Time crunched? This five-move dumbbell circuit builds muscle and burns fat

Pressed for time but not willing to skip your workout? This full-body circuit is the solution. By doing a series of exercises back to back, and using a mixture of your bodyweight and a pair of dumbbells, it’s designed to help you build muscle and burn fat in one go.

This circuit is what’s known as Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) Training. This is performed similar to a circuit – doing multiple exercises back to back – however it focuses on alternating upper and lower body exercises. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine: “This method of training forces the blood to quickly circulate through the body, increasing caloric expenditure and theorized to decrease body fat and increase lean muscle mass.”

If you're doing this workout at home, then you’re also going to need a sturdy chair or a step and a pair of dumbbells. If you’re hitting the gym, then head on over to a weight bench and weight rack. Perform each exercise one after the other for the reps stated below. Once you’ve completed all five moves, rest for 90-120 seconds before repeating it four more times. Here’s what’s in store for you:

• Dips – 12
• Step-ups – 14 each side
• Bench fly – 14
• Front rack reverse lunge – 16 each side
• Reverse crunch – 12

Looking for more full-body workouts to fill your week with? Here’s a beginner-friendly workout you can do at the gym that’s centred around machines and dumbbell exercises, that will take around 35-45 minutes. If you need something you can do from home, then check out this dumbbell-only workout – it uses supersets to pack plenty into this 30-minute session, whilst increasing time under tension to boost muscle growth.