32 Minute Beginner Dumbbell Strength: Full Body AT HOME Workout with

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your beginner dumbbell strength workout. This workout is for anyone who is either beginning a fitness routine, getting back into exercise, or anybody who just wants a back to basics dumbbell strength workout. In this workout, we will work your entire body. We'll start with some standing exercises, then we will take it down to the mat and and all of it. I will give you different options to work to your fitness level. You'll have options to take it up in intensity if you need to, to take it down in intensity. And I will encourage you to be where you are today. This is your workout. I'll be working with a couple sets of dumbbells today. You use whatever you have available to you. Are you ready? Let's do it. Okay, so we're going to start just with some rolls of the shoulders. So you can just try to find that good posture. Soft bend in the knees, making sure we're not rolling forward or back, rolling forward with our shoulders, but with our posture, and then take them to the front. So you may notice I do have a box back here. There are going to be a couple of options. If you need to take things to a seated or an incline position, I will show you how to do that. Let's take those arms a little bit bigger to the back. Trying to work that mobility. But of course, if you don't have a box, a bench, a sturdy chair, or a couch, totally fine. You can do everything that we're doing from either standing or on the mat right here. Let's take it one at a time to the back, right through here. And then take that same arm to the front. Just getting that mobility. Ready to go. Other side to the back. We're all pretty tight in those shoulders, upper back from sitting at our computers, driving, looking at our phones. So always a good idea to get some mobility. Let's take it to a little bit of a march. So just moving our feet, you can move those arms if you want. You can take it slow or you can take it faster. Whatever is good for you. You are new to exercise. I hope that you're getting energized by this and I hope you're going to feel good. But remember, if you haven't been working out or you haven't been working out for a while, don't overdo it. Don't push yourself. You got plenty of time to build that strength and endurance. And in the same way, if you need to take a breather, if you need to set your weights down and just do the motion of the exercise. All of that is totally fine. The important thing today is that you showed up. I like to say if you showed up today, you are successful. So don't worry about anything else. Let's just get our bodies moving today. Let's take a little roll of our hips. Knees coming across. Now if you need a little balance with that, just grab onto the wall just here to here. And then if you're able, we're going to take it to a little side step, kind of shift your weight so it's a little side lunge. So it's up to you. If you have the mobility to get low with it, go for it. Otherwise, just want you to shift the weight to the side. You don't have to go super far. We're just opening up the hips, stretching out through the legs. Let's hold it right here and just shift your weight side to side. You can reach one up, one down, just like that. Then we're going to take our hands right on top of our legs here. Again, if you need a little balance, hold on to something. We're going to roll through our backs. So this is a. I call this a standing cat cow. That cat cow is from yoga. You're going to round up with one. And here, if that doesn't feel good to you, you can just get a little back stretch here. Again, holding on to something or not right through here. And then find something for a little bit of balance if you need it. We're going to step back right through here. So I'm going to stay turned to the side. We're going to open up the hips this way. And again, if you have a chair or a wall, countertop, something like that, you can hold on. Let's hold it here and let's reach that hand over so you don't have to drop down into a lunge unless you want to. But little stretch again, you may need that balance. Press that heel down in the back. You get a little extra stretch. And then let's switch it. So other side balance if you need it. Cross it over, press that heel down in the back and little stretch. Last thing right here, we're going to take those hands behind the head. We're going to do a hinge. So we're going to drive those hips to the back and bring it up right through here. Hinge and bring it up. So the hinge is not just a fold forward. We're actually driving our hips to the back. We want to warm up from this because we're going to be doing that motion with a little deadlift. So we're here. Bring it up. We're going to keep those hands behind the head if that's comfortable for you, because we get a nice good stretch. Two more, one more. And relax. Okay, so back to that little march. Grab a sip of water if you need it. Remember, you can get water at any time. Again, if you need to hit pause, you need to take a breather. This is your workout. Everybody's journey is different. And you are on your own journey. Embrace it. You are here today. Okay, so we're going to start with one dumbbell. I want you to pick something medium to heavy or whatever would be heavy for you. And we're going to hold it right in the center. And what that's going to do is it's going to keep us in that good posture. We're going to have to engage our core. And then we're going to sit in a squat. So your squat is going to look like this. Now, if you need to, you of course can keep it a little lower if you need to. You can use a chair or a bench or a box to get a little lower and press up through those heels. If you actually sit down or aim to sit down, really functional. And then another option is just to step to the side, a little tap out, I call it. So you can do that with the weight or without the weight. It is up to you. But we are going to get 40 seconds, seconds of work, and then we're going to go into a bent over row. So go ahead, grab that weight right in the center. If it feels like too much, you can of course keep it low or drop it completely. Let's sit low in that squat. Here we go. So you're going to sit low and bring it here. So your hips do go to the back. But we're sitting like we're sitting in a chair. So again, that's why an actual chair might be kind of helpful. I like to actually sit down and then drive it up. So it's up to you if you want to use that option. Otherwise, you're here to here. Your core is engaged, so I just want you nice and tight through here. Not holding your breath, but lifting up. We have five seconds. We got three, two and one, one. Okay, so we're gonna grab another weight. So again, something medium. And we're gonna go to a bend over row so it looks like this. We're gonna roll those shoulders back. We're gonna be in a Little hinge here, and we're gonna bring those elbows up. Now, if that feels like too much, I want you to grab onto the wall. You can take it here. I'll tell you when we're at the halfway point, and you can switch your sides if that feels better for you. Otherwise, if you can, two feet, either parallel or staggered. Staggered, actually, sometimes makes it a little easier on our backs, but we want to pull those shoulders back, Nice flat back, hinge it forward. Here we go. Bring those elbows up. So I want you to think that you're bringing the weights towards your rib cage, almost like you're bringing them or towards your hip bones. Here's a little tip. If you feel it more in your upper back, right in your neck, I want you to bring those weights a little lower. So think more towards your hip bones. If you're feeling that low back, think more towards your rib cage. The main thing we want to make sure we're at that halfway point. So if you want to switch your sides, go ahead and switch your sides. The main thing, only if you're doing one dumbbell, right, that we want to make sure, is that we're keeping that back flat. It's super common, especially if we're not used to this, to be here. So bring those eyes up. Bring that back up. We've got three, two, one, and relax. All right, team, so I want you to have one dumbbell, something heavy to medium in the center, and we're going to do a little press, and we're going to add a little knee with it. So it's like a little bit of a march for our core. One dumbbell right here. So you can either do one and then the other. So we're getting upper body and core, or here to here, a little bit of balance work. If balance is not right for you, again, you can alternate one and then the other, or you can just do that press. Not straight over your head, not arching your back. Pull that core in. But if you can add a little march with the press, you're gonna feel your core working right, right through here. And guess what, team? After this, we're going to do each one of those again, all right? Just going to keep it super simple, exactly what you just did. So catch your breath. Water if you need it. We're going to go back to that squat here. Again, you can step out if you need a modification. You can sit on a box or a chair or just your regular squat. I'm going to turn to the side so you can see core engaged let's do it. Take it down and bring it up. So all we're doing is repeating those things that we did before, right? Sit low and drive it up right here and up. There we go. Core engaged. And lift. So when I say lift, I mean little lift on your core and pelvic fl. Core, as in zipping up the core as if you're zipping up a pair of pants. Bringing it up. We've got five seconds. Three, two, one. And relax. All right, team, we're back to that bent over row. I want to give you one more option. If for some reason you're feeling it too much in your back here, you feel like you can't manage this here again, you can hold on to something, the wall in here, or you can take it to all fours and just go here to here. Sometimes that helps us keep that nice flat back. Otherwise we're coming back up. I want you to stagger here or feet together. Roll those shoulders back, cores in nice and tight. Not holding your breath. It's a hinge. So soft. Bend in the knees, arms out in front. Watch me. We're going to bring them up, we're going to drop them down. Here we go. Second round. Now, a lot of times I get asked, when do I breathe? And listen, the important thing is that you are breathing. But a good tip is to think that you're breathing with the exertion, right? So when I squeeze in those shoulder blades, I'm doing a nice deep breath. We're at the halfway point. If you're switching your sides, if you're using one dumbbell. Here we go. Bring them up again. Feet can be together, feet can be staggered. Whatever feels best for you. It's gonna feel almost like you're pulling your back, but we're not coming up. We're just keeping that back flat. Right through here. Yes, you can. Last one. Okay, team, so I'm gonna go to two dumbbells this time. If you want to try this, we're gonna do that press. So I'm going a little bit lighter. Press and knee again. Or press a knee just like we did before. About two dumbbells instead of one if you want. Otherwise, just keep it one. Here we go. Press a knee. So we call this a compound exercise, right? We're getting a lot of things working together. You're gonna feel that heart rate up a little bit. So if that starts to feel like too much, take the knee out of it or take the press out of it. Or again, just drop to one dumbbell and you can do one or the other. You can alternate, or you can put them together. Right after this, we're grabbing a sip of water. You're doing it. Nice work, team. Three, two, one. And relax. So grab a sip of water. Bend your knees to set those dumbbells down. You're going to hear me say that a lot, basically meaning I don't want you to bend in your back. If you have something to set them on, even better. We're going to move down to the mat for our second circuit. Now, with this, we're taking it down. So however you need to get down, whether that's kneeling, holding on to something, maybe you don't have any mobility issues. Either way, we're going to come down slowly. I want you to watch me first so you can come down seated. But watch me as I show you are three moves that we're each going to go through twice. So we're here. We're going to start with a basic chest press. So my elbows are not completely out or completely in. We're going to press here to here. Then I'm going to set those weights down and we're going to do a bridge. So we get back of the legs. Core is engaged. Right. If you want to, you can rest the weights here. Then we're going to take it to a little toe tap or dead bug. So it's going to look like this, this to here. I'm going to give you options as we go through that. So go ahead and join me on the mat if you're not here already. Chest press. We're getting a lot of upper body push. We got that upper body pull, but we're going to take it here. Core is engaged in 3, 2, 1. So press up and in and down and out. Now, if you have a bench at home, this is a great exercise to do on the bench because you can really get good range of motion when you can bring those elbows down past the bench. And again, remembering, our elbows are not straight out. You're not making a goal post, but you're not bringing them all the way in. We might get that on our second round. Split the difference. So 45 degree angle. So we're getting shoulders, we're getting chest, we're getting back of the arms for triceps, and then again, keeping the core engaged. I've got five, four, three, two, and one. I'm gonna set my weights to the side, so bring your feet in. So we're gonna do a little tilt of the pelvis. My core is engaged and we're gonna lift up in a bridge just like this. Now, if that doesn't feel good for you, you can just march one at a time. If you want to add the weights, you can add the weights. I'm gonna add the weights, but it's totally up to you. Here we go. Lift the hips up and down. Now you can experiment with what feels better for you. Maybe you want to be pressing more into your heels to get more glutes. A little more into your toes, you'll get hamstrings. Although sometimes people cramp with that. If you need to move your feet a little further out, that's okay, too, if you can keep them in close. This is another one where we're getting the core working. While we're working the lower body, we have that press. In the knee, we had upper body working with the core. Now we got lower body and core. Right? We got five, four, three, two, and one. Set them down to the side. Watch me. Team two, a few options. You can just do a little march for your core. I'm going to give you lots of cues to engage your core, or you can do little toe taps. Let's start with that. Go ahead and bring everything in. You're either tapping from the bottom or tapping from the top. Here we go. So little toe taps, and what I want you to think about is everything coming in at your rib cage, as if you're trying to button up your rib cage. Zip up a pair of pants. Almost imagine that your hip bones have magnets and they're pulling in. You start to feel your back again. You just take it to a little march. If you want more of a challenge, bring those arms up and add the opposite arm going back. So this, we call this a dead bug. This is a little modified version of it where we can get all of that core working, but without any what we call flexion or extension of the spine. Right, Five seconds to go. 3, 2, 1. Hug those knees in. We're going to do each one of those again. Here's the change I want to make on that press. We're going to bring those elbows from here to here. We're going to go straight up. What that does is that gets a little more of the back of our arms. If that doesn't feel right for you, you keep the regular press. All right, Go ahead and catch your breath. If you need to sit up. If you want to just get a little stretch, we're going to go right into that. We're going to bring the elbows in. We're going to do that bridge again. Just lifting our hips to get good lower back hamstrings, glutes, and then we'll take it to the dead bug where we'll add on to that. Bring those weights in. Here we go. So straight up and down again. If that feels too heavy or awkward to you, you can go back to that regular press. But if you can, having those elbows come down straight right by your side, that's going to get more of the back of the arms, right, the triceps. That's an area that many of us want to work. Right through here. Straight up and down. Yes, go five seconds. Right through here and relax. Set those weights down if you want. Big stretch over your head. And we're going to go back to that bridge. So remember, you can also just do a march right through here, or you can do this with the weights if you want a little extra. It is up to you. We're going to get hamstrings and glutes back of the legs, but also our core and low back. Here we go, up and down, right here. Now, if you're trying to use the weights and you're feeling your back too much, just take them away. I would much rather you get the good mobility again. Go ahead and be thinking about wrapping that core. Our core is working hard. Breathe right through here. Lift and lower. Yes. Nice work, team. After this, we have one more round at the top. 10 seconds to go. 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Go ahead and bring the. Oh, no, not those weights. Go ahead and get a little stretch up. Watch me here. You can still just do your march. You can still just do your toe taps with or without the arms. If you want that full dead bug, you're going to extend the opposite arm, opposite leg out long, then bring everything in. I really want you to think about that core. So start here, little tuck of the pelvis. Wrap everything in. Bring those knees up to start if that's right for you. Nice tight here, but not holding your breath. Just a strong stable foundation. Bring those hands up. Either toe taps or dead bug or just your march. Here we go. Last thing from the mat and then we are taking it. And breathe. We are taking it back up. One last circuit. We are almost there. I like to say. Imagine you're closing the core. So again, rib cage, hip bones. Use your breath. If you're feeling your low back, keep it that leg a little higher or take it back to just that toe tap. That works too. 3, 2, 1. Hug those knees in very gently. I want you to come up onto your feet. So take your time. Roll to the side if you need to. Sometimes I find that easier. Grab a quick sip of water. And we're taking it to our last round. So join me on your feet again. Take your time. I'm going to talk you through our next three moves, and then that's it, team. We are going to take it to a deadlift. So watch me here while you just catch your breath or get a little stretch. Break two of your heavier dumbbells. The deadlift is that hinge that we did in the beginning. Right? So you're going to bring those weights right to the front of the legs and then stand up straight. What we want to be really careful of again, just like with the row, is this. So really do what I call packing the shoulders. Pull them back. Think of that hinge where we have the hands behind here. That's what we want. If that feels weird to you, you can have your weights close to that bench or a chair, or you can just do the motion. Right, then we're gonna get our bicep curl. I'm going to give you some options here. Then we're going to take it down for a plank at the end. So we're going to do deadlift, curl, deadlift curl, and then we'll take it down round for a series of planks. Go ahead and grab those weights. Remember, we're going to pack those shoulders. So imagine you're pulling those shoulders back. Core is zipped up. Here we go. So you're just bending about halfway. And again, think of it not just as a fold forward, but as driving the hips to the back as if you were trying to shut the car door with your backside. Right? Then when you come up, you're going to stand up straight and tall. This is such a great exercise, especially as you get stronger and you can go heavier with it. You really feel it all down the back of the legs, the glutes. We just work those with your bridge right here to here. Bringing it up nice and tall. One more right through here. Good. And relax. You can set those weights down if you need it. Bicep curl. So shoulders back, just standing. We're just coming up and in and down and out. If you have something a little heavier and you want to alternate, that is an option, too. Let's do it. Roll those shoulders back, zip up that core in three, two, one. Right here. Oh. Alternating or together? I went with the alternating, but you can do either. Right through here. Soft bend in the knees. Yes. You can here. Really making sure that I'm not arching my back. So if you're feeling like you're having to go here, your weight might be a little bit too heavy. You can stagger your feet to be here. Yes. Good work, team. 3, 2, and 1. Set those weights down. Get a little stretch right through here. Then we're gonna take it back to the deadlift. We're gonna stay up here for those two, and then we'll take it down to the plank for two. So bend your knees to get them one more time. Shoulders back. Deadlift followed by bicep curl. Here we go. I like to say you're painting the front of your legs with those dumbbells, right? That's how close you want to be. Watch what happens when my dumbbells go further out. I round in that back, but I can keep those shoulders packed, shoulders pulled back. I want to look at the floor, but not at the floor underneath me. Right. I don't want to see my shoes. I want to be looking out ahead at the edge of my mat or my floor. Stand up straight. Connect with the core at the top. Taking this nice and slow. If it's bothering your back, set those weights down and just do the motion. This is a. This is a great exercise, but sometimes in the beginning, it's hard to learn that form. Last one and relax. Set the weights down. If you need a little breather. Really great to watch yourself in the mirror. Do that hinge. Or better yet, have yourself film yourself with your phone, something like that, so you can really see. Am I keeping that back flat? We're going to those bicep curls right here. Let's take a hammer curl this time. Palms are facing in and down, so just a slightly different grip. Not too far off from our regular. If this feels better for you, you can take it there. And again, you can alternate if you need to. So deadlift curl and then down on the mat. We have a couple different planks that we're going to do, but I'm going to bring you down there and then we can finish our stretch there because we are almost done. And here. And up. Yes, you can. We've got five, four, three, two and one. All right, team. So set those weights. Down. Down. We're going to take it down to a plank, so we're going to be on our elbows. If you need to elevate this, you can put it on something comfortable. Make sure it's a comfortable chair or a comfortable bench, something like this. And we're going to be Going plank singles. So you're just going to be lifting your knees to here and then dropping them down. That's not right for you. You can just extend a leg. Another option is to take it to a plank on the wall. You'll put your elbows on and walk your feet back. I'm going to take it down to the mat. You do the option that is best for you. As you're joining me down here, watch me. We're going to do plank singles. I know many of us are familiar with a plank from here. If you're a beginner, you're getting back into this. That's going to be really hard to hold for a long time, and that's okay. It's hard for all of us to hold. We're going to do what I love, what I call plank singles. We're going to engage our core. We're going to inhale. As we exhale, we're going to lift to our knees. If that's far enough for you, you hold it here for a couple. Couple seconds and bring it down. We'll start with that. Then we'll add lifting up to the toes. All right? Then we'll have a couple variations on that. So join me here. Hands are about shoulder width apart. Opening up the chest, we're going to do a big inhale. I want you to think of expanding all the way through your sides and your back. As we exhale, a little tuck of the pelvis. And imagine that you're lifting with your core. Here we go. Inhale, exhale up to the knees. Hold for a count or two, and then slowly down. So what I want you to think about with this is using the core to lift your torso off the ground. Try not to push through the elbows or the knees, going at your own pace. And again, if the knees is enough for you, then I want you to keep that. If you can bring it all the way up to the toes, hold for a count or two, slowly down to the knees, and slowly down. It feels kind of tedious, but trust me, even if you've been working out for a long time, if you feel like you have a strong core, these are really challenging. So I want you to use this. This is one of my favorite core moves all over, but especially a great modification for beginners. I wouldn't even call it a modification. Great option. Or if you're getting back after a pregnancy or a back surgery. Surgery, something like that. Let's get one more. Inhale, exhale and relax. So I want you to get a little Stretch through here if that feels good for you. We're going to turn over on your side. Now we're going to work those obliques so we've got each side. We're going to stay on the knees. If you're feeling it, you want to come up to the toes. You can. Otherwise, one or two knees down. We're just going to lift and lower. Lower singles from our side plank. Here we go. Up and down. Just 30 seconds here and down. Right here. Up, down. So again, trying not to push from here. Trying to lift from here. If that doesn't feel good for you, I want you to lift that top leg. That's an option, too, Right? You're going to feel that top oblique instead of that bottom. Last one. You can slowly roll through the center to that other side or bring it up and take it back to here. All right, team, we're lifting and lowering again. Only 30 seconds, so getting in place. Two knees, one knee, both feet, whatever is right for where you are today. Here we go. Little lift and lower. Everything is in tight in the center. The ones you just worked again, you can elevate this, too. You could do this on a sturdy chair or the couch, or just take a little stretch break. That works, too, here. And relax. All right, turn into your mat. This is your last thing. You can either hold the plank for 30 seconds, if you want to try that, or take it with those plank singles. You can also just hold from your knees, or you can stretch the entire 30 seconds, whatever you want. This is your very last thing. Here we go. So big. Inhale, exhale. If you want to hold that plank up top, I want you to tighten out in those legs. Don't hold your breath. Lift up in the core. If you want to do those singles just like we did before, you can either go to your knees, all the way up to your toes, or just hold on your knees, too. Exhale again. A great way to learn how to use your core for the plank. Last one, right through here. 3, 2, 1. I want you to stretch it up right here. And very carefully. I want you to come to a little child's pose. So you're coming up on your knees. You're sitting back like this. If that doesn't feel good for you, you can have your hands elevated or you can come up to a seated or standing position. But we're just going to stretch those shoulders, sit back into the hips. Really stretch through your back. You did it, team. I hope you were feeling good, because that was most of our major movement Patterns. Most of our regular heavy lifts, with the exception of some lunges, some tricep extensions, but we got a lot of triceps with our press. We got upper body push, upper body pull, our squats, our hinges, and of course our. Our core. So come up very slowly on your feet. So again, however, you need to come up from that. Take your time and bring it up. Everybody's a little bit different. For me, I need to come up slowly because sometimes I feel that little head rush just depending on how your body responds. For some of us, it's because of our mobility. Maybe we've had an injury, maybe we're dealing with some arthritis. Whatever it is, everybody's a little different. Some people can just jump right up. So I want you to do what is best for you. So please leave me a comment. Leave me a like, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven't already. And if you want, check out my full beginner program. If you're getting into this, this is a great way to follow a program, has videos just like this that you can just follow a few a few days a week with some options of some bonus workouts. The goal, again, is just to get moving and move in a way that's good for you and makes you want to come back. You could start with a super intense, you know, crazy workout program that's many hours, many days a week. But if it doesn't make you want to come back or it's too much for where you are right now, it's not the right place for you. So I want to give you options to move and move in a way that makes you feel feel good, because you should feel good. You have been working hard. Your body has been working hard. Let's get a little hamstring stretch. You can grab onto the wall if you need to. Just lean into that. You should be really proud of yourself for showing up today. So let me know how this workout was for you. Check out my beginner program and I would love to have you join us in the bodyfit athletic club. If you want that extra support, that accountability, access to me, access to our dietitian. You get live streams, you get Q and A's. You get a very practical nutrition plan that's all about all the. All the things we can add in, not take out. That is where you want to be. Join us in the athletic club today. Thank you so much for being here. Let's get one big deep breath in and out. That was your beginner dumbbell strength workout. Great job, everybody.