Autumn Calabrese walks through seven full-body dumbbell moves: goblet squats, plank rows, deadlifts, single-arm shoulder presses on one leg, and sumo squats with curls. Use 15-lb dumbbells for heavy lifts, drop to 10-lb for the sumo curl. Form matters more than weight.
15s (15-pound dumbbells).
10 alternating rows.
10s (10-pound dumbbells).
What's up, everyone? Autumn here. Today I have for you seven dumbbell exercises you should be doing, but you're probably not.
So we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna work the entire body. What I want you to do is make sure you have a wide variety of dumbbells to choose from. Even though I'll be sticking with mostly my heaviest set over here, which is my 15s. If you're new to some of these exercises, it's good to have some lighter ones in case it gets too heavy. And you can always lighten up. Remember, form is the most important thing. So we're going to hit the whole body, upper body, lower body, and abs. We're going to torch calories in these next seven moves. Let's get started. Starting with a goblet squat. So I'm going to grab one of my heavier weights, my 15. What I want you to do is flip it over and interlace those fingers to make a triangle. Feet are hip width apart, toes are forward. Abs are in. We're going to squat right here, so keep it at your chest. Keep your elbows in. You're gonna get as low as you can and squeeze your booty on the way up. So we're just holding the weight in front of the body. When you put weight on the front of your body, it actually challenges the back of your body more. You're gonna work your butt more, you're gonna work your hamstrings more.
We're making sure we're getting nice, sculpted legs here. Lifted booty. We have three more. This is three.
Three, two. Give me one more right here. And squeeze. Nicely done. Okay, so now we want to grab both of our heavy weights, we're going to take it to the ground and we're going to go into a plank row. So you want to make sure your weights are going to be directly below your shoulders. Abs are in. You're going to lift up into a plank position and we're going to alternate rowing for 10. So we're going to squeeze.
Make sure it's controlled. Breathe in.
Tummy tight.
Four more.
Last one. Right here. Nicely done. Drop to those knees. Come on, back up. So I'm going to stick with those heavier weights. We're going to go into a deadlift. Let's talk about this really quick. We are not doing a straight legged deadlift. We're doing a real traditional deadlift. So weights are going to be at my side. Some people use a barbell for this. Some people use a hex squat for this. I'M going to use the dumbbells. So squat weights are going all the way to the ground. You can tap them or you can release them. If you release them, it looks like this. Or you can keep them in the hands the whole time. They got to touch the ground every time and squeeze. So getting a little bit lower, a little more challenging.
Still working those same muscles. Booty quads, hamstrings, abs. 3, 2. Last one. Oh, glutes are on fire. There it is. Okay. Breathe. Set. One down. Sticking with my heavy weight, we're going into a single arm shoulder press. Difference is I'm gonna balance on the opposite foot. We're getting more muscles engaged here by balancing on one. That means we burn more calories. Stand up tall, drive that weight up and down. You're gonna see as soon as you start to push this weight up just how much your core is getting challenged. Whoop. Good. Stay right there. Five more. Five, four.
Three.
Tap. That's okay. Sometimes you lose your balance. We're all learning. Good. That's it right there. We're switching to the other side, so find that balance. Breathe. And here we go. Drive it up once again. You're gonna figure out that there's one side.
Got it. That's stronger than the other. It's okay. That's why we work these alternating sides like this is to make sure we end up balanced. You always work standing on two feet. Hold on, I'll finish that thought. One second. Last one. If you always work standing on both feet, one side will always end up compensating a little bit more for the other. So if you switch side to side, you balance the body out just a little bit more. Moving on, we're going to go into a sumo squat with a concentration curl. I'm going to lighten my weight for this one. I'm switching this out to a 10. You're going to see why. Legs wide, toes out. You're going to drop that booty low. I'm going to place my elbow on the inside of my thigh. Abs in tight. And you're going to curl it up. So, yes, we always do bicep curls, but right now we're making it a little bit harder by sticking that elbow to the inside of your thigh and not moving it. Getting a bigger range of motion. Harder on the bicep. By dropping into this sumo squat, your quads and your glutes are on fire, and I'm regretting it right now. Give me one more. There it is. Now stay there. Right to the other side. Right into it. Yep. Legs are on fire. You'll love me later. Keep going. Make sure you're holding the abs in because we're working those, too.
We have five to go. Your legs should be shaking. Four. Mine are good because I didn't like that yesterday. Three.
Two. Last one. There it is. Might as well collapse to the ground right here. Let's work those abs. So keep that weight that you're using. Grab it on either side. Heels are on the ground, toes are up. Weight is gonna stay at your chest. Sink back, belly button into the spine. You're gonna rotate side to side. Let that weight tap every time. So we're hitting those obliques. Sculpting your abs. Summer is here. Three, two, last one. Bring it back to the center. Let's move that off to the side. And I want you to go back to the heavier set of weights if you can. We're going for calf raises, so here's the twist. On calf raises. Normally we do them like this. Toes directly forward. We go up and down. Let's have a little fun with it. Turn your toes in. Tell me if you don't feel this burn. Lift and lower so you're really going to feel the outside of your calves. We're sculpting them. Don't skip calves. There's nothing worse than seeing somebody with great legs and no calf muscle. Everything has to be worked. Make sure those toes are in. Last one. And very nice. Go ahead and set them down. You are done. Those are your seven dumbbell moves you should be doing, but you probably aren't. I hope you start incorporating them into your routine. Thank you for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe. You get 2 new videos from me every week. If you have questions or comments, leave them below. I will get back to you. Thanks for joining me. Bye.
