Crush your core muscles and build stronger muscles all over using a set of weights and these three dumbbell exercises. You don’t need a gym or anything more than an exercise mat, and the routine only takes 15 minutes.
I’ve been teaching weightlifting for years, and there are several things I wish I had known before I started lifting weights myself: you don’t have to spend hours in the gym to build muscle or strength, nor overload your programs with complicated exercises or too many sets and reps.
In fact, simple, focused and intense workouts are the most efficient. Yep, you can work out less and get better results, and it’s even backed by science. What are you waiting for? Roll out your mat, lace up your sneakers and pick up the best kettlebells or dumbbells you can find.
1. Clean
The first move you’ll perform is the clean. If you only have one weight, load one side of the body at a time; otherwise, use two dumbbells or kettlebells, depending on which weights you’re using.
Cleans develop explosive power, strength, and speed and also initiate many other movements found in Olympic lifting, like the clean and jerk. A common error found during the clean exercise is an excessive pull with the arms rather than driving up through your legs.
When you land the weights on your shoulders, drive your elbows high so that you can stay for a moment in the dip before straightening your legs. This will give you better stability.
If you find your weights — especially if using a barbell — traveling away from your body, try pushing your knees out slightly, but keep your feet hip-width apart during set-up. The initial drive of the clean should be slow and controlled, then as you pass your knees, you can explode upward with a vertical pull.
Here’s how to do the clean exercise with different weights and the types of cleans you might come across in a weightlifting setting.
2. Thruster
Thrusters combine a front rack squat with an overhead press, which means your entire body works hard, especially your core and shoulders, to help stabilize your body under load.
I won’t lie, I find dumbbell or kettlebell thrusters abhorrent, but this move is an incredibly great conditioning exercise capable of ramping up the sweat factor, heart rate and calorie burn. And it doesn’t take long.
The workout below will get spicy fast, so choose a load that allows you to maintain your form for multiple reps back-to-back — this isn’t a strength workout, it’s all endurance, which means going slightly lighter on your loading.
If you already know your one-rep max, aim for 60% of it; otherwise, practice a few warm-up sets first.
Here’s how to do thrusters step-by-step.
3. Renegade row
The combination of a plank with row means your entire body, particularly your back, biceps and core muscles, will feel the burn during the Rennie row. Again, this exercise isn’t what I’d describe as “fun,” but boy, does it pack a punch.
Keep your hips square to the ground as you row without twisting your body to one side. Row toward your back pocket, rather than your ribcage and focus on controlled movement throughout. In other words, don’t swing your weights. If you do, it’s because you’ve chosen to lift too heavy.
You can come down onto your knees at any stage, especially as the reps increase.
Here’s how to do the renegade row step-by-step.
The 3-move workout
You’ve been introduced to the three exercises, so now, let’s get stuck into the workout itself.
A complex is one of the best ways to string a group of exercises together into a giant working set, minimizing rest and maximizing output. It’s efficient, slashes the time spent in the gym and allows you to load lighter weights and still feel the burn.
Perform 1 rep of each exercise back to back without rest. Start by cleaning the weights to your shoulders, then move straight into your first thruster. You’ll finish your thruster standing with your weights racked to your shoulders and elbows pulled high.
Next, bend down and position your weights on the floor just in front of your feet (still gripping them) and jump back into a high plank position. Perform 1 rep of your renegade row per side, then jump your feet forward to land just behind your weights and stand. You can now move straight into your next clean.
Add 1 rep per round, and see how many rounds you can achieve in 15 minutes. Good luck!
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