Arnold Schwarzenegger's 30-minute dumbbell workout for full-body gains

If you don’t go to the gym you may see this as a reason not to workout. Arnold Schwarzenegger would strongly disagree, however (and rightly so). In his latest Pump Club newsletter, the Austrian Oak has shared a full-body workout that you can do straight from your living room to help pack on muscle with just two dumbbells. It’ll only take you 30 minutes too, which means you can easily slot it in during your lunch break or whilst the tea's cooking, so no excuses!

“Back by popular demand, here’s another workout consisting of three blocks that will help pack on new strength and muscle in less than 30 minutes per session,” says Schwarzengger. The workout essentially consists of three 8-minute AMRAPS – which stands for ‘as many rounds as possible’ – utilising a mixture of compound lifts and isolation exercises. This type of training model is ideal if you’re crunched for time, as it allows you to accumulate lots of volume and train at a high intensity, which can facilitate muscle growth and muscle endurance.

For each of the three AMRAPs you’ll have three exercises to complete and you want to rest for as little as possible between each one. However, they key is to maintain good form throughout the entire 8 minutes, so the moment it begins to break down, rest – we want no sloppy reps here! After you’ve completed the first block, Schwarzengger says to rest for 2-3 minutes, then move onto the next block, following the same format as you did for the first. Here’s the workout:

AMRAP 1

• Dumbbell chest press – 5-8 reps
• Dumbbell row – 5-8 reps
• Dumbbell Russian twist – 8 (per side)

AMRAP 2

• Dumbbell Romanian deadlift – 6-8 reps
• Dumbbell goblet squat – 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell step-up – 8-12 reps (per leg)

AMRAP 3

• Seated dumbbell clean and press – 8-10 reps
• Dumbbell bicep curls – 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell lying tricep extension – 8-12 reps

For more 30-minute strength sessions that you can do at home, check out this six-move workout, which focuses on the squat, hinge and press movement patterns, ideal for building build functional strength and making everyday activities easier. If you don't own any dumbbells though, then you can still get stronger with Arnold's 25-minute bodyweight workout – it leaves a massive pump afterwards.