When you’re short on time but could do with a stress-busting sweat, you don’t have to go without. If you’ve got a pair of dumbbells lying around, you can tick off a satisfying workout in 10 minutes.
One great option is this routine created by Grant Davidson, who’s behind the Zeus Fitness (opens in new tab) YouTube channel. Davidson is a NASM level 3 PT with more than 10 years of experience, and this is just one of many accessible sessions he’s created for his channel.
It’s a no-repeat workout that asks you to perform 10 exercises for one minute apiece—it’s as simple as that.
Davidson switches between three pairs of dumbbells—heavy, medium and light. If you own a pair of adjustable dumbbells that’s ideal (and if you don’t you can browse our favourites in our selection of the best dumbbells), but Davidson says one pair will still work fine if that’s all you have available.
Doing a short routine like this one, in which you work for a set period of time rather than perform a set number of reps, means it’s OK to do fewer reps if the dumbbells feel too heavy—just do what you can in the time. This session isn’t intended to build lots of muscle but it will get your heart rate up, help to maintain your muscle mass and put a smile on your sweaty face.
Get your gym kit on and your dumbbells ready, and press play to follow Davidson’s 10-minute routine.
Davidson uses a series of compound exercises, movements that use multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously. They tend to make your body work harder, and can help develop your balance and coordination.
Davidson begins with one of our favourite compound moves, the thruster, but also combines isolation exercises such as the split squat and biceps curl.
If this session hit the spot, next time you have 30 minutes, try this dumbbell cardio workout.