Standing Arms & Abs Dumbbell Workout | Upper Body + Core (No Mat, No Floor, All Standing!)

Hey everybody, I'm Amy from BodyFit by Amy, and this is your standing arms and abs dumbbell workout. Just like it sounds, we are going to keep it all standing using weights to work your entire upper body as well as your core. I'll give you lots of different options to work to your fitness level, so listen to your body. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's start just by getting our muscles warm. We'll get a quick little warm-up, just a little bit of mobility through the upper body, through our core and our back. And then we will jump right in. We have 3 quick circuits today. Let's roll those shoulders to the back. Start small. You can keep that march or you can keep it standing, whatever feels best for you. Our 3 circuits have 3 exercises each, so a mix of upper body and standing core. Let's take them to the front just like this, and then we will go one time through for 40 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds rest. Second time we will repeat those exercises with only 30 seconds. Let's cross those arms over and under, big stretch. You can also do a little step out if you want to open up the hips, but if you'd rather just keep that upper body getting that nice big stretch right through here. And then let's take those arms, we're going to go up to a Y and then drive the hips to the back. So So it looks like this, nice big Y with the shoulders and then hips to the back. So we really stretch all the way through. Y and back. Right here, up, reach. Two more. And then from here, let's put our hands right on top of our legs. We're going to do a little standing cat cow. So we're rolling through here to to here and really try to also roll through that lower lumbar spine. I know it can get a little tricky sometimes. Our upper spine is a— has a little bit more mobility. This gets a little tight. Slowly roll it up. Let's do a little tap and reach across. So you're stretching while you're also turning in that torso. All right, so I'm going to be working with all dumbbells today. If you only have one set of dumbbells, that's totally fine. Use what you've got. If you don't have any weights, you can use water bottles, you can use soup cans, you can keep it all body weight and just focus on your form and going through the motions. But if you have some weights, I'll try to cue you when you may want to go a little bit heavier or a little bit lighter if you have options. So that's what's great about this workout, all standing, so nothing down on the mat. And if you want to, if you're a beginner and you take it slow, just use choose lighter weights. If you've been working out for a while and you want to really challenge yourself but keep it all standing, go heavy weights if you got them. All right, I will give you options. Be where you are today and work to your level. All right, so we're going to start with a bicep curl, and we're going to do what I call a high fly with it. So your motion is this: we're going to curl up, then we're going to squeeze out in and down. Now if that feels like too much, you can just do the bicep curl, but we're going to get that upper body pull muscles for our biceps, but also squeezing back and shoulders. We got 40 seconds in 3, 2, 1, here we go. So we're up, high fly, and down. Squeeze. And you decide, you can keep it a little bit lower on the fly, just like that. Or if you want to take it up to a little bit more shoulders, you do you. Keeping the core engaged. And one thing that I think really helps to keep the core muscles engaged is to think about stacking your rib cage over your pelvis. So we're not here or here. We've got 5 seconds. 3, 2, 1, and relax. So you can set that weight down. One weight this time. You can do medium to heavy or whatever you have available to you. We're just going to cross our knees, so we want a little twist and a little twist. You're just going to hold it here. You're going to feel those biceps still working. You don't have to get up super high with the knee, and if the knee is not right for you, just do the twist. Here we go. So as you can tell, you're still going to feel your arms working because they just did that curl and fly, but we're focused on core on this, right? So I really want you to think about rotating here. And again, if the knees is not right for you, just turn your body. You're going to still get the core working. So standing core, adding a little bit of weight is just going to make that core work even harder. Also get a little bit of cardio. You probably feel that heart rate getting up just a bit. 3, 2, 1, and relax. All right, now we're going to go to those back muscles. So these tend to be a little bit stronger, so if you have something a little heavier, you can grab it. But we're going to do a rotating row. So my palms are here, I'm going to turn them in Squeeze and down. Nothing too fancy, you're still pulling those elbows up by your side. Nice flat back. Here we go, rotate them in, elbows up and squeeze and down. So I like to think about pulling my shoulder blades together, also pulling the elbows up to the sky, weights towards your hip bones or your rib cage, and then also as if you're pulling those elbows in towards each other. Now we want a nice flat back. If your stance here doesn't feel like you can maintain that, you can stagger your feet just like this. Sometimes that can be really helpful. And breathe. 3, 2, 1, and relax. So let's get all of those again. Same thing. Bicep curl, high fly. So we get arms back and shoulders. This time through, we're going 30 seconds. So 30 seconds curl and fly, 30 seconds knee cross, and then that rotating row. So again, standing, stacking your rib cage right over your hips. 3, 2, 1, up, out, in, and down. Squeeze as you're doing the fly, high fly. Think about squeezing the back muscles in the same way we did with your row. So this whole first circuit are— is focused on our upper body pull muscles. Super important muscles, right? Our back, our biceps, our shoulders. Getting a lot of things working. Last one, and relax. All right, now we're back to that knee cross. If it felt like too much with the weight, you can always keep it body weight. If it felt too easy, go a little heavier, or you can cross a little bit more. Here we go. So as you can tell, we're going a little bit shorter on our time for the exercise, a little bit shorter on our time for the rest. So that's how we're going to get through this workout quickly but also safely and effectively. So great workout to do. Maybe you've got a set of dumbbells in your office space or somewhere where you maybe are not able to get down onto the mat, but you can get it done. Relax. All right, one more time with that rotating fly. Again, if you want to go a little heavier, back muscles. We're going to get in that nice good hinge position, so keep the shoulders back, core engaged. Hinge it. 3, 2, 1. 30 seconds. Squeeze in the back, right through here. After this, we'll grab a quick sip of water and then we'll get into our next round. Again, we're going to get through this workout quickly. You'll leave feeling energized and strong and powerful, all of the things. 5 seconds, 3, 2, 1, and relax. Yes team, shake it out. All right, let's grab a quick sip of water right over here. Cheers y'all! Let's take it back over here. All right, so we are getting it done with Circuit 2. This time we're thinking upper body push, so we're going to do either one weight or two. I want to show you that with this, if you've got lighter weights, you can probably do two. If they're heavier, you may want to do one. We're right here, we're going to do a press overhead into triceps and then down. Again, thinking of stacking our ribs and our hips, core engaged. If that feels too heavy for you, right here and here. Then we're going to take it to a chop for our core and our shoulders. So one weight or two, in 3, 2, 1, press overhead triceps. And here, trying to keep the elbows in and trying to get the weight down behind your head. So what we don't want to do is cheat it and just go to here, and we don't want those elbows to flare out. We want to try to keep them here, right through here. So strong shoulders, and of course chest and the back of our arms right here. We got 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. All right, this next move is a chop. Our next two moves are a right chop and a left chop. So it's a lot of arms and shoulders, but it's also a lot of core and side abs. From here, if you want to keep it small, you're going to go down by your hip, up to your shoulder. If you want to take it a little bigger, you can go here. You can also turn your knees and your hips into it. So start small, here we go. Hip to shoulders, kind of like you're throwing it over your shoulder, right? If you want to take the arms a little bigger, straight across. And I like to turn my knees and my hips because I can get a little more power. But if you want more core engagement, you can also keep it right through here. If that doesn't feel good for your back to go all the way across, again, just hip to shoulder, keep it small. It's more about that rotation here across your body. 3, 2, 1, and relax. Relax those shoulders. Same thing, other side. And that's our whole circuit— press and tries. So chest and shoulders and back of the arms, and then shoulders and a whole lot of core. We're going to take it across your body, same thing, other side, for 3, 2, and up. And here You can keep it small or up right here. Here we go, from down, and then you're chopping across your body for core and arms. 10 seconds, then we do it all again for 30. 3, 2, 1, and relax. All right, we're going to do each one of those again. Again, one weight or two with that press and tricep, really targeting the back of the arm but also chest and shoulders. We've got 30 seconds this time, so really make the most of it. Good form. Again, stacking your rib cage over your hips, making sure we're not here or here. Let's bring that core in tight. Arms starting up here, press. Here we go, up behind the head and down, keeping the core lifted. So thinking of lifting through those pelvic floor muscles right here. We got 3, 2, 1. Can we get one more? Yes, you can! All right, get ready for our chops, right side and left side. If you may find it easier to take your weight across like this or hold it this way, whatever feels best for you. Let's do it in 3, 2, 1. Think I started the other way last time. That's okay, as long as we get them both. Twist and up. Across your body. Really feel the core muscles. They're both stabilizing and they're rotating. 3, 2, 1, relax. Shake it out, catch your breath, relax those shoulders. I know a lot of upper body pull in circuit 1, push in this one. Here we go, twist hip to shoulder. If you need to keep it small and think more about that rotation in the torso. Over here, as you can breathe, turning knees and hips across. I love a chop because it's a power move too, so makes me feel powerful. And relax. All right, everybody, shake those out, whatever you need to do. If you want to get a little stretch, we're going to grab a quick sip of water. Last round for standing arms and abs. Here we go, team. Cheers, y'all. All right, last round, 2 moves. We are going to take it to a— what's called a lat sweep. We're going to push up and then a reverse fly. So sweep and fly. So this is a low fly right here. Then we're going to take it to a push out or a heartbeat press along with a knee. So that's going to engage the core. Then we're going to do a little side step and twist. All right, so grab those weights again. You may want to go a little bit lighter for this. We're going to hinge here, we're going to sweep up, we're going to go out to the side. Okay. If you need to take it a little lighter, you can bend those elbows a little bit more and go wide. But if you can, a little lift back and shoulders and triceps, and then reverse fly. Shoulders back, core engaged. We're going to stay stacked through here. Here we go. Sweep and fly. Sweep and fly. Sometimes people just call this a straight lift lift, hinge lift, or even a little tricep lift, because we are getting back muscles as well as triceps. You don't have to get super high with either, just contract in those back muscles and back of the shoulders. Yes, and breathe. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, relax. All right, so this time, one weight. We're gonna push out and then do the knees, or push, knee, knee, back in. If you can hold it out in front, a little more arms, a little more abs. Let's do it. Push, knee, Knee and in. But if that feels like too much, go out, in with your knees, away from your body, squeeze. So I want you to think of it like a push and pull. Push, core, and pull. Push. Yes. Right here. Yes, arms! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. All right team, so now we're gonna hold our weight like this. We're gonna take it— we're actually gonna start stationary. We'll add the step if you want. So we're just gonna twist or twist. Right? So we're gonna step, step, twist. Step, step, twist. So arms and abs ready, here we go. Step, step, twist, or push it all the way out. Yes! And you don't have to to do the step. You can also just twist and push if that's a better option for you. Lots of arms, I know. Adding a little step to get a little extra cardio, right? Feel that heart rate along with those arms. 3, 2, 1. Right, are we feeling it? I know I am. All right, 30 seconds. This time we're going to go back to our sweep and our fly again. If it feels like too much, you can always take it body weight or do one at a time or bend those elbows a little bit. But back, tris, then we get lots of chest, shoulders, and biceps. 30 seconds this time. Shoulders back, Core engaged. Almost done with this workout. Let's finish strong in 3, 2, 1. Oh, I did it the wrong way, but that's okay as long as you get them both. Sweep, fly, sleep. Sweep, sleep. Is that what I want to be doing right now? Maybe, but not really. I was feeling tired going into this workout, but now I'm feeling energized. Which is what I love. I always say you don't do the workout— you don't wait for the energy to get the workout, you do the workout to get the energy. Right here. I'm a lot less tired after I move. 3, 2, 1, and relax. Ah, yes! Set one of those down. All right, so it's that push, knee, knee. We're going to take it same thing again, only 30 seconds this time. In 3, 2, 1, push, knee, knee. Or if you need to, out, in, knee, and knee. Feeling a little shaky in those arms. I hope you are too, in the best way. Last one. Relax. All right, this is it, team. I know, feeling the upper back and shoulders. Step, step, twist, or twist. Let's get a lot of core with this one, keeping those arms working. In 3, last 30. In 2, 1. Step, step, twist. If you're really feeling spicy with it, you can add a little shuffle step, but don't feel like you have to. This is arms and abs. Just adding that movement. So again, we get that push and pull. Push, pull. Squeeze in your back. Push, pull. 3, 2, and 1. Set that weight down. You did it! Let's cross Those arms. How do we feel? That one got my heart rate up a little bit. I don't know about you, but shake those arms out. Take them up right here. Oh, big stretch over to the side. So hopefully you feel it in all the right places, and maybe you feel it tomorrow. Remember, this workout, again, short and sweet, getting it done, not very long. Amy, getting it done all from a standing position using just a set of dumbbells. If you have options, you can get a little hinge here or grab them in the back. If you have options to go heavier, challenge yourself with that. But again, I want it to be something that you could do quickly, you could do it when you don't have a lot of time. So let your fingertips come down to stretch all the way through here and also stretch your head and your neck. Let it drop to the side when you have a lot of space, when you don't have a ton of equipment. Get it done. Something that would be accessible to all of you beginners, or what I like to call begin-againers. You're getting back into it. Wherever you are in your journey, you are exactly where you should be. That's why I always say be where you are today. Let's roll those shoulders. You can take your feet out wide and get a little stretch through your back and shoulders. And of course, please make sure you're getting more stretching, more mobility and flexibility on your own. I have a ton of workouts for that. Don't forget to leave me a like, leave me a comment, let me know how you're feeling. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and join us on the BodyFit by Amy app. Thank you so much for being here. One big deep breath in and out. You Did it! That was your standing dumbbell arms and abs workout. Great job, everybody!