitness goals as you are essentially doubling the work for yourself while keeping your rest periods the same time as you would for a normal set.

If you want to gain muscle and stay trim then High-Intensity Resistance Training is the way to go. You will benefit from the cardio work and stimulate your muscles with the resistance element and the quick recovery time will mean more calories burned. Paired with supersets, you are going to pack in a large amount of volume into one 25-minute session.

This style of workout can feel demanding on your muscles so always make sure to allow yourself to recover adequately before your next fitness session. Massaging out your muscles with one of the best foam rollers will be useful and ensure you eat plenty of protein alongside your exercise.  Your muscles need protein in order to repair and grow. It's a good idea to keep stock of one of the best protein powders for weight loss, with a powder you can easily throw a scoop into a smoothie or shake to increase your daily protein intake.

Protein is a big buzzword in the fitness industry so if you hear it being said a lot and wonder: what are the benefits of protein? There's a lot more to it than helping with muscle growth. Consuming protein can aid digestion, increase satiety, boost oxygen levels, and much more.

Jessica Downey

Jessica is an experienced fitness writer with a passion for running. Her career in journalism began in local news and she holds a Masters in journalism. Jessica has previously written for Runners World, penning news and features on fitness, sportswear and nutrition. 


When she isn't writing up news and features for Fit&Well covering topics ranging from muscle building, to yoga, to female health and so on, she will be outdoors somewhere, testing out the latest fitness equipment and accessories to help others find top products for their own fitness journeys. Her testing pairs up nicely with her love for running. She recently branched out to running 10Ks and is trying to improve her time before moving on to larger races. Jessica also enjoys building on her strength in the gym and is a believer in health and wellness beginning in the kitchen. She shares all of this on her running Instagram account @jessrunshere which she uses for accountability and for connecting with like-minded fitness lovers.