Home workouts have plenty of advantages, saving you time and money by cutting out the need for a gym. And with the right mix of dumbbell and bodyweight exercises you can still build a strong body from your living room.
We found this was especially true when testing the best adjustable dumbbells, which allowed us to increase the weight as our strength grew to progressively overload our muscles for maximum results.
A great example of a dumbbell-only home workout is this session from Sweat app trainer Britany Williams. It uses just eight exercises to hit every major muscle group in your body, and only takes 30 minutes.
Perform the exercises back to back as a circuit, resting 90 seconds after each full round of eight exercises before returning to the first movement. To finish the workout, complete three full rounds.
It's essential to perfect your form if you want to get the most from this short session. So, watch Williams' video below to find out which eight movements await you, and mirror her form to make sure your technique is on point.
Watch Britany Williams' full-body dumbbell workout
Williams recommends performing each exercise for 10 repetitions on each side of your body. So, for the lateral lunge to halo, you will perform 10 repetitions where you step sideways with your right leg, then move straight into 10 repetitions where you step sideways with your left leg.
Full-body workouts like this one are a great way to train for anyone who struggles to make time to exercise. By hitting every major muscle group in a single session, you can work out for fewer days of the week while still maintaining a high training frequency for each muscle.
Many full-body workouts also make use of compound exercises, which work multiple muscles simultaneously. For example, the alternating snatches in Williams' workout will engage muscles in your upper and lower body, particularly those in your thighs and shoulders.
This allows you to work more muscles in less time, making it a time-efficient exercise solution. That doesn't mean you should do full-body workouts every day, though. Most people will need to allow their muscles to recover and grow for at least 24 hours afterwards.
To do this, you can take a rest day, try a lower-intensity activity like a flow of these anti-aging yoga poses, or give your muscles a break with a cardio session like one from our running plan for beginners.
