Going to the gym can be less inviting during the colder months and an easy excuse for not exercising as much. However, feeling good after an endorphin pumping workout is one of the best ways to increase everyday feelings of motivation. Plus, a regular dose of sweaty cardio or weights training will be sure to heat you up over winter.
You may already use popular cardio machines like a best elliptical machine (check out our Black Friday elliptical hub for some amazing discounted prices on one), followed by a few weighted sets to burn fat and build on muscle.
But if you are looking to kill two birds with one stone, Instagram fitness influencer, @fitness__kaykay has got you covered. Kathrin has shared a five exercise dumbbell workout to her Instagram page, that is designed to workout your whole body only using light weights.
The Under Armour athlete includes in the post’s description that she uses 2x2kg dumbbells for this routine. However, depending on how often you train with weights you may find you want to go a little higher - this is where one of the best adjustable dumbbells really comes in handy. FYI if you are looking for some brilliant savings on weights check out our Black Friday weights deals.
Once you have grabbed your desired dumbbells Kathrin performs each exercise for 45 seconds with 15 seconds rest in between. She makes sure to point out she filmed these clips of herself just as examples for people to follow and that when she actually did this workout she was ‘drenched in sweat’.
View the five move workout below:
The workout won’t steal much of your time. Plus, the bonus of adding weights to a HIIT style workout is that they can help to burn fat and calories, while building muscle and benefitting your cardiovascular health.
Since this is a cardio heavy workout you don’t need to be worrying about lifting heavy - hence why Kathrin sticks to her 2kg dumbbells.
Moreover, this 2016 study found that working out with lighter weights can be just as effective as heavier weight for building strength. The senior author of the study said that fatigue was the ‘equalizer’ between the two - and the workout above will definitely lead to fatigue.
The fitness influencer’s dumbbell workout above actually forms part of a larger 40 minute workout posted to her YouTube channel but the Instagram version takes five key exercises for working out your whole body as intensely, it will just be shorter.
Kathrin has broken these down to short clips, creating a more time efficient version of the workout. We have listed the moves below and encourage you to give the workout a go:
- Squat lateral to front raise
- Star jacks
- Split squat with curl into press
- Lateral lunge upright row
- Broad jump - hop back
If you complete this and feel pumped to try the full 40 minute version for your next workout you will find the video below.
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