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As time goes by, I appreciate the idea of standing exercises more and more. I was in great shape and loved working out, but the idea of getting up and down on the floor tired me out, so standing training was certainly appealing.
Indeed, you can achieve almost any fitness goal you want with standing exercises, including strengthening your arms and abs.
This 15-minute standing dumbbell workout was created by fitness trainer Monika Larssen (known as MonikaFit on YouTube). This is an easy-to-follow class that anyone can try, and all you need is a few dumbbells.
Monika uses 5.5 pound weights in her workouts, but use any weight that feels comfortable to you. If you don’t have dumbbells, you can use something like a water bottle instead. You’ll be holding the weight and doing arm exercises pretty much throughout the entire workout, so if in doubt, I’d go with a lighter weight.
Watch MonikaFit’s 15-minute abs and arms workout
Throughout the workout, you will work for 40 seconds and rest for 10 seconds, performing a new exercise each time. If these sets feel like they are too long and the remaining sets are too short, you can always adjust the length of your training session to give yourself longer rest periods.
Monica works out with you and demonstrates each move, but doesn’t give any verbal instructions, so make sure you can see the screen so you know what exercises to do and imitate her techniques.
To work various areas of your abs and core, you’ll need to twist, bend, and lift your knees during the exercise while holding dumbbells and performing a variety of arm exercises to target your biceps, triceps, and shoulders.
This is a fast-paced and fun workout where you’re often moving your upper and lower body at the same time, which means you need to focus, which helps distract from muscle burn.
As always with strength training, you’ll get the most benefit from each exercise by engaging the right muscles and performing each exercise with good form. So don’t rush into increasing your reps, especially since you’re doing a lot with one leg and risk losing your balance.
If you want a more core-focused class than this, our resident personal trainer Sam Hopes has put together this three-step standing workout that doesn’t require any weights at all.
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