If you only have 10 minutes to train you’ll struggle to find a more effective full-body workout than this dumbbell session from fitness trainer Joe Wicks. It uses a variety of combination exercises to challenge muscles all over the body, and it will also get your heart pumping as you power through the moves with just short breaks in between them.
Wicks recommends using heavy dumbbells for the workout as you’ll mostly be working the major muscle groups in your legs so a bit of extra weight is required to strengthen them, but use whatever weight suits your fitness level. A set of the best adjustable dumbbells would be ideal so you can change the weight you’re lifting quickly to suit each exercise.
Most of the exercises can be done equally well using kettlebells or even resistance bands if that’s what you have available, and you can also do most of the moves without any weight at all if you’re still new to fitness and finding using weights too hard for the whole workout.
During the workout you do each move for 40 seconds before resting for 20 seconds. You do nine different moves and 10 moves in total, doing the squat to press reverse lunge on each leg. Wicks does the workout with you to demonstrate the technique and provide motivational advice throughout.
Watch Joe Wicks’ 10-minute dumbbell workout
With each move it’s worth taking the first few reps slowly to get accustomed to the movement and ensure your form is correct, rather than rushing in and either throwing yourself off balance or doing the exercise with improper technique. Once you’re into the rhythm of each exercise you can speed up to exhaust the targeted muscles by the end of the 40-second set.
It’s especially important to take care with your form because many of the exercises you do in the workout are combination moves. This means doing two moves in one exercise, like the curtsy lunge to biceps curl and push-up to renegade row.
This is a great way to target more muscles in a short workout like this, and often allows you to challenge both the upper body and lower body with one exercise. Doing these combination moves along with classic compound exercises like the Romanian deadlift means that along with challenging the biggest muscles in the body, you’re also working the smaller stabilizer muscles and your core.
Since you’re working hard for most of the 10 minutes of the workout you’ll also get your heart pumping and fire up your metabolism, burning a lot of energy for such a short session. If you can fit this workout into your routine two or three times a week it’s a great way to build strength and fitness without spending hours at the gym.
If you do have time to fit in a longer workout occasionally, or are looking to progress to something harder once comfortable with this session, then you can try this 30-minute full-body dumbbell workout which also uses a HIIT format to ramp up your heart rate.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget weights — you just need 6 minutes to reduce stiffness and boost your mobility with this equipment-free workout
- You don’t need the gym to build strength, try this 10-minute kettlebell workout instead
- No, not sit-ups — here's the one abs exercise you should do to strengthen your core without weights
