I'm a personal trainer — all you need is these 3 moves and 15 minutes to build muscle

Say hello to your next favorite functional training routine.

I really like dumbbell workouts because they take less than an hour and need very little equipment. More people can exercise this way without using their entire lunch break or traveling to a gym. This approach saves time while still delivering effective training results.

The workout requires you to lower the number of repetitions for three exercises after each round until the 15-minute time limit ends. This format makes training enjoyable and competitive and works well when done with friends or a workout partner.

Be warned that this workout will leave you exhausted and collapsed in a sweaty heap on your mat while feeling amazing. It develops strength and creates a powerful fit body using only two medium-heavy or adjustable dumbbells.

Watch my 3-move dumbbell workout:

1. Dumbbell suitcase deadlift

Back in the day, suitcases didn’t have wheels; you had to bend down, pick them up, and carry them along. That’s where the name comes from.

The suitcase deadlift works your core muscles along with your grip strength and legs. You should do this exercise quickly while maintaining proper form throughout the movement. Lower the dumbbells until their ends touch the floor on each repetition and then push yourself up to standing position with force. Maintain an upright chest position & keep your back straight while concentrating on the hip hinge movement. Tightening your glutes slightly helps keep them engaged during the exercise & provides protection for your lower back.

2. Dumbbell devil press

heavy weights and endure.

If you select the appropriate weights you can establish a good flow with these exercises but you will need to stay focused and minimize breaks. There are many repetitions to complete so I recommend selecting your weights thoughtfully. You should avoid pausing every 5 repetitions and instead aim for just one brief rest during each round. For instance you could divide your 20 repetitions into two sets of 10.

3. Dumbbell squat clean

Squat cleans develop core and leg power, muscle and strength, and train your body to drive weights to your shoulders and squat under load. This requires balance and stability, which means both sides of your body must communicate with each other for you to perform the move effectively with dumbbells.

Focus on a strong push from the floor up to your shoulders and then pull your elbows forward to catch the weights in the right spot. Move directly into the squat as soon as the weights settle. Keep these movements clean and quick but make sure you go all the way down in your squat. Don’t do partial reps that only go partway down. Get into a low position and drive upward with force before resetting for the next rep.

The workout:

Descending ladder: 20/18/16/14….

Suitcase deadlift
Devil press
Squat clean

Start by performing 20 reps of each exercise with very little rest, moving from one move to the next. You could choose to alternate arms and use one dumbbell (dividing the reps per arm) or increase the time cap if you need more buffer.

On the following round reduce by two repetitions and then repeat while descending the ladder as far as possible until you reach your time limit. I suggest aiming for 15 minutes & tracking your progress as you become fitter and stronger while using the same weights throughout. You can adjust the time limit or starting repetition count if needed. Keep in mind that you need to maintain some speed so avoid choosing extremely heavy weights. The goal is to finish the repetitions for each movement in each round with no more than one brief rest period. Once you get to 10-12 repetitions per exercise you should try to complete them without any breaks. Good luck and may the devil press gods be on your side.