It's a great debate in gyms and households across the country; should you do a cardio workout or train with weights? Fortunately, with this short routine, you don't have to choose, as it combines both training styles in just 30 minutes.
To get started, all you need to do is roll out a yoga mat to give yourself some extra support beneath your feet and grab a pair of dumbbells or adjustable dumbbells for the strength part of the session.
LA-based personal trainers Juice & Toya have created a 30-minute full-body workout that blends high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and high-intensity resistance training (HIRT) to build muscle, boost your metabolism, and burn fat.
The routine is split into two halves. Juice takes you through a 16-minute strength session, while Toya guides you through a 16-minute cardiovascular workout which will help raise your heart rate and burn fat.
For the strength exercises, you'll do each move for 25 seconds with a 5-second rest between. You can follow along with Juice's demonstrations to perfect your technique as you go. Toya's cardio section follows a similar format; 25 seconds of work followed by a 15-second rest.
Watch Juice and Toya's 30-minute dumbbell workout
To get the most from your training, the pair recommend using heavier weights during the strength exercise part of the workout (which is where adjustable weights can come in handy for at-home sessions) or increasing the intensity if you only have lighter weights.
However, it’s important to learn how to lift weights properly before increasing your load. That way, you can engage the correct muscles and gradually increase the weight in line with the progressive overload training technique.
This routine is ideal for strengthening your muscles and boosting your metabolism, but if your goal is to develop a leaner physique, then you'll want to also make this HIIT workout for fat loss a regular part of your weekly schedule.
That's because these HIIT sessions help to burn fat by keeping your heart rate high, and they can also help boost your metabolism, as even when you're not exercising you'll be burning energy throughout the day.
But nutrition is just as important as your workouts, which is why it's important to support your body as it recovers using the best protein powders for weight loss blended into a tasty, refreshing post-workout smoothie.
