06: 33-Min Dumbbell Ladder Burn

Hey everybody, I'm Amy from BodyFit by Amy, and this is your dumbbell ladder burn workout. In this workout, we are working the entire body using dumbbells, and we're going to use a ladder format. So we're going up in reps and back down like we're going up and down the ladder, and we will of course have lots of different options to work to your level. Are you ready? Let's do it! Let's start just by getting our muscles warm. So start with a march, pump those arms. We'll keep this warm-up just a few minutes, but we will just get the blood flowing, get our body's temperature up, and get ready to move. We can roll those shoulders, start small to the back. We're working in a ladder format today, and although I don't do it a lot, it's actually one of my favorite formats. It is a burner in the moment, hence the name Ladder Burn. Let's get a few big deep breaths in and out, but it does go by quickly, and the good news is Everything really only has 2 sets back to back. We have our ladder set where we go up and down the ladder, and then we have our lightning round, which is a 30-second finisher. Step out right here, reach up and out. So within that, here is how your ladder goes. Everything is a compound move, but don't worry, it's less of a fancy compound move and more of putting 2 things together, like 1 and 1. So your first move is a squat and a press. 1 squat, then one press. So you don't feel like you have to do them perfectly together or in sync or be coordinated. It's more one squat and then one press. All right, so I'll cue you— let's take it flat back down— on how you want to pick your weights for that. Now within that, we're going up the ladder. So one squat, one press. Next we'll do two squats followed by two presses, followed by three reps of each, followed by four and then we are going to work our way back down. So what's nice about it is that nothing ever goes longer than 4 reps, but you get the repetition, you get the burn, the overload. Let's take it to a Y and then hinge to the back just like this. Drive those hips to the back, but you get the progressive overload, you get the burn, you get the work just in the length of the set, right? Up the ladder. So up and down the ladder, then we get to break for a second. Let's tap it back right here. Open up the hips, drop that knee down if you want. Then we get a little break, then we will have a lightning round of that exercise. All right, so 30 seconds, and then once we are done with it, we are done with it. Hold this here if you can, take it all the way down. If you want to keep it up, you can do that too. Reach under and up. So quick workout, quick sets that will not feel quick in that ladder round, but then you'll be done with them quickly. So Switch it to the other side. You can either hold it here to get that stretch, or if you're able, drop it all the way down, reach under and up. So things to keep in mind: one, that you want to think of every exercise as its own rep, right? So don't— again, don't feel like it has to be a fast squat into press. It's one squat, one press. Meet me down on the mat. You're either in that high plank or you're on your knees, whatever feels good for you. Little forward and back to get the core warmed up. A little drop of the hips side to side. And if you want, you can take it up to that down dog and then into that core. If that's not right for you, you can take a child's pose and into that core right here. Sit back and bring it up here to here. One more wherever you are. And then walk those hands back. Get a little shake of your upper body, pedal of the feet. Slowly round it up. All right, so a little tap and reach across. So within that, your ladder has no timer. It is all at your own pace. If you need to go slower than me, that's fine. If you go faster than me, that's fine too. But we're just going 1 and 1, 2 and 2, 3 and 3, 4 and 4, then back down, 3 and 3, 2 and 2, 1 and 1. All right, lightning round does have a quick timer. You'll be feeling it by then, you'll get that burn, and then we will be done with it. All right, so just keep that in mind. I know sometimes that's a little different when we're used to timed intervals and very specific sets or reps, something like that. This is rep-based instead of time-based. I don't do a ton of workouts that are rep-based because we're all lifting different weights, working at different levels, working at different speeds. So please do the weight and the pace that is right for you. All right, as I said, our first exercise is a squat and a press. So we're going to keep those weights racked. So you may want to go a little lighter than what your normal squat would be. If you were doing a regular squat or goblet squat, you'd go heavier. Pick the weight that you can do a press with. We're just going to go straight up. So a squat and then a press. So something medium-ish, nothing too crazy heavy. You can always drop down But remember, we're going for reps. You can stick with me or you can go at your own pace. 1, up to 4, then back down. 3, 2, 1. Are we ready? Let's rack those weights. Sit low in the squat. Here we go. 1 squat, 1 press. Down and up. Now we got 2. 2 squats, 2 presses. Core engaged. Now we got 3. 3, 2, 1. And then 3 presses again. If you're slower than me or faster than me, that is a-okay. We're at the top now. We got 4. So similar to like a pyramid workout, right, where we are at the highest and then we go back down. Now we're feeling it, right? Now we got 4. 4. Now you see where the fatigue sets in, and this is where we get that muscle endurance but also building strength by time under tension. Now we got 3, 3, 2, 1. Right here, 3, 2, 1. We got 2. Take your time. And again, think of them as their own individual. And now we got 1. This is it, team. 1, 1, and rest. So get that stretch, pedal your feet. All right, not so bad, right? Longer set, but we get the fatigue and the time under tension just by the duration, right? Now we got a 30-second lightning round. This one you can think as a little more of a squat press, squat press. It's only 30 seconds. If you want to try to go a little heavier— I know they're feeling it, but let's get it done. Then we are done with our squat and our press. Are we ready? We're going to sit low, 30-second squat and press. Get that heart rate up, get that metabolic conditioning, legs and shoulders Here we go, 30 seconds. Here we go. If you want to take those toes out a little bit, you can make it a little more. If you want to do an Arnold press, if you want to get a little more there, you can. Up to you, you do you. Be where you are today. Down and up. Here we go, 10 seconds. I know. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Rock them up. All right team, catch your breath, shake it out. So that is what we're looking at. It's gonna feel a little bit more like a MetCon, like a HIIT, right? Get that heart rate up. But what I want is for you to think of that lightning round as exactly that. This is your HIIT round, and then when we get into those ladder sets really take your time. Okay, so next one, one heavy weight, something that you could do both a bent over single arm row— this, right— and something that you could do a lunge or a split squat, right? So dropping back into a lunge, and then we're gonna stand up and do the row. All right, so that is what it looks like when we get to our lightning round. We're gonna put them together. So I would encourage you to go heavier on that first one because we're going to do with the row at the top and then drop down in the lunge and then lightning round. If you need to go a little lighter, you can. I'm gonna try this 25. So let's go, right foot forward. Okay, remember that left arm row, right foot forward, because we're going to get something in between to give our body a little bit of a break. All right, here We go. Let's lunge it first, then step it in. Single arm row, here we go. 1 and 1, right here. 2, 2, 2. You don't have to have this arm out, but I find it helpful. 3, reverse lunges. You can tap it back too, looks like this. Right, 3, 2, 1. Now we got 4, team. Here we go, stand up straight. And then 4, 3, 2, and 1. Step it in, here we go. 4, 3, take your time, 2, pull towards the hip, back down with 3. We'll be over soon. 3, 2, 1, here we go. 3, 2, 1, we got 2. Remember, you can be at your own pace. 2, last one. 1 and 1, 1 hinge, 1, set it down. Feel that on that one side especially. All right, lightning round. Right foot forward, left foot. Here's what we got: everything down, everything up. So I'm gonna keep my chest forward, and it's really just this and this with my lower body, this and this with my upper. If you want to switch to a tiny bit lighter, that's what I'm going to do. 5 pounds less. But still heavy. Are we ready? I know, feeling it on that side. We got 30 seconds to burn in 3, 2, drop the chest, here we go. Lunge and row. Keep that chest low so you keep that good hinge position. It's going to keep that front leg working. Use the power from the lunge to pull up right here. Burn! Yes you can! Ah, 10 seconds, I know. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Right, shake it out. All right team, meet me on the mat. You can keep those weights close by, we're gonna come back to them again. Remember what that was, right foot forward with the lunge, left arm doing the row. All right, we're going to come into a plank. We're going to do a plank pike and then either a little tap out or a plank jack. 1 and 1, 2 and 2. All right, it's going to keep our abs working. If you need to be on your knees, you can do the pike from here. Tap out, tap out. If you can be up on the toes. We're doing a ladder. Catch your breath. In 3, 2, 1, here we go. Plank pike, then jack or tap out each side. 2 pikes, use your core to do it. Up, use your core to lift, and then tap it out or jack it out 2 times. Now we got 3. Again, really making sure that you're using your core, you're not pushing up on the elbows and the feet, right? We got 3, 2, 1. We got 4, here we go. Lift controlled, use the core. Imagine there's a string on your belly button lifting, and you got jacks or tap out. 4, 3, 2, 1. Back down to 3. Here we go, you got this. 3. I know it's a long plank. 2, 1. 3, 2, 1. We got 2. 2. Last one. 1 and 1, slow and controlled. Out and in. Stretch it back. Breathe, team. All right, we do have 30 seconds of it. I know we're gonna feel it. Let's get it done. Pike jack, pike jack, or pike step out and in. That's what I'm going to do to keep it off my knee that's still healing. But if you can do that, take it all the way out. Are we ready? 30 seconds in the plank, nice and strong. Here we go, lift and jack. Just one and one the whole time. Out, out, in, in. Oh, I'm doing the ladder still. Just one and one. Here we go, keep it. Pike and jack, or step out. 10 seconds. Core, I know, burn. Yes you can! And relax. Stretch that back, team. Core on fire. Now you know where we get the burn, right? Even though again you look at it, it's one set, one set, but we're feeling it. All right team, catch your breath. I know after this we'll get some water. I know because we don't have very standard circuits, a little hard to figure out those breaks. But we're taking them. All right, we got your weight here. Lunge, flat back, row. So make sure you come up as you come into the lunge. When you step in, you hinge here. All right, ladder, go heavy if you can, then lightning. Are we ready? In 3, 2, 1, here we go. Reverse lunge, Step it in, single arm row. We got 2, 2, slow and controlled, 2 and 3. Again, at your own pace, step it in, flat back, really making sure you're getting in that good position for the row. Back up. We got 4, 4. As long as you're keeping that chest open, you can hinge forward a bit, it's okay. Here we go, 4, 3, 2, 1. Back down with 3. Here we go, 3, 2, 1, flat back. 3, 2, 1. Right here. 2, here. One more. One of each. Breathe. All right team, we got other side— no, we got same side lightning round. All right, remember we're going to keep it nice and wide, drop it all the way down, keep the chest low, pull up. Keep your chest low and in that hinge the whole time. It is only 30 seconds, then we're getting water. We're over halfway through this workout. Here we go team, in 3, 2, 30 seconds, lightning round burn. Down and up. Again, this does not have to be fast. You can add a little more power to it. You can think of it more like that regular compound move instead of one and one, but you don't have to rush it. We got 10 seconds, let's make it count. Balance. Yes, breathe. Last one. Oh man, you guys, let's grab some water. Are you feeling it? I am. Catch your breath. Guess what? We're going down on the mat again. A little core and upper. We'll rest those legs. Here we go. Push-up with a knee cross. All right, so give yourself some space. If you want to elevate this, you absolutely can. Maybe this is better for you. You could be knees or toes, push-up, knee, knee, then 2, then 3, then 4, or here, or down on the ground. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna try to do those push-ups on my toes as long as my shoulder feels good about it. Otherwise, I'll switch to push-up here, then pop up, then take them across. All right, it's gonna be a lot. If you need a little stretch break, just sit back into that child's pose. But you get that break from the plank to do the push-up. I know, not really a break, but all right, here we go. 1 and 1, 2 and 2, up the ladder, down the ladder. Let's give it Go get it over with. Strong upper body push and a whole lot of core. Knees come across, you don't have to run them like a mountain climber unless you want. Are we ready? Strong plank push-up position, here we go. 1, knees across right and left. Then you got 2, 2 on the right, 2 on the left. Then we got 3. I'm going to do this so I can get a little more range of motion. 3 on the right. 3, 2. If you're doing it the other way, that's okay too. Right, left, right, left, right, left. 4. Take your time. Use your core on that push-up too to lift. 4 on the right, 4 on the left, however you want to get them. 3. 2, 1. 4, 3. We are on our way back down, team. 3, 2, 1. 3, 2, 1. I know it's really double. Here we go. 2, These are the ones where I really feel it. And one. Woo! Breathe, breathe. Big stretch back, child's pose. Rest those wrists, press your shoulders down, whatever you need to do to get a stretch from that. I know, team, 30 seconds is going to be a lot. All right, if you need to elevate it, elevate it. If you want to just do one or the other, just the push-ups or the mountain climber knees across, but we got 30 seconds to burn. All right, I know it's a lot in that plank position, but then we're right back up, okay? As opposed to putting it throughout the workout a bunch of times, let's get it here. All right, 30 seconds push-up and knee cross, one and one. Here we go. And again, you do not have to rush it. Use your core on that push-up, especially as those arms are getting tired. I want you to really think lift with your core. Yes you can! 5 seconds right here, and relax. Oh man, you guys, rest those wrists. Yes! All right, here's what we got for your lower body. We're going to do a kickstand deadlift into a curtsy. We're going to get right side, left side. We're going to get some triceps and core in between. So start with that right foot forward. Here's your kickstand here. And here, if you're feeling spicy about it and want to do a single leg, you can do that too. All right, go heavy if you can. I got to be a little careful on this knee, but we're going to go for it. Right foot forward, left foot back. In 3, 2, 1, here we go. Kickstand deadlift, then cross it over into a curtsy lunge. 2 and 2. 2 deadlifts. Push up through the heel, drive the hips to the back, make them different. And then curtsy. This one is all lower body. All right, we got 3. I wanted to give you something that was isolated in the lower body so you could go heavier, so make sure you got your heavies on this. There's no arms to it, right? 3. If you need to tap back, which I might need to on my knee, you can do that as well. Back to the kickstand. 4, breathe. Yes! As you get tired, slow it down. 3— no, 4, 3. You can get a little lower to here. I'm keeping it a little higher for this knee. Back down, here we go. 3, or single leg. 2, 1. For 2. Oh, ah, here we go. You got one, one, and one, and relax. 30-second burn. All right team, you can do it. I know, rest your back, rest that leg. We're feeling it. I'm going to keep it kickstand the whole time just for stability. If you want to do a regular lunge, that works too, but we got 30 seconds. Let's burn out that right leg. Go heavy if you can. You are strong. Hinge crossover lunge, 30 seconds in 3, 2, 1. Don't feel like you have to rush it, right? You can take your time. Whether or not you get 4 or 14, I just want good form. So keep those shoulders back. It's just 1 and 1, I know. Feels like we want to go up the ladder, but we're not. Here we go, 10 seconds right here. Hinge, stand up straight, drop it down. One more. Leave those, stretch that out, and let's bring it down onto the bench. All right guys, you know what, let's grab a quick sip of water, then we get some triceps with some leg lowers or toe taps, whatever you got. Cheers, y'all! Remember what leg was in front. All right, I'm going slightly lighter on this because of the ladder format. Actually, no, I'm going to start with my 15s, and if I need to drop down, I will. All right, We come back, we'll do left leg. Okay, so here we go. You have the option if you want to just do triceps and just tap the toes, you can. If you want to lower here, or if you want to just march, whatever is best for where you are today. We're gonna get that ladder. All right, if it starts to get heavy, drop one, go to one weight, or go lighter on those weights. Are we ready? Shift those shoulders back. Here we go. One tricep extension— sorry, feet are up— one leg lower, toe tap. We got two, two toe taps or leg lowers. Two, we got three, three. It's my right one that always needs the help. 3. Use your core to move, even if it's a really small movement. We got 4. Can we do it, guys? Come on, tris! Oh yes, we can! Here we go, tap them. 4, 3, 2. Right here, here we go. 3, 2, 1. 3, 2, 1. We got 2. Come on, righty! One more of each. Ooh, and relax. Drop them down, right? Feel that? Me too. All right, even though I'm picking up these tens, they feel even heavier. All right, rest for just a second. One and one, or together. Down with the feet, down with the tris. We got a 30-second burner. Let's rest your wrists, rest your shoulders, rest those tris. I know, especially after those push-ups, it's hard, but it's hard cuz we're working hard. Let's get 30 seconds again. It can be here, it can be leg lower straight down, or you can just pick one, whatever is best for you. For 30, shift those shoulders back. 3, 2, 1, 30 seconds, burn it out. If you want to rotate those palms at the top, that's something I like to add to get a little extra. Breathe here and up. Yes you can! Down and up. 10 seconds to go, make them burn! 3, 2, 1, and relax. I know it's team. I know, shake it out. All right, we're getting close. We got to get that other side with our kickstand and our curtsy, but let's finish strong. We can do it, okay? All right, here we go. Kickstand into curtsy, ladder up and down, burnout. Last regular move. Maybe it's short, cute little bonus, but we'll see. Here we go. 3, 2, 1. Kickstand curtsy. Again, I might not get as low because of this knee, but I'm going to do the best I can. You can always just do a tap, maybe that's a better option for you. Shift the weight. Here we Go! 3, 3. Ah, I know. Here we go. 4, 3, 2, 4, 3, 2. Back down right here. Take your time. 3, 2. I know it's tempting to speed it up when we're doing reps, right? Because you just want to get them over with. Don't do that. You're gonna make it harder and maybe lose your form. Don't want to risk an injury. 2. Hopefully I'm counting right. Last one. Relax. Oh man, you guys. All right, 30-second burner, let's do it. Kickstand or single leg if you want. Cross over to the curtsy. Maybe I'll do single leg on this one. Up to you. We are so close to being done. Let's do it in 3, 2, 1. Here we go, 30 seconds right here. Burn! Yes! Oh yeah! Ah, 10 seconds right here. Can you get one more? Relax. Yes team, here we go! Oh That's what I did. All right, shake it out. We did it, but I think we have time for a bonus move, and here's what we got. We're going to keep it simple. Kneeling if you can, bicep curl and up, surrender, and down. Bicep curl and up. What we're gonna do, we're gonna do a ladder on our biceps, but we're only gonna do one on our leg. I know, sounds strange, but hang with me. I'll talk you through it. This is it, this is your bonus move. If you can't do it kneeling, you're gonna curl here and then you're gonna sit low in the squat. Okay, here we go, down to here. Already, already regretting these 15s, but here we go. One curl, rack them here, step up, step down. If the rack doesn't feel good for you, keep them low. Like this. 2, up. 3 curls, 1 surrender. 3, 2, 1, switch your legs. Lead— oh no, what was I thinking? 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1. So make sure you're switching your lead leg. Down for 3, 3, 2, 1. For 2, so close. One more. Yes! And relax. Relax, team. Oh man, catch your breath. Reach those arms to the back. If you have a bench or something to press your shoulders on, right here. Here we go, pedal right here. If you don't have your hands right here, pedal your feet and roll through your back. Cat-Cow right here. We're going to keep this cool down short so we can get you out of here, but please make sure that you get some stretching, mobility, and flexibility on your own right here. Breathe. Please let me know in the comments how you feel about a ladder workout. If it was hard, it was hard for me too. It's hard cuz we're working hard, all right? But I hope you're feeling it. I hope you feel the value. We get muscle endurance, but we're building strength that way by time under tension. It's not always about super specific timed intervals or rep counts. Sometimes it's the build and up and down. Things like that are all really helpful in building strength, endurance. Obviously you've probably felt your cardio as well during that. Leave me a comment, leave me a like. Don't forget to subscribe and do a little more stretching on your own. Thank you so much for being here. One big deep breath in and out. You did it! That was your dumbbell ladder burn workout. Great job, everybody!