Boost heart health and muscle gain with this fun dumbbell cardio workout

I love strength training so I tend to do less cardio and avoid high-impact workouts. But I'm also aware that cardio is an important part of any well-rounded exercise regime as it supports heart health, improves blood circulation and helps regulate blood pressure.

When I came across this strength and cardio workout by NASM-certified personal trainer Kaitlin Heaney, I thought it actually looked like fun. The combination of strength and cardio appealed to me—and I thought the jumping elements wouldn't be too challenging. I decided to give it a go and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

How to do the dumbbell cardio workout

There are eight exercises:

• Dumbbell snatch
• Reverse fly with step back
• Floor-touch jump squats
• Dumbbell punches
• Dumbbell toe taps
• Standing dumbbell crunch with knee raise
• Star jump varation
• Jumping twists

Heaney recommends doing each of the eight exercises for 30-40 seconds with 15 seconds of rest. Take a one-minute break in between rounds and aim to complete two to four sets.

If you complete four rounds at 40 seconds per exercise, the workout should take you around 30 minutes in total (excluding a warm-up and cool-down).

While Heaney doesn’t specify dumbbell weights, I recommend starting with 2.5kg/5lb for beginners, 4.5kg /10lb for intermediates and 8kg/17.5lb or more for advanced levels. You might want to switch dumbbells for the dumbbell punch, which works best with a lighter weight.

This workout gave me a huge energy boost

Since I prioritize strength training over cardio, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like Heaney’s workout.

How wrong was I! The biggest takeaway was being reminded how energizing cardio is—especially when combined with a full-body strength training element, which made it more challenging.

The eight moves hit every muscle group and left me sweaty, out of breath and smiling—the sign of a fun and challenging workout. I will definitely be coming back to this one!

Shop light dumbbells

If you'd like to try the above routine, but need to buy light dumbbells first, we recommend Amazon Basics neoprene dumbbells—they're always available and affordable.