A 30-Minute Full-Body Workout You’ll Want to Do Every Week
If one of your exercise goals is to get stronger, you’ll want to bookmark this 30-minute full-body workout as one to keep coming back to time and time again.
That’s because this routine is a great opportunity to employ the technique of progressive overload, ACE-certified personal trainer Sivan Fagan, CPT, owner of Strong With Sivan, tells SELF. Progressive overload is a tried-and-true strength-building method whereby you gradually and continually increase the amount of work you’re doing in a routine, whether it’s by lifting more weight or doing more reps with the same amount of weight.
“Progress is never a linear process; it’s never going to be that every week you are increasing the weight or every week you are increasing the reps,” Fagan says. “But overall, the trend over time should be an improvement in performance.”
This 30-minute full-body workout is a solid way to gauge your progress for a number of reasons. For one, it uses a bunch of compound movements in it. Because compound movements employ bigger muscles and muscle groups than isolation exercises, they’re great movements to challenge yourself with additional weight. (You can lift way more weight with a row than a biceps curl, for instance.) It’s also a full-body routine that includes all the major movement patterns—a push and pull for your upper body, a squat variation and hip hinge for your lower, and two different ways to work your core by resisting motion—so you’ll be able to test your strength across the board.
If your goal is to get stronger or build muscle, you can consider this a benchmark routine that you repeat each week. As Fagan said, it’s not about progressing in every exercise each week, but continuing to challenge yourself in some way during each routine, so that you find yourself adding weight or reps—or simply improving on your form—in some of the moves. Then after four to six weeks, you should be able to look back on where you started and notice a solid change in each move.
After that, you can still use this 30-minute full-body workout as a blueprint for your next benchmark workout. The best way to do this, says Fagan, is to simply change this one slightly, whether you reorder the exercises or sub in a few variations of the moves.
One note: Because this workout is intended to help you get stronger, it’s really important that you take advantage of the given rest periods. If you’re used to HIIT or circuit interval workouts, it may seem like you’re resting a long time. But a significant rest period is crucial to allow your muscles to lift heavy weights and perform that intense work during your next set.
Ready to get started? Here’s what you need for your first step in getting stronger.
The Workout
What you need: An exercise mat and dumbbells, as well as some open space that’ll allow you to move freely.
Exercises
Superset 1
- Walking lunge
- Single-arm row
Superset 2
- Romanian deadlift
- Arnold press
Superset 3
- Suitcase carry
- Dead bug
Directions
- For Superset 1, complete 10 to 12 reps per side of each exercise, going from one to the next without resting. After each round, rest for two to three minutes. Complete two rounds total.
- For Superset 2, complete 8 to 10 reps of the deadlift and 10 to 12 reps of the press, going from one to the next without resting. After each round, rest for two to three minutes. Complete two rounds total.
- For Superset 3, complete 45 seconds on each side of the suitcase carry, and 10 to 12 reps per side of the dead bug, going from one to the next without resting. After each round, rest for two to three minutes. Complete two rounds total.
Demoing the moves below are Shauna Harrison (GIF 1), a San Francisco Bay–area based trainer, yogi, public health academic, advocate, and columnist for SELF; Nathalie Huerta (GIFs 2 and 4), coach at The Queer Gym in Oakland; Cookie Janee (GIF 3), a background investigator and security forces specialist in the Air Force Reserve; Erica Gibbons (GIF 5), a California-based personal trainer and graduate student becoming licensed as a marriage and family therapist; and Amanda Wheeler (GIF 6), a certified strength and conditioning specialist and cofounder of Formation Strength.
Kelsey McClellan1Walking Lunge
- Stand with both feet together, holding one dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
- Step forward (about two feet) with your right foot into a lunge, and plant it firmly on the floor.
- Bend both knees to create two 90-degree angles with your legs. Your chest should be upright and your torso should be slightly forward so that your back is flat and not arched or rounded forward. Your right quad should be parallel to the floor and your right knee should be above your right foot. Your butt and core should be engaged.
- Push through your right foot as you lift your left leg, stepping forward in a lunge with your left foot in front.
- Continue for 10 to 12 reps on each side.
The walking lunge is a challenging squat variation that homes in on single-leg strength and works your quads and your glutes. If you’re just getting started, you may want to perform these with only your bodyweight. If the walking lunge is too difficult or you find your balance faltering, you can start with a reverse lunge instead.
Kelsey McClellan2Single-Arm Row
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a moderate-weight dumbbell in your right hand with your arm at your side. Step forward about two feet with your left foot, and rest your left hand on your left quad. This is the starting position.
- With your core engaged, hinge forward at the hips, pushing your butt back, and bend your left knee, making sure you don’t round your shoulders. (Your hip mobility and hamstring flexibility will dictate how far you can bend over.) Gaze at the ground a few inches in front of your feet to keep your neck in a comfortable position.
- Pull the weight up toward your chest, keeping your elbows hugged close to your body, and squeezing your shoulder blade for two seconds at the top of the movement. Your elbow should go past your back as you bring the weight toward your chest.
- Slowly lower the weight by extending your arms toward the floor. That’s one rep.
- Complete 10 to 12 reps, then switch sides.
The single-arm row is a pulling exercise for your upper body that works your lats, your rhomboids (the muscles in your back which help you retract your shoulder blades), and your biceps.
Katie Thompson3Romanian Deadlift
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your thighs.
- Hinge at your hips, bending slightly at your knees. Push your butt way back and keep your back flat. Your torso should be almost parallel to the floor, and the weights should reach your shins.
- Keeping your core tight, push through your heels to stand up straight. Keep the weights close to your shins as you pull.
- Pause at the top and squeeze your butt. This is one rep.
- Continue for 8 to 10 reps.
The Romanian deadlift is a deadlift variation that uses the hip-hinge movement pattern to work your hamstrings and your glutes.
Kelsey McClellan4Arnold Press
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, light-to-moderate-weight dumbbells in each hand at head level, palms facing toward you, and elbows bent.
- Open up your arms so the dumbbells are above your shoulders, palms facing forward. This is the position where you’d start a regular shoulder press.
- Press dumbbells up, extending your arms straight above your head.
- Reverse the sequence to come back down. This is one rep.
- Continue for 10 to 12 reps
The Arnold press is an upper-body pushing movement that works your shoulders from multiple angles, while also challenging your pectoral muscles.
Kelsey McClellan5Suitcase Carry
- Place a single dumbbell next to one of your feet.
- Squat to grab onto the weight with a neutral, palms-in grip. Keeping your chest up and core braced, stand up.
- Slowly walk forward, keeping an upright torso and resisting the urge to lean your torso to one side to counterbalance the weight.
- Continue for 45 seconds.
- When you're finished, squat to place the weight back on the floor. Repeat on the opposite side.
Along with working your grip strength—key to progressing in a bunch of other exercises as you begin to add more weight, like in the deadlift—the suitcase carry really hammers your core as your muscles fire to resist bending at the side.
Katie Thompson6Dead Bug
- Lie faceup with your arms extended toward the ceiling and your legs in a tabletop position (knees bent 90 degrees and stacked over your hips). This is the starting position.
- Slowly extend your right leg out straight while simultaneously dropping your left arm overhead parallel to the floor. Keep both a few inches from the ground. Squeeze your butt and keep your core engaged the entire time, lower back pressed into the floor.
- Bring your arm and leg back to the starting position.
- Repeat on the other side, extending your left leg and your right arm.
- Continue for 8 to 12 reps per side.
The dead bug works your core through anti-extension, wherein your body must resist arching your lower back as you move your arms and legs. If this feels too easy for you, you hold light dumbbells to each hand.
Related:
SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.
