Can You Get a Full-Body Workout with Dumbbells?
How can you tap into training both the cardiovascular system and the strength system during a workout that involves just a single set of dumbbells? Learn the exact strategy that I use in this episode.
I’ve been traveling quite extensively recently. But it seems like no matter where I go, I can always get my hands on at least one set of dumbbells—whether I’m in a hotel gym, at a friend’s house, or at just about any health club on the face of the planet.
You may be wondering what exactly to do when you have access to a single set of dumbbells and want to get the best workout possible: a workout that challenges both your cardiovascular system and your strength system. Why is it important to target both?
When you work your cardiovascular system, you accumulate a post-exercise oxygen debt that keeps your metabolism elevated for several hours after the workout. You also build new mitochondria, which are responsible for creating cellular energy. In addition, as you may already know, cardiovascular exercise boosts cardiac health, builds new blood vessels, and even increases the growth of new brain neurons.
On the other hand, strength training produces several different unique effects. For example, strength training has been shown to decrease the rate at which telomeres shorten, which means that it has a potent anti aging effect. Strength training also maintains muscle, a key component of maintaining joint integrity, decreasing risk of injury, and perhaps most importantly, avoiding the “skinny fat” look that doing cardio training alone can tend to give you. Finally, what I find most interesting is the fact that strength training can upregulate specific transporters called GLUT4 transporters, and these transporters are responsible for shoveling categories and carbohydrates from food that you eat into muscle, so that those food components do not get converted into storage fat. Considering the fact that I love to eat when I travel, this is a nice bonus indeed!
So, how can you tap into training both the cardiovascular system and the strength system during a workout that involves just a single set of dumbbells? Here’s the exact strategy that I use:
The Full Body Dumbbell Workout
I always begin with a warm-up. My standard warm-up when I’m traveling is one that has what I call a “low barrier to entry.” Sure you can do a fancy “dynamic” warm-up routine like I outline here, but after a day of airline travel, or a stressful day of meetings, sometimes you just need a quick and simple workout warm-up. So, because of that, my standard warm-up is simply either 100 jumping jacks or 30 burpees. That’s it!
Then I move on to the following workout strategy:
- Any squat variation with as heavy a weight as you can possibly lift with good form for 5-10 repetitions. The mighty squat works nearly every muscle in your body. My favorite variation is a combination of upper body and lower body and is the “squat to overhead press,” in which you hold the dumbbells to your shoulders, drop into a squat, stand, and press the weight overhead.
- Any form of body weight or machine cardio for two minutes. I usually choose more jumping jacks, or any other cardio mode that happens to be handy, including step-ups, stairs, bicycle, running in place, jumping rope, burpees, mountain climbers, you name it. I simply go as hard as possible for two minutes.
- Any deadlift variation with as heavy a weight as you can possibly lift with good form for 5-10 repetitions. I generally perform the suitcase deadlift, which involves placing the dumbbells down by the feet, and then just taking them up like two suitcases. At the top of this left, I shrug, pull my shoulder blades back, and looks slightly up, so that I get the full posture benefits of the deadlift.
- Repeat step two, but this time for just one minute instead of two minutes.
So that’s it! I guarantee that this workout will give you an intense stimulation of both your strength system and your cardiovascular system, and as a bonus, it has a low barrier of entry and simply requires one set of dumbbells. Enjoy!
Do you have questions about how to get a full body workout with just a single set of dumbbells? Join the conversation at Facebook.com/getfitguy.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.
