Burn fat and build full body strength using this 40-minute standing dumbbell routine

Maintaining a fitness routine that ticks all the boxes can be pretty challenging. If you want to burn fat and burn calories, as well as strengthen and tone your muscles across your entire body, then you should try this 40-minute dumbbell workout that packs it all into one.

You can use this routine at the gym, you'll just need to acquire some dumbbells from the free weights section and find a space where you have room to stretch into lunge and plank positions.

Or if you usually train at home we recommend you use some of the best adjustable dumbbells for a strength based session like this one. These weights contain multiple weights in one so they save on space and allow you to change load mid-workout.

The workout will be led by certified personal trainer and CrossFit instructor, Anna Engelschall, or growingananas as she is best known as online. She will demonstrate each move, showing you how to execute proper form for the full routine. When you perform an exercise with good form you can enhance your results and lower your chance of injury.

Engelschall will lead you through a quick warm-up followed by the workout, a bodyweight finisher, and then she will finish things off with a cool-down. For the workout sections, you will treat this as a HIIT routine, working on an exercise for 40 seconds followed by ten-second rest periods.

Watch Growingananas 40-Minute All-Standing Workout

This routine differs slightly from a traditional HIIT workout and actually is best referred to as a high-intensity resistance training workout (HIRT). This form of workout combines strength training with high-intensity training, so you are doubling up the efforts and results. As you will learn through Engelshall's workout you will perform short and intense intervals of resistance exercise followed by very short recovery periods.

You may be wondering, what dumbbell weight should I use? The good news is that the goal of HIRT is not to lift as heavy as possible. You should aim to use a weight size lighter than your usual strength level so that you can reach the end of the workout safely and efficiently. 

In a study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, researchers found that HIRT workouts result in greater post-workout energy expenditure compared to traditional strength or weight training workouts. When you have an elevated resting energy expenditure your body increases its fat oxidation. So you end up burning calories and breaking down fat during your post-workout recovery.

If you're newer to working with weights, read up on these beginner strength training tips. Or if you'd rather not use weights in your strength sessions you can still definitely complete HIRT sessions without them. Your body weight or some of the best resistance bands will work well too.