Full-Body 15 Minute Fat-Loss Circuit With One Dumbbell

And that means circuit training...

And that means not your "normal" circuit training, either!

I've got a circuit for you that uses heavy weight, low reps, and covers all your major bodyparts in a simple, 3 exercise circuit. You'll get NO rest during the entire time period (I recommend at least 15 minutes), which will kick your metabolism into overdrive VERY quickly and help you burn fat FAST.

Plus, as a bonus, you're going to get an AMAZING core workout due to the single-dumbbell work you'll be doing. Training unilaterally (a fancy way of saying one arm at a time) forces the core to engage strongly to stabilize the torso, and you'll be doing it on every single set you do.

 

 

You might not notice this core effect so much if you're doing high rep, light weight circuit training, so THIS circuit is done using 3 reps per side per exercise, using a moderately heavy dumbbell (I'm using a 105 lb dumbbell in the demo).

To give you an idea of just how effective this is, I performed this circuit 3 days ago and my core is STILL tight!

The first exercise you're going to do is the One Arm Dumbbell Floor Press. This one is a GREAT core exercise that's going to really light up your midsection in addition to your chest, shoulders and triceps. This is probably going to be weakest exercise of the three, so use a weight that you can handle specifically on this one.

Start with the dumbbell on the floor then sit with your legs on either side of the dumbbell. Reach forward and grab it with hands then set it on your thigh.

Lie back on the floor and set your left upper arm flat on the floor, taking ALL the tension off the chest. You're basically balancing the dumbbell with your forearm at this point.

Your left leg should be shifted out a bit wide to the side to help stabilize for the press (you'll feel this when you go to start the press).

Now press up. You'll feel this a fair bit in the triceps, just FYI. And it'll hit your lower abdominal area/lower obliques, in addition to the transversus (the deep muscles of the core).

Do 3 reps on the left arm then set the dumbbell on your chest and switch hands.

Do the press on the other side now, being sure to set your same-side leg out wide to stabilize.

Press up.

To set it on the ground, grab it with both hands then roll to the side and set it on the floor.

NOTE: If you REALLY want to challenge yourself, go through the ENTIRE 15 minute circuit WITHOUT setting the dumbbell on the floor. This is my preferred method now and it's a LOT more challenging.

Now stand up and do a one-arm dumbbell row with the dumbbell. I recommend using the same arm to start each exercise here, to give it maximum rest, e.g. if you started the press with your left arm, start the row with your left arm, too.

You can brace your non-working arm on your knee to solidify your body for the exercise. This single arm row hits the rotational-stability aspect of the core as well.

Row up with power...

Do 3 reps then switch to the other arm.

Next, set the weight on the floor and go straight into the next exercise, One Dumbbell Split Squats.

Hold the dumbbell in your left hand and lead with your right leg, so the dumbbell is in front of your back leg.

Do 3 reps then repeat on the other side for 3 reps.

Holding the dumbbell in one hand as you do the split squat also puts rotational-stability tension on the core (see why this gives you GREAT core training, too)...everything you do in this circuit involves core stability with fairly heavy weight.

 

Now, with NO rest, go right back into the One Dumbbell Floor Press and repeat this 3 exercise circuit for 15 minutes total training time. This is time-efficient fat-loss training at it's best.

You can do shorter or longer with this circuit, depending on the time you have available to you. I found 15 minutes to be a good range.

This is simple, straightforward training that will hit every major part of your body, and the secondary ones that contribute to these 3 big movements. Targeting these big "hot zones" with this much training volume will get your metabolism ROARING.

It's going to build strength and muscle mass along with your cardio capacity and has tremendous core-training benefits (which you will absolutely feel for the next few days after doing this). Your core gets worked with all the movements but the rest of your bodyparts get selective rest as you work each side of your body with the different movements.

 

And all you need is a single dumbbell and a patch of floor space to do it.

This workout can be done anytime you like, especially if you just need to do a fast workout covering all your bodyparts.

If you want an even MORE detailed fat-loss program that scripts out EVERY single training day and meal for you, definitely check out my Metabolic Surge program below. When I want to lose fat FAST, this is the one I use.