Build glute muscle and strengthen your arms with a set of dumbbells and these five moves
Target your lower body and upper body with this short routine — all you need is a pair of dumbbells
You may hear people talking about dividing their workouts into specific muscle groups. This is a great way to make sure your whole body is being trained but not everyone has the time to structure their sessions this way. This is where workouts that target more than one muscle group are helpful, just like this glute and arm routine.
You'll either have to locate the dumbbell rack in your gym or get your hands on some of the best adjustable dumbbells to work with at home. Adjustable weights save on space, fitting multiple weights into one pair of dumbbells, and are easy to change load mid-workout. We'd recommend placing yourself over something padded for this routine, like one of the best yoga mats or a thick blanket, as you'll be on the floor for each move.
Once you're all set up, personal trainer Britany Williams will lead you through five different exercises to build muscle and improve strength in your arms and glutes. But the benefits aren't limited to your butt and arm muscles, Williams explains:
"While isolating each muscle group is best for strength gain, combining them like this can help increase heart rate and build a foundation in your core control, your muscular endurance and in your body mechanics! Plus sometimes you’re just short for time so combo exercises it is!".
To make the most of these moves, she suggests doing three rounds of each exercise for 30 seconds (or 20 seconds each side where applicable). "Try to minimize rest between exercises and take 30-60 seconds between rounds," Williams notes.
Watch Williams Five Move Glute and Arm Strengthening Workout
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If you suffer from joint pain and struggle to do common lower body exercises like squats or lunges, this workout takes this into consideration and uses glute bridges, which are a more approachable way to target your glutes. If you experience similar niggles in your upper body, you can reduce the load by swapping out the dumbbells for some of these shoulder bodyweight exercises.
The more used to these exercises your muscles get the more challenging you can make your workout by increasing the reps or the weight size that you typically work with. This is formally known as progressive overload and is a good way to prevent to reaching a plateau in your training while encouraging the continuous growth of muscle.
You will also build up a solid base level of strength and can tackle compound exercises in your future workouts. Compound moves target multiple muscles during one exercise, making your training even more efficient, improving your strength and helping you to gain muscle.
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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.
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