Six exercises and this full-body workout are all you need to build muscle all over

Get your weight plates/dumbbells/kettlebells ready and transform your body with this fast-paced and effective exercise session

Portrait of attractive sportsman with heavy weight plate in fitness club
(Image credit: Getty images)

We love full-body workouts at T3. They are practical, fast, and can help you build muscle and lose weight simultaneously. We like dynamic exercises even more, the kind that uses weights and motion to train those small muscles that might not look much but do a tremendous job in balancing and moving around your body every day. This unique set of six exercises uses a couple of weight plates and trains your body... slightly differently than your typical full-body session, in a good way.

However quirky or unusual your resistance training session might be, it benefits your overall health. Research demonstrates that "resistance exercise training has profound effects on the musculoskeletal system, contributes to the maintenance of functional abilities, and prevents osteoporosis, sarcopenia, lower-back pain, and other disabilities." It also adds that resistance training "may positively affect risk factors such as insulin resistance, resting metabolic rate, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, body fat, and gastrointestinal transit time, which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer."

This full-body workout uses a type of home weight (tri-grip plates) that many people might not have at home, but if you're interested, check out T3's best weight plate guide for the best options. Feel free to swap out the plate for pair of dumbbells or kettlebells (best dumbbells and best kettlebells). The exercises and sets/reps are as follows:

  • Squat plate swings - 4 sets x 12 reps
  • Weighted forearm plank with forward reach - 4 sets x 12 reps
  • Kneeling step-ups to squat - 3 sets x 12 reps on each side
  • RDLs with rows to squat clean - 4 sets x 12 reps (RDL stands for Romanian deadlift)
  • Plate overhead flutter kicks - 4 sets x 12 reps
  • Lateral lunge to overhead reverse lunge - 3 sets x 12 reps on each side

Such a beautiful set of exercises! If you liked this, check out two of T3's most-read workout how-tos: the best full-body workout and the best push-pull-legs workout. Both work the whole body differently and can be scaled up (or down) based on your fitness level and other time commitments. Alternatively, pick one of the quadrillion full-body exercises we already have on T3, such as this 15-minute fat-burning session, this single-dumbbell full-body workout, or this cardio-boosting full-body sesh'.

Matt Kollat
Section Editor | Active

Matt Kollat is a journalist and content creator who works for T3.com and its magazine counterpart as an Active Editor. His areas of expertise include wearables, drones, fitness equipment, nutrition and outdoor gear. He joined T3 in 2019. His byline appears in several publications, including Techradar and Fit&Well, and more. Matt also collaborated with other content creators (e.g. Garage Gym Reviews) and judged many awards, such as the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance's ESSNawards. When he isn't working out, running or cycling, you'll find him roaming the countryside and trying out new podcasting and content creation equipment.