22-Minute Standing Beginner Dumbbell Workout

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your standing beginner dumbbell workout. So in this workout, we will work your entire body. We'll get some strength, we'll get some cardio, we'll get some mobility, all from a standing position. So nothing down on the mat. And using a set of dumbbells. If you don't have dumbbells, you can just keep it body weight. You can use soup cans or water bottles. Whatever works for you. Just trying to add a little bit of weight, a little bit of resistance and keep it applicable to. We're going to give you lots of options to work to your level and be where you are today. I'm just happy that you're here and you're moving with me. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's get started with a quick warm up. We won't do much because we're going to keep it all from the standing position. And a lot of what we're going to do today is going to get some good mobility, but you can just start moving your body. So a little march. Roll those shoulders to the back, then take them to the front. Whatever feels good for you. You can even make it a little bit bigger. We're just getting maybe three or four one way and then reverse. The goal with this warm up is to get our temperature up, our body's core temperature where we work best and to get the blood flowing. Muscles warm. Everything ready to move. Let's go one arm at a time to the back. Trying to keep that core stabilized. And then reverse to the front. Now a lot of us are pretty tight through here, so just do the best you can. Let's take it to the back, right through here. And then to the front, right through here. And let's just take a little side to side shift of that weight. A little bend if you can. And if you can reach. It doesn't have to be a full windmill, but we're bending in the knees, shifting in the weight, side to side. If that feels good for you, you can open up those arms in between. Big arm swing, shifting the weight. So what we're gonna do today we're going to keep it pretty simple, pretty back to basics, just getting you comfortable using the dumbbells. And again, standing dumbbell workout for beginners. But if you're not, if you wouldn't consider yourself a beginner, that's okay. Let's tap it back right here. Reach it up. Maybe you're just getting back into it. Maybe you're recovering from an injury or an illness. Whatever your reason for being here today, I'm glad you're here. And we're going to give you options to be where you are today. Remember what I always say. If you showed up today, you are successful. Opening up the hips through here. Just like that. Here we go. So we're gonna reach across. Start with this again. Little rotation through the torso. Reach long through the arms. If it feels okay, take it over your head. Reach, and then little hamstrings right through here. If you can't bring them up, just tap them back. That's okay, too. You can keep your arms here out in front or bring them a little higher. How's that feel? Do what's best for you. Do what feels good for you. I always say I want to challenge you, but in a way that works for you. I don't want things to feel like you can't do them right. You can do them. That's why you're here. So just tap it out. Okay, so we are going to grab our dumbbells. I'm going to be working with £5 today. You work with what's best for you. I'm going to give you options to do one dumbbell or two. Stumbles are a little bit dirty. Why? Okay, so we are going to start with our plie squat. So let's turn our toes out. If that doesn't feel good for you, you can keep a regular squat, but sometimes the plie can be a little easier because our knees and our toes are turned out. So I'm going to rest my weights right here. Another option we're going to would be to have one weight down in the center or at your chest or no weight at all. So plie squat. We're here. I want you to bring that core in while you bring those shoulders back. Right? Tap the rib cage right through here. Everything's pulled in with the core, but we're not running forward. We're pulling it back. We're going to sit low in that plie squat and bring it up. So join me here. You're down, and you're up. You don't have to get super low. And again, if that doesn't feel good for you, you can go to that regular squat or you can just step out into it. That's an option, too. Sometimes the plie. And again, you don't have to be as turned out as me. You can just be a little bit turned out. But sometimes it's a little easier to start off with and breathe Right through here. Yes. You can up get just about 10 more seconds. We're not going to worry about intervals today. Just want you to give you space and time to work at a temple that is good for you. Last one and breathe. Shake it out. Now we're going to take it to a regular bicep core curl. So shoulders are back, core is wrapped, and we're going to come up with the dumbbells and drop it down so you're here. My elbows are close to the side. What I'm not doing is bringing my back into it. If you need to stagger, take it here. Join me when you're ready. Bring it up, drop it down, bring it up, drop it down. You can also take it one at a time, or if your dumbbells are too heavy, you can take it to one. Right through here. Yes. Keep it going. So I'm keeping an eye on the clock, but I don't want you to worry about intervals today. Sometimes that gets in our head. We can get to that later. So I want you to be thinking just about what you're doing. Let's get four more. Three, two, and one. Now I want you to gently place one dumbbell down and one dumbbell to your side. Here's what we're gonna get is a little side bend. So what it's not is this bending in your knees and your hips, just a little lateral bend through those sides. And it's just prep work for other moves like our windmills or torso rotation. So hand up, hand down, we're just here to. Here, join me. We're gonna go one side. Just about 30 seconds. It's also going to be a chest of open or having the hand here, it feels better for you. You can reach up to the top, but again, just moving through the torso, not bending at the hips or the legs or the knees. Down and up. There we go. Five seconds should feel like a nice good stretch. Last one. Go ahead and switch your sides right here. So core engaged, even those shoulders pulled back. Hand up here. 30 seconds. But don't worry about the glove. I got my eyes on the clock again. I want to give you the time and space to get in what works for you. Maybe in that 30 seconds you get 15, maybe you get 5. Does not matter. We want good form. Maybe you have a heavier weight than me and you can go a little slower. That's okay. Five seconds to go. You want to reach, you can or keep it pulled here. Three, two, one. Excellent work. Okay, go ahead. Bend your knees to pick up Those dumbbells. So you hear me say that a lot. What I don't want you to do is to be grabbing from here, right? So you want to bend your knees either down like this or dead like this to grab those dumbbells. A little trick that some of you told me that's helpful is if you have a chair or the couch to put them on, that makes it a little easier, a little quicker when you need a break from holding them. Okay, so let's take those toes out, and let's take it back into that plie squat. But what we're gonna add is, as we come up to the top, we're gonna add that bicep curl. If that feels like too much for you, you just keep the regular plie. At the halfway point, we can switch it. Core, engage, shoulders, back, weights in front. We're going to drop it down in the plie, bring it up, bring it up in the curl. Right here. Down in the plie, up in the curl. So think of them as two separate moves. If it works better to have what we call a hammer grip, that works, too. And up. Yes. And breathe. This is about our halfway point. So breathe for a second. If you want to switch to just doing the curl, switch to just doing the curl. Or keep them putting together. Here we go. Take it down. Palms can be forward or in. Whatever feels better. Pull those shoulders back towards each other. Two more. Last one. And relax. Good work. So bend your knees to set those weights down. Let's get what I call a little cardio mobility. So we're gonna tap behind to open up those legs. We're gonna reach behind to stretch our biceps. So tap and reach. Tap and reach. You don't have to get super low. If that doesn't feel good for you. You can just pick one. Just do the upper or just do the lower. Right through here. If you want more cardio, you can pick up your pace. It's up to you. Right through there. Yes. Breathe. Let's get about 10 more seconds, and we'll grab a quick sip of water, take it into our next round here. 3, 2, 1. Grab some water. We're gonna hang out with those dumbbells. You want to go a little bit a little heavier. You can. We're going to take it to a hinge pattern. So it's our deadlift. So if you are not comfortable with this, I'm going to go a little bit heavier. But I'm going to show you first. It's that hinge pattern right through here. So we Want to keep the weights right to the front of the legs. Now, for some people, they feel that in their lower back. So I want you to keep it body weight. Just have your hands right through here and bring it up. The biggest thing that we see is rounding of the back. So if you see the floor or your legs or you feel pressure in that low back, I want you to readjust, bend your knees a little bit more and take it here with the weights or with your hands. I want you to think about shaving your legs with the dumbbells, right? That's how close you want to keep them. One dumbbell or two or no weights if hinges and deadlifts are new to you. But pull those shoulders back. Core engaged. We're going to take it here. So it's a hinge. You can go just past the knees. It is not about getting super low. In fact, sometimes when we get too low, that's when we end up rounding the back. So think about what we call shoulders packed. Pull those shoulder back blades back behind you. And then just going just past the knees so you're not arching that neck. You're keeping what we call neutral spine. So you should be looking at the floor, but out in front of you. Up and squeeze. Slow and controlled. Really important movement pattern to master because we do this all day long, right? Picking things up off the floor. And breathe. Let's get two more. Last one. And relax. All right, so step the weights down for just a second. Shake that out. You can even do a little stretch kick if you want. Now we're going to take it to a row. So we're doing a lot in this hinge pattern, so do the best you can. Shoulders back. We're going to stagger our feet. We're going to bring those elbows up so again, it's hanging out here. We want to hang out here very long, but we're going to bring those elbows up, up. Bring the weights towards your hip bones, towards your rib cage and pull those elbows not only up, but in. So shake everything out. I'm going to give you a little second to rest your back and then bend your knees to grab those weights. You can also take this with no weight or you can have one dumbbell between two hands if that feels better for you. But let's go ahead. Shoulders back. Hinge it here. Step one foot back. Here we go. Bring them up. We won't go very long. You can have two feet parallel or again you can stagger, but the idea is that we have a flat back again we won't stay here very long. Breathe. Because we'll get a little core break, and then we'll put them together. Squeeze, pull those elbows in. Two more and breathe. Let's take that weight down. Little core break. We're putting it in early here. Now we're gonna do a little knee cross with our weight. So we're taking it here to here. I want you to think of it as a standing crunch, but it's little cross. This is if we did that bicycle. You can also do this with no weight, but bring that core in. Shoulders back. And we're here side. Decide if you need a little more balance. Take the weight off and grab onto the wall. Take it here and here. Or just no weight, but your core is engaged either way. Yes. Just giving our back a break while we work our core from a standing position. We've got 4, 3, 2, 1, and relax. All right, bend your knees to grab those weights. I want you to watch me here. If that was feeling like too much for your back, I want you to keep it body weight and focus on the movement. Otherwise, watch me here. We're going to do that deadlift. Turn the palms in, bring the elbows up, turn them out, and bring it all the way up so it's hinge into deadlift. We've only got eight. You can do it without the weight, too. Core engaged. Here we go. Shave your legs. Turn the palms in, bring it up. Take them down, bring it all the way up slow. And control shoulders back the entire time, focusing on that nice flat back. And again. The reason we strengthen this movement pattern, these muscles, is because we do this all day in life. Maybe you're picking up kids off the floor. Maybe you got my life in. It's kids and toys. Maybe it's unloading the dishwasher, getting the laundry out of the dryer. Whatever it is, we have to hinge, and we want to do it safely and we want to have that strength. Right? Take your time. Elbows up, big squeeze in the shoulder blades. Breathe one more and relax. Go ahead and bend your knees to set those weights down. And little stretch right here. You can just do little taps or if it's okay with you, bring them up. Flex the foot to stretch out the legs. We're in the home stretch, pun intended, right? We're gonna get a little bit more done. Make sure your workout space is clean. You need to move some weights out of the way so you don't trip over anything. I'm gonna do that right now while you're doing some kicks. Go ahead and grab a quick sip of water, and we're going to take it into our last quick circuit. Here's what we got, team. We're going to take it to a lunge pattern. So we've got our weights here. We're just going to do a tap back. I love a tap back because it's a great modification if a full lunge is hard on your knees. So we're going to keep the weights, two weights, one weight or no weight, and keep your weight a little bit forward, right. Pushing out of that heel either way. Then we're going to take it to a little press. I'm going to go with my lighter weights here. Go ahead and roll those shoulders back if you need some balance. Hand on the wall. You're tapping back here or lunging back in. Three, two. Good posture. Here we go. So it's a tap back or a lunge. Drop it down, drive up through the heel. If the lunge is good for you, take your time getting into it. If you need to make it a little smaller range of motion, just keep that front leg doing the work. Drop it down, bring it up. Down and up. Yes. How about we get two more, Both weights or one weight. And relax. Give yourself a second. Switch it to that other side. Move my weight out of the way. We're tapping it back. So again, this leg is doing the work either way. So whether that's a tap back or a lunge, just let your weight come a little bit forward. Balance or no balance. Here we go. Take it down, bring it up. We're going for a timed interval, but I'm watching the clock. I don't want you to worry about it. You can tap back, too, or you can lunge it right here, right now. And up. Breathe. How about two more and relax. All right, so we're going to do an upper body push. So elbows in, we're gonna push. And down. You can go two dumbbells. If that feels good for you, we're gonna keep those elbows in. Up and down, or one dumbbell between the two. Zip up that core. Let's get one foot back for balance. Here we go. So up and down looks like this. You don't have to come down to here. In fact, keep it here. If that doesn't feel good for you, take the weight out and just focus either on one weight or just the movement pattern. I know some of us have a hard time reaching over the head. Again, really important motion. Putting things up above on the shelf in the cabinet. Lifting up, making sure that we take it slow and controlled. Two more. Last one. And relax. All right, this is it, team. One dumbbell. Here are your options. We've got eight each side. It's either a lunge and a press or a tap back and a press. You can have the dumbbell between two hands or one side. To work that core looks like this. And up to you, it's only eight. And then we're cooling it. Down, down. Let's get it done. Zip up that core. Balance if you need it. One dumbbell, here we go. We've got eight on my count. So if you get less or more, that's okay. Remember, it can be a tap back, too. It can be no weight if that's a better option for you. And breathe. Core engaged. Finish whatever one you're on. And let's take for that other side. Finishing with a little bit of cardio full body movement. I know you can always just do the lunge or just do the press. You do you to finish strong for eight. In three, two, one. Take it down and press. Or just a tap back and a press or just a lunge or just a press you do. You finish. Wherever you are, set those weights out of the way carefully and let's shake it out. Little taps. Yes, you can. And yes, you did. Whatever that looked like. Even if you did it. No, wait. Even if you stopped halfway through the sets, you are here. You are here right now, and that is all that matters. So take that energy that you feel. Maybe that felt super easy and you just needed to show yourself that you're ready to move on. Maybe it didn't. That's okay. It was challenging for me too. And remember that it was hard because you are working hard. I will always remind you of that. Let's get a quick little stretch out in front. Round in the shoulders. If you can bring it up to here. A little bit to the side, another side if that's okay with you. Please get more of a stretch on your own. We're keeping it from pretty simple so we can get you out of here. Reach those thumbs to the back if you're able, grab on. Otherwise, just keep reaching. I want you to put one hand on a wall if you've got it. And look over your shoulder here. Open up the hips so you get a little hip flexor stretch. Fingertips back. Make sure you leave me a comment, let me know. Did you like this workout? How are you feeling? Let's switch our sides. Do you want to see more like this? And if you are looking for more check out all of my other beginner workouts and my beginner program. Great way to get on a program. And also consider joining the Body Fit Athletic Club. If you're looking for that extra support, that community accountability or Body Fit Elite. If you're looking for more one on one personalized support, go ahead and get a little hinge here you can grab under the wall. If you want a little hamstring stretch again, get some more stretching on your own. Remember, the name of the game is to just keep moving. Fitness does not have to be stressful. It does not have to be overwhelming. It does not have to make you miserable. The idea is to move in ways that feel good, to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and to challenge our bodies to get stronger, to get more endurance and to be better overall. Healthier, stronger, more fit. That is what it's about. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Let's get one big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your standing beginner dumbbell workout. Great job, everybody.